EPA, BNSF responding to possible contaminant leak into Flathead Lake
Officials with the Environmental Protection Agency and BNSF Railway are responding to a possible contaminant leak into Flathead Lake near Somers, agency and company officials said Thursday.
A Somers resident on Tuesday reported an “oily sheen” entering the lake along the shore in Somers Bay, EPA spokesman Robert Moler said. The reported sheen is adjacent to a federal Superfund site on property owned by BNSF, where a railroad-tie manufacturing plant operated between 1901 and 1986.
The rail company on Thursday sent an environmental contractor to the site after being contacted the by agency. The EPA is also bringing in an emergency response coordinator, who is expected to arrive Friday. The response is typical for reports of potential contaminant releases that could impact surface waters, Moler said.
“Initial reports indicate the release is related to seeps near the pond area at the former BNSF tie plant,” Moler told the Inter Lake Thursday. “Their response contractors have taken water samples and are taking actions right now to control the sheen.”
In a follow-up email, he added that while the report was from the vicinity of the plant, “no determination has been made about the source or nature of the substance.”
BNSF spokesman Ross Lane on Thursday provided said in an email that the affected area included “sporadic appearances of the sheen for 500 feet to 1000 feet along the shoreline.”
A statement from BNSF said the sheen may be unrelated to the tie plant, based on initial field observations, but that the company was taking precautionary measures due to its proximity to the former tie plant.
“Our initial indication suggests that the sheen was caused by decomposing organic or naturally occurring material,” Lane added in an email. “Pooled water, low water levels on the lake and high temperatures can lead to decay of organic material that then forms a biological residue. That residue can look similar to a petroleum or chemical-like sheen.”
Moler noted that the agency’s information was limited to the resident’s report as of Thursday afternoon, and said more information would be available once agency officials arrive to assess the site. A Montana Department of Environmental Quality spokeswoman said the state is aware of the reports and is in contact with the federal agency, which has the lead on issues potentially related to Superfund sites.
The 80-acre area surrounding the tie plant was declared a Superfund site in 1989 due to creosote contamination in the soils and groundwater at the site.
About 50,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil around the shuttered plant were treated over 17 years, ending in 2002. In 2015, the EPA updated its human health risk assessment for the Superfund site, determining that people who live and work in Somers are not coming into contact with unsafe soil, groundwater or air connected to it.
A groundwater treatment system operated at the former plant from 1993 to 2007, but silt and clay in the soil prevented it from removing a significant volume of impacted groundwater.
The agency is required to review the site under the Superfund program every five years to ensure the remediation is working as intended. The next five-year review is due this year.
Reporter Sam Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.