The Alaska Railroad is reopening an old and contentious debate with a plan to use herbicides to kill weeds, brush and other plant growth in and alongside its tracks.
In an application filed with the state Department of Environmental Conservation, the railroad proposes using two commonly available weed killers called glyphosate and 2,4-D and a Dupont Chemical product called Oust Extra, which can only be used by professionals. The substances would be sprayed straight down from a rail-mounted vehicle for up to 15 feet on either side of the center of the tracks.
The agency's review of the application, including a public comment period, will put a decision off until at least this fall. Railroad officials don't plan to begin using the chemicals until next year.
Ernie Piper, assistant vice president for operations and safety, said the railroad hasn't used herbicides since 1984, when a federal judge decided that it hadn't done enough environmental review and ordered it to stop.
Instead, railroad workers have used steam and rail-mounted brush cutters and have whacked weeds by hand. Those methods are no longer doing the job effectively enough, and vegetation is threatening the integrity of the tracks, Piper said Tuesday.
Railroad officials have sought to resume using chemical weed-killers several times, but resistance from rural Railbelt communities like Talkeetna and environmental groups have stopped each effort. One opponent, Pam Miller of Alaska Community Action on Toxics, said at least two of the chemicals the railroad is proposing to use are known to cause health problems or birth defects.
"The fact this (would be) sprayed on railroad right of way that crosses hundreds of creeks, salmon streams, places where people gather berries ... the potential for exposure is very high," Miller said.
Piper and others said the railroad decided to revisit the question of using herbicides this year because of a combination of cumulative stress on the railroad's 500 miles of track from Seward to Fairbanks, safety concerns and a desire to protect miles of track upgrades completed over the last decade.
Weeds and roots growing in the rail bed hamper drainage and destabilize tracks, he said. Taller brush growing along tracks can block vision at crossings and turns in the line. The Federal Railroad Administration has fined the state-owned railroad tens of thousands of dollars in recent years for failing to adequately control vegetation.
In addition, the railroad has spent millions of dollars to rebuild and straighten sections of track and is preparing to issue bonds to do more work, Piper and railroad spokesman Tim Thompson said. Protecting that new track is another good reason to revisit the herbicide issue, they said.
"We want to get at it now rather than later, when it's become a problem," Thompson said.
The chemicals the railroad plans to use are absorbed in soil and decompose quickly, Piper said. A drift retardant will be added to the mix so it doesn't blow off-site, he said.
Piper said the railroad and the contractor it plans to hire to apply the herbicides will be careful to control their use.
"You've got to acknowledge that if you're going to introduce chemicals into the environment that you've got to be careful about it," he said.
Railroads in other states regularly use chemical weed-killers, Piper said. Railroad officials said they are unaware of any other North American railroad that tries to control vegetation without herbicides.
