Unknown Substance

                                                                                                         

Residue on track near Hixon Forest

 Due to Natureman's involvement in C.A.R.S (Citizens Acting for Rail Safety) this past Saturday late afternoon we received a call regarding a strong smell and unknown substance from the railroad tracks in a residential area in central La Crosse. According to the caller the residue was as far as the eye could see and it is... 

It's the kind of news we have been dreading as train traffic has increased 400% in the last 5 years due to transporting both frac sand and crude oil.  

Ironically, a question and answer meeting regarding train safety had been set to take place April 22nd this Tuesday for 7pm at Central High School for concerned area residents. None too soon regardless of this incident...

Since we happened to be heading downtown ourselves we decided to make a couple of stops en route as we follow the same route as the trains along the Mississippi. The first town rail crossing is five miles from us at Stoddard where we were relieved to not witness anything unusual but that was short lived...

since about five miles farther north at the Wild Refuge Observatory pullover, we didn't have the same luck.

Although not on every cross tie there were dark shiny stains.

A mile further where the tracks cross the entrance to Goose Island and where trains tend to wait for opposite trains to pass, the stones and ties were not so clean.  Take a look at this rock, Natureman had a tough time removing the residue from his fingers.

We made two more stops as we entered La Crosse and it was the same story but now we are talking about at least 10 miles of trail. 

Police in 2 counties were notified as was the Department of Natural Resources.  The incident is being investigated by Burlington Rail to determine what the spill is and its length... Hopefully the culpable train can be stopped before it travels the entire country. We can hope is it's not what we think it is, now that would be real good news. 

Perhaps more important for all of us is this 'wake up' call to understand the magnitude and impact of this particular train traffic. For right now to insist  Burlington Northern replaces old tankers with new safety oil tanker cars and for the City to instigate safety plans ASAP. Maybe whatever this is won't be just a 'dribble' next time... The last  dribble was an hour away and went for 70 miles.

It started raining on Sunday. Imagine pools of this stuff whatever it is entering the streams and the Mississippi. Not a pretty thought at all...

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