Park OKs avalanche blasting
The Daily Inter Lake
Glacier National Park officials on Friday afternoon granted Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad a permit to address avalanche hazards within the boundaries of the park.
The "temporary special use permit" is valid for Friday through Sunday, allowing blasting to reduce avalanche dangers along the Middle Fork railroad right-of-way along the park's southern boundary.
The request from the railroad was received Friday morning after more than a foot of new snow accumulated Thursday night and Friday morning above 4,000 feet, according to a park press release.
Based on the new snow accumulation and a weekend weather forecast calling for rain and temperatures above 40 degrees, a 24-hour notification was received at the park around 1 p.m. Friday.
Provided all criteria and requirements are met, blasting could occur at 1 p.m. today at the earliest.
As a precautionary measure, short-term closures of U.S. 2 are expected between Essex and the community of Snowslip (mile markers 178 to 191) coordinated by the Montana Department of Transportation. Off-road park area closures will be in effect at 8 a.m. this morning for the area of Snowslip and Running Rabbit mountains (mile markers 184-191).
The permit requires the railroad to notify the park of the emergency 24 hours prior to any blasting operation and to provide an operations plan to the park eight hours prior to any blasting operation.
After this weekend, future emergency special use permit will depend on a pending agreement between the railroad and Department of Transportation.
The Burlington Northern Santa Fe request stems from incidents in January 2004.
On Jan. 28 that year, an empty 119-car freight train was stopped on the west side of Marias Pass in John Stevens Canyon by an avalanche that had crossed the tracks. While it was stopped, the train was hit by another avalanche that derailed 15 cars in two different places. A third avalanche nearly missed cleanup crews and a fourth slide hit a truck traveling on U.S. 2.
Amtrak passenger service also was temporarily stopped and 70 miles of freight trains were backed up on both sides of Marias Pass for 29 hours.
The railroad subsequently approached the park about establishing an avalanche hazard reduction program in the Middle Fork corridor.
The park determined that an environmental impact statement would be required. A draft environmental study is still being developed.
The draft study is undergoing an internal review and is expected to be available for public review this spring.