Train tracks and contaminated lands

>> Railway companies are trying to reverse suburban herbicide bans. Should they be allowed to spray their tracks?

by WAYNE HILTZ and JACQUIE CHARLTON

The Canadian Pacific Railway knew they would have a tough selling job when they came to Westmount last month. Four CPR officials, a noted UQAM biologist and a Monsanto chemical company official were on hand to flog a proposal to spray four kilometres of track with the herbicide Roundup to control weeds on the ballast, or gravel railbed. But they apparently didn't count on the plan getting derailed by skeptical, environmentally conscious residents.

"The use of a herbicide cannot possibly harm citizens because it doesn't leave the ballast or cause anything but minute environmental impacts, and only within the rights-of-way," reassured Dr. Daniel Gagnon, a UQAM biology professor hired as a CPR consultant.

Describing Roundup as the "safest, most effective herbicide available today," Gagnon said it biodegrades in the soil and will not drift to nearby homes.

However, many residents argued against using chemicals. The City of Westmount prides itself on passing a tough anti-pesticide bylaw four years ago, largely due to strong citizen pressure. Several other suburban Montreal municipalities have passed similar bylaws. If eventually accepted by the town council, the CPR proposal would mean making an exception to that bylaw.

"They're snowing you guys with lots of words. This stuff is poisonous," warned Westmount resident Jennifer Patton. Others wondered whether CPR had considered non-chemical weed-control methods, such as liquid nitrogen, steam or a soap solution. While expressing an openness to alternatives, Gagnon replied that they're either too costly, ineffective in killing the roots or often take two or three treatments per season.

Paul Maloney, a West Island resident, said afterwards that even if you have to re-apply these alternatives several times, "the benefits far outweigh the risks of using chemicals that get bottled up in the cycle of nature and mess things up".

Others were worried that granting an exception to CPR would mean a backward step for the anti-pesticide movement. "Those four kilometres would be a catalyst for future reversals," said resident Constantin Katsanis. "Those with an interest in using herbicides could then use Westmount as a test case and argue to reverse restrictions in other municipalities."

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In St-Henri, meanwhile, the spraying of herbicides along the railway ballast is permitted, just as it is for all railway lines in the City of Montreal.

Depending on who you talk to, officials provide differing information as to which herbicide is sprayed, when it is sprayed and why.

According to an official at UMA-Gesco, which handles the spraying contract for the Canadian National Railway in the province of Quebec, a herbicide called Arsenal is used once a year. The reasons given for spraying include water accumulating underground due to roots beneath the tracks and the dangers of tripping on overgrowth. Go long enough without spraying, they say, and a derailment could result.

But an official at the 1-800 number found on a warning sign posted near the tracks says the herbicide used is Dycleer, sprayed once every two years. The 1-800 number belongs to Midland Vegetation Management, an Ontario company which obtained the herbicide contract from CN and subcontracts it to UMA-Gesco. As to why the tracks are sprayed, the official says it is to conform with Montreal's ragweed regulations. Neglecting to spray means the rail companies must pay a ragweed tax.

Notwithstanding the differing information, it is difficult to see why any spraying at all is necessary. There are plants along the tracks--brown and withered and completely dead from their chemical spray two weeks ago--but they poke up through the gravel at a non-threatening density of one every 10 feet or so.

The fields around the tracks are a popular spot for dog walking. St-Henri homes, moreover, tend to be much closer to the train tracks than homes in Westmount. The fact that herbicides are being sprayed in an urban area like this--and in other parts of Montreal--concerns UQAM toxicologist Bertin Trottier. Though he says the risk from herbicide spraying along the tracks is small if it is applied properly, he adds, "It would be desirable that the rail companies used a biological alternative in an urban area." Trottier calls it a simple case of being a good neighbour.

In addition to herbicides, St-Henri residents have to contend with hydrocarbon emissions from trains which contaminate the soil near the tracks.

Last June, residents sought to turn a vacant lot owned by the City of Montreal into a green space and community garden. Since the land was adjacent to the tracks, the city promptly refused, knowing that the soil required decontamination before any vegetables could be grown on it. "That particular lot did not lend itself to that kind of project," City spokesperson Geneviève Fortin told the Mirror.