Counties working on plans for response to hazardous rail spills

January 2, 2015

by Michael Meier Boundary County Idaho Public Information Officer The three northern Idaho Counties, Boundary, Bonner and Kootenai, have joined forces by way of a Federal Grant from the Idaho Department of Transportation, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to establish or update their Geographic Response Plans. The purpose of the project is to update and develop Rail and Highway Hazardous Materials Response plans specific to hazmat spills into water (rivers, lakes, for example) within each county. An independent contractor has been hired with the grant funds to identify sensitive, natural, cultural and significant economic resources and describe strategies to minimize injury to those resources. Included in the project will be an analysis of existing gaps in hazardous material responses across local, state, federal and private jurisdictions. Each county will establish their own working group, comprised of local first responders and environmental subject matter experts to include local, state, federal and private partners. County Emergency Managers are working together with first responders and the private industry to make our communities safer and be better prepared in the event of a hazmat spill. A string of oil train derailments in North America over the past 18 months has heightened community awareness of rail shipments of the volatile crude from the Bakken oil fields of Eastern Montana and North Dakota. These trains, with as many as 102 cars each, are headed for ports and refineries in Washington and frequently pass through Boundary, Bonner and Kootenai Counties. A recent report states the volume of oil transported by rail could triple within the next five years, and our County Emergency Managers are taking steps to minimize dangers to our local communities. Please contact Bob Howard, Bonner County Emergency Manager for information regarding this Federal Grant:       /sqmail/src/compose.php?send_to=bhoward@bonnercountyid.gov