Cracks found in depot floor sealant

Cracks have been found in the sealant that protects the concrete floors at BNSF Railway’s depot atop the Spokane Valley/Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer, but railroad and state officials said there is no reason for concern and there is no evidence of fuel leaks.

Yet a local environmental group questions why the cracks, characterized by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality as “hairline” fissures, weren’t disclosed in public reports made monthly to the Kootenai County Commission.

Of the 16 cracks discovered, only five were disclosed in the May report. The report says that in March three minor cracks were found in the fueling platform, and two minor cracks were in the inspection pit. There is no mention of the other 11 cracks in the other monthly reports.

Barry Rosenberg of the Kootenai Environmental Alliance said it’s unacceptable that the DEQ reports aren’t complete, especially after a series of fuel leaks that shut down the $42 million facility last year. After it reopened, “blisters” in the supposedly impermeable concrete coating were discovered in September.

“If they really have a transparent reporting policy this should have been announced,” Rosenberg said.

Marc Kalbaugh of DEQ confirmed that hairline cracks have appeared in the top coating that was placed over the concrete. They have appeared in several locations, including the refueling platform, the tank farm and the inspection pit, he said.

The “extremely small” fractures generally were expected and are being repaired as they appear, he said. No new fuel leaks have been detected, and there is no cause for concern, he said.

BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas agreed.

“There’s no indication that this program is not working,” Kalbaugh said. “There are frequent inspections and repairs of the surface coating.”

The cracks are not associated with the previous blisters, which were likely caused by evaporation. That was a separate issue and is being repaired as well, he said.

The cracks were detected as a result of enhanced operation and maintenance procedures at the facility under an agreement between the railroad and state penned last year, he said.

Repairs involve filling the cracks with an expansive material that matches the expansive properties of the concrete repairs last year, Kalbaugh explained.

Kootenai County Commissioner Rick Currie said the cracks are “old news.”

“DEQ is obviously on top of it,” Currie said, adding that he has no concerns about the completeness of the reports.

Monthly reports on the inspections and repairs are filed with the local DEQ office and are available for public inspection, Kalbaugh said.

His reports to county officials are intended to reveal whether the railroad continues to be in compliance with the required maintenance program, he said.

The depot is capable of refueling a locomotive in about 30 minutes, compared with up to six hours at BNSF’s congested yards near Seattle and Portland. But three months after the new depot opened, fuel-tainted wastewater was found to have leaked unchecked into the ground below, but at levels that state officials said pose no risk to nearby residents or to more than 400,000 other people who depend on the aquifer for their water.

The railroad spent $10 million on repairs, including five layers of the rubberized coating atop 80,000 square feet of concrete at the site.