Community Issue - Alaska Railroad Herbicide Spraying Plan

On June 14th, 2006, the Alaska Railroad Corporation applied to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation for a permit to apply herbicides around rail yards and along the tracks from Seward to Fairbanks. This 500 mile span also includes the railroads right-of-way, 100 feet on both sides of the tracks. According to the permit application notice, the herbicides are needed to replace the current mechanical method of removing weeds which is failing to work as well as it needs to.

The Railroad proposes the following dates for herbicide application:

Oct 1, 2006 - Nov 30, 2006 (2 month time period range)
April 15, 2007 - July 15, 2007 (3 month time period range)
April 15, 2008 - July 15, 2008 (3 month time period range)

If the permit is granted, herbicides would be sprayed extremely close to hundreds of rivers and creeks, as well as people's homes, schools and parks. The AKRR claims on their website that these negative effects are minimal and will not cause any significant harm.

Chemical drift, of course, is an obvious and well documented concern. While aerial is not anticipated here the applied pesticides, along with their “inert” ingredients, can readily filter down through the porous ballast material of the rail beds and eventually leach into any of the adjacent salmon streams. The permit application states the ballast is under layed by “packed soil”. In fact a large portion of the Anchorage Bowl is under layed by glacial outwash gravels – which are quite porous. And creeks, of course, travel through these porous deposits.

Chemical pesticide literature shows that Oust Extra, Razor Pro and 2,4-d can be toxic to aquatic organisms in concentrations below those proposed to be used by the ARR.

While the AWC is concerned about the pesticide effects on adult salmon and trout in the streams and which may be able to tolerate slightly higher concentrations of these chemicals, we are more concerned about the organisms in the food chains which support the juvenile salmon and trout. The immature stages of aquatic insects which those fish feed on, including mayflies, stoneflies and caddis flies, appear to be impacted at far lower concentrations of these chemicals.

And, finally, near the bottom of this food chain, are the mostly green algae which many of these aquatic insects feed on. Relevant literature on chemical herbicide research, including some by EPA, shows toxicity to some algae at concentrations below 10 ppb! Clearly, if this base of the juvenile salmon food chain is impacted there could be significant negative results on a stream by stream basis.

In the ARR application on page 4, Site Information for Endangered or Threatened Species, the answer was NO to the question "is the project site within an identified habitat for such species"; but the question following was "has a field survey been conducted to determine the presence of such species", to which the response was also NO. We see an obvious disparity here.

The indicated buffer zone between the application areas and waterways is ten feet, which we feel is inadequate given the possibility of drift or run off.

The AWC is concerned that ARR may not have rigorously pursued alternative control measures.

Rivers and Creeks that WILL be impacted by AKRR spraying herbicides.
The AKRR crosses the following creeks and rivers (from north to south):

• Eklutna River
• Edmonds Creek
• Mirror Creek
• Peters Creek
• Mink Creek
• Parks Creek
• Eagle River
• Ship Creek
• Chester Creek
• Fish Creek
• Campbell Creek (twice—once in the lower Campbell Creek watershed)
• Little Campbell Creek
• Furrow Creek
• Little Rabbit Creek
• Potter Creek
• McHugh Creek
• Glacier Creek
• Virgin Creek

The AKRR closely parallels the following creeks, rivers, and wetlands:

• Fire Creek, approximately 3 miles
• Ship Creek, approximately 3.5 miles
• Fish Creek, approximately 1.1 miles
• Little Campbell Creek, approximately .25 mile
• Along Potter Marsh for about 1.1 miles

These are all anadromous streams—identified as such by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
(Source: Municipality of Anchorage’s most recent GIS database files.)

The AWC is working with other local groups to help fight this problem, as well as attending the public meetings. The first public meeting in Anchorage was on Tuesday, July 11, 2006 and the AWC gave testimony.

July 11, 2006 Testimony
Permit Application Notice
http://www.akrr.com/arrc327.html
http://www.akrr.com/arrc334.html
http://www.akrr.com/arrc331.html
http://www.akaction.org/Pesticide_Fact_Sheets.htm