Railroad says it's done buying property

Gov. Brian Schweitzer led a meeting Tuesday aimed at addressing community concerns and questions over BNSF Railway's contaminated properties in Whitefish.

"I was the facilitator," Schweitzer said in an interview afterwards. "I was the one who called Burlington Northern Santa Fe and said you need to meet with the community."

Schweitzer cited "concerns and frustrations' in the community about the railroad's recent purchases of properties adjacent to its railyard, which long has been known to have subsurface contamination, mostly from spilled diesel fuel.

The governor said there has been particular frustration about a lack of communication from BNSF about its purchases, the scope of contamination and its responsibilities and plans for cleaning it up.

But the meeting was 'very productive" in answering some of the more important questions, said Jan Metzmaker, director of the Whitefish Convention and Visitors Bureau.

A group of top BNSF officers, including Vice President Charles Shewmake, said the contamination plumes appear to be stable and not expanding, and the company was not planning to purchase any additional adjacent properties.

"It was nice to be reassured from Burlington Northern that they were not going to pursue any more acquisitions and that the area is safe," Metzmaker said. "We were just pleased that BN came with some people that were able to provide some answers."

Schweitzer was accompanied by Jim Lynch, director of the Montana Department of Transportation, and Richard Opper, director of the state Department of Environmental Quality. Also at the meeting were Whitefish Mayor Mike Jenson, state Rep. Mike Jopek, D-Whitefish, and about 30 property owners.

"There was quite a few property owners there that have been having a hard time getting information," Jopek said.

Even rumors of expanding contamination created concerns about the ability of neighboring property owners to sell their land, and there also were health concerns, Jopek said.

"I think that [BNSF] being present and talking to people was critically important," Jopek said, noting that the BNSF officers "acknowledged that they had gone about this in wrong way."

Metzmaker said the railroad plans to work closely with the Whitefish Convention and Visitors Bureau to better inform the public on future testing and remediation work.

BNSF has a Web site on its Whitefish remediation project at: www.montana-remediation.info.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com