Herbicide spray dispute ensnares Alaska Railroad

The State of Alaska has approved herbicide spraying along the Alaska Railroad tracks for the first time in decades, but tribal and environmental groups from Eklutna to Seward are asking the state to reverse its decision, the Anchorage Daily News reports.

Starting the week of June 6,
the Alaska Railroad plans to begin spraying 30 miles of track in a 90-mile
segment between Indian and Seward with two chemicals, glyphosate and Agri-Dex.
Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s famous Roundup spray, kills
weeds. Agri-Dex is a sticky substance used to keep the glyphosate from
migrating off the tracks.

State regulators concluded
that the chemicals would not harm the environment or human health. However,
seven environmental groups, all but one based in Alaska, and the Native village
of Eklutna, passionately disagree and cite scientific studies that show
glyphosate mixtures are linked to cancer and other health impacts to humans and
wildlife. Eklutna is involved because it claims lands near Indian as part of
its traditional use area for subsistence.

State officials said this
particular mixture of glyphosate and Agri-Dex will not be harmful, based on
their own review of scientific studies.

The environmental groups
and the village have asked the state to delay activating the permit in addition
to appealing the permit.

The railroad says that the
spraying is needed because it has exhausted all other ways available to it to
keep weeds from invading the tracks and causing safety problems. The southern
part of the rail line is one of the worst areas for weeds, but the railroad
hopes to eventually get state permission to spray on other parts of the line,
too, said Stephenie Wheeler, a railroad spokeswoman.

The railroad faces tens of
thousands of dollars in fines from federal regulators who say that the
vegetation growth on the railroad right-of-way has created safety concerns that
are getting worse. The regulators said the problem could force them to close
down the track or slow down the trains if the problem isn’t fixed, according a
letter sent to the Alaska Railroad by the Federal Railroad Administration last
April.

In the letter, the agency
said it has cited the railroad for 947 defects and 74 violations for vegetation
on the tracks since 1997.

"Considering that the
(railroad) transports over a half million passengers and 30,000 freight cars
containing hazardous materials each year, an accident on the railroad could be
catastrophic," the agency’s chief safety officer Jo Strang, based in
Washington, D.C., wrote in the letter.

According to a statement
issued by the railroad: The Alaska Railroad must control vegetation along the
tracks for safety reasons. For 26 years, we have been trying to do this without
herbicides. Federal rail safety regulators say that our efforts to date have
not been adequate and we continue to be fined for numerous vegetation violations.

The Alaska Railroad needs
to add herbicides as part of the effort to control unwanted vegetation. Our proposed
herbicide program (as outlined in the permit application) is limited, and uses
herbicides available to any Alaskan in products such as Roundup.

We support the Alaska
Department of Environmental Conservation process and the decision to grant a permit
to the railroad. This process has taken over a year, and has involved extensive
public meetings, scientific study and research.

In 2009, the Federal
Railroad Administration issued 130 vegetation-related violations that are associated
with fines of up to $10,000 each. FRA inspectors returned to Alaska in late May
2010 and have already issued 20 violations for vegetation.