The Environmental Protection Agency, BNSF Railway and contractors completed nearly six weeks of cleanup work late last month, when the final load of contaminated sediment was hauled away from Mackinaw Bay on Whitefish Lake. The contamination was the result of a 1989 train wreck that spilled diesel fuel into the water.
Officials say 450 cubic yards of dredged sediments were removed. Some contamination may remain, although it is below screening levels established by the EPA and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality.
“All the heavy equipment and expensive GPS-guided dredging technology in the world cannot remove every last molecule of any spilled material without doing excessive damage to the environment,” said EPA’s on-scene coordinator Steven Merritt. “Every removal, including this one in Mackinaw Bay, must take into account the net environmental benefit. Invariably, in cleanups involving petroleum hydrocarbons, the natural processes are the final step necessary to reduce these concentrations to zero.”
On July 31, 1989, a Burlington Northern freight train derailed west of Whitefish and four tank cars slid down an embankment into the bay. Three of those cars leaked fuel into the water. The initial cleanup focused on the embankment the cars had fallen from and visible petroleum in the water. Since the derailment more than two decades ago, reports of contaminated sediments had emerged and in 2011 BNSF began testing the site at the request of the city of Whitefish and the Whitefish Lake Institute.
In May, contractors from Kennedy/Jenks Consultants and Envirocon moved heavy equipment to the site by barge and began dredging the sediments with the promise of having the project completed before the busy summer tourist season. On June 25, the final two dumpsters of contaminated material were sent to a water treatment facility at the BNSF yard in Whitefish. The sediment dewatering facility there was already established as part of the ongoing Whitefish River cleanup.
“The project team accomplished the objective and did so before the Fourth of July, as promised,” Merritt said in an EPA press release. “The dredging removed more than 97 percent of the petroleum contamination from Mackinaw Bay, eliminating the potential for sheen during summer recreational activity.”
In a statement to the Beacon, Whitefish Lake Institute Science and Education Director Lori Curtis said she was pleased with the cleanup and that it was a team effort among the railroad, various contractors and government agencies.
“We all hope this professional effort will close the book on the 1989 train derailment and resulting oil spill in Whitefish Lake,” she said.