Hoping for the best, planning for the worst

SANDPOINT — Bonner County is seeking a state grant to develop a regional geographic response plan in the event of a railroad catastrophe.

The plan would cover the three northern Panhandle counties and draw in various existing geographic response plans and its aim would be to enhance and hasten the response to a hazardous materials spill or disaster, said Bob Howard, director of Bonner County Emergency Management.

Howard said the county’s own geographic response plan, which was developed in 2003 with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency funding, will also be updated.

The impetus for the efforts is a rise in Bakken crude oil shipments passing through the Panhandle from North Dakota.

“The Bakken oil issue is what brought this to the surface. Because we have so much of that going through our communities, we want to be as prepared as we can to respond to a spill,” said Howard.

The county is seeking the Idaho Transportation Department planning grant through the Idaho Bureau of Homeland Security, which administers the grant program.

The move comes after the county hosted a meeting with local mayors, local and regional public safety officials, railroad representatives, resource managers, and state and federal environmental officials on Aug. 25.

Justin Piper, manager of hazardous materials field operations and emergency response for BNSF Railway, said the company has large and small fire trailers pre-staged around the region that are stocked with alcohol-resistant fire-fighting foam, high-pressure tank capping kits and other countermeasures in the event of a fire or spill.

“That particular foam works very well for crude oils or really any other type of fire as well,” Piper told the audience.

BNSF has 220 full-time haz-mat responders and can fly in industrial firefighters from Fort Worth, Texas, if need be.

Although the closest fire trailer to Sandpoint are located in central Washington and western Montana, Piper said BNSF plans to stage an initial-response spill trailer in Sandpoint. It will hold containment boom, hydraulic skimming systems, boom vanes for rivers and boom deflectors.

“As an accident happens, we will mobilize more resources than what’s necessary. We can always call them off if they’re not needed,” said Piper.

Casey Calkins, director of training rules and safety for Montana Rail Link, said the company also has response materials cached, although the closest are located in Missoula.

“That’s likely going to change. We’ll probably have some at Thompson Falls when this is all said and done,” Calkins said.

Earl Liverman, an on-scene coordinator for EPA, emphasized that local public safety officials will be the first boots on the ground in an incident due to the distribution of railroad resources.

“I want to disabuse you of any notion other than the first responders are going to be your community law enforcement and fire personnel. There’s no exception to that. They’re the ones that will be on the ground quicker than anyone else,” he said.

County Commissioner Glen Bailey said as the volume of hazardous materials coming through the area increases so do the chances of a spill or disaster, which underscores the need for cooperation between the counties and public safety officials.

“The hazardous materials that are coming across our railroads, that are coming across our highways are not declining,” said Bailey. “They are projected to increase monumentally.”