City council received the report on the City of Prince George Wells Protection Plan for CN-related risks at their Monday meeting.
The report is some 87 pages and goes into great detail about the catastrophic damage that the city wells would be subject to in the event of a derailment in the vicinity of the wells.
There are a number of points in this report that need clarification not only because it would make it easier for the public at large, and council to understand the issues, but also to get a better determination of what the risks really are.
The railway was constructed through Prince George and sest in the early 1900s and so has been operating through Prince George for over 100 years.The water wells that the city is concerned about, and which are the main issue in the report were constructed as follows: PW605 in 1972, approx one kilometre upstream of Wilson Park on the bank of the Nechako River, and subsequent radial collector wells were constructed in 1979 (PW602), in 1994 (PW601) and in 2006 (PW660).
PW602, which is located near the Cameron Street Bridge, was later decommissioned due to water quality issues.The wells of concern are located between Mile 0 (Prince George CN Yard) and Mile 6.31 in the Miworth subdivision area.
So the first thing that we should be aware of is that the city built all these wells between the CN Rail track and the Nechako River and has been utilizing these wells at varying degrees since 1972. In other words, they've been in use for over 43 years without any contamination from a derailment incident.The city obviously did not think that there was a serious risk by locating wells in this area, or they would not have built them there in the first place.
The report goes on to list a number of derailments, collisions, leaks, etc. of dangerous goods in the CN Prince George Yard, in the years between 2004 and 2013.
What they fail to mention is that with CN purchasing BC Rail, the CN Prince George Yard now comprises, the former CN Yard along First Avenue between the Cameron Street Bridge and the CN Bridge across the Fraser River on the east end of First Avenue, the BC Rail Bridge yard located northeast of Prince George between PG Pulp and Paper and Intercontinenal Pulp, and the South Yard (BC Rail) located southwest of the Simon Fraser Bridge.All these yards are located east/north/south of the wells in question.
It's important to realize where these yards are located, because that is where all the derailments, collisions and spills took place.There were no incidents since 1972 between Mile 0 and Mile 6.31 where the water wells are located.We need to keep in mind that the three yards mentioned are working yards and basically switch cars 24/7, 365 days of the year.They also handle many carloads of dangerous goods on a daily basis switching in and out of customers facilities such as the above mentioned pulp mills, Chemtrade, Husky Oil, Peroxide Plant, Chemtrade in the BC Rail yard, etc.
West of Prince George on the other hand we no longer have any industry that use a large amount of dangerous goods. The pulp mills at Prince Rupert and Kitimat, along with the methanol plant in Kitimat, have been closed.So for the most part the dangerous goods that would go west of Prince George and pass by the wells in question would be some diesel, gasoline and liquefied propane.
So what is the risk we are talking about?
Once we eliminate all the rail activity east of Mile 0 we need only contend with that portion of the rail line between Mile 0 and Mile 6.31 where the wells are located, and how dangerous goods are handled through this area.
Trains going west of Prince George carry grain, coal, containers and freight. The only trains that would carry dangerous goods would be freight trains.
The other trains are commodity specific and do not handle other traffic.Freight trains going west (about one, sometimes two, per day) would carry empty chip cars, empty lumber cars, and a few tank cars of gasoline/diesel/propane.These dangerous goods tank cars are required by TSB rules to be marshaled in the train. In other words, they have to be located a specific number of cars behind the train's engines.This is to ensure that in the case of a derailment the dangerous goods cars are not immediately involved with the engine.
Trains coming back to Prince George from the west would be empty grain trains, empty coal trains, container trains, and freight trains carrying wood chips, lumber, and empty tank cars that used to contain gasoline, diesel, and propane. So no dangerous goods coming into Prince George from the West.
So in essence we have eliminated all the risks to our water wells from dangerous goods to about one train going west per day that might or might not contain dangerous goods.
This train would start to accelerate from the west end of the CN yard (Mile 0) and would be well into the halfway mark to Mile 63.1 before it exceeded 10 miles per hour, depending on the length and tonnage of the train. Trains departing Prince George once cleared by the dispatcher would have a clear track from Prince George to beyond Miworth, with no concern about an inbound train, because it is a single track rail line West of Prince George.
So a freight train departing Prince George with a few carloads of diesel, gasoline, or propane, would clear that area in approx 15 minutes.If in fact the train derailed, the dangerous goods cars would also have to derail, fall into the ditch, get perforated, and have its contents drain into the ground and work its way into the ground water that moves into the wells.A perfect storm, so to speak.
In order for us to get a clear determination of the risk to these wells from a derailment, collision, or leak from dangerous goods cars passing through this area, we need to do an in depth analysis of the trains that actually carry the dangerous goods and the possibility of them having an incident in this 6 Mile area.My guess is that the risk is negligible.
The report indicates that there could be an increase in the number of dangerous goods cars being transported west from Prince George in the future, however this is purely conjecture at this point.
In fact the handling of dangerous goods on trains west of Prince George has been reduced significantly in the past 20 years.
The city should note the following from Development Issue: Rail Corridor Setbacks and CN Guidelines, B. Statutory Framework.
"With few exceptions, railways have no power beyond their rail right of way and cannot control adjacent landowners land use. A federal regulator can cause a railway to address a proximity complaint, but has little or no authority over a municipal authority whose inadequate planning may have led to the incompatible land use situation in the first place."
