Union Pacific Railroad Car Washing Facility Public Meeting raises many questions
By: Jose G. Landa, Copyright 2015, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc.
A joint public meeting between Union Pacific Railroad representatives and Kinney County Commissioners Court regarding the construction of a railroad car preparation facility on Thursday, February 12, 2015, whose purpose was to answer the questions of concerned Kinney County citizens, particularly Spofford, Texas residents, seems to have raised many questions, some of which were answered while others remained unanswered. Over 100 concerned Kinney County and surrounding area citizens attended the public meeting at the Kinney County Civic Center in Brackettville, Texas.
Kinney County Judge Tully Shahan welcomed everyone to the joint public meeting and introduced Ivan Jaime, Director of Border Policy and Community Affairs for Union Pacific Railroad in San Antonio, Texas. Judge Shahan recognized Kinney County Commissioners Pat Melancon, Joe Montalvo, Dennis Dodson, and Mark Freirich at the public meeting.
Jaime thanked Kinney County Judge Shahan and the citizens of Kinney County for allowing Union Pacific Railroad (Union Pacific) to attempt to inform them publicly about the Union Pacific-Kinney County Car Preparation Facility and answer their questions and concerns regarding this facility which is under construction on FM 1572 just outside the city limits of Spofford, Texas, across the railroad tracks from the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas Kickapoo Nation Ranch.
Jaime told the audience that Union Pacific wanted to make sure that some of the planning and meetings for the Kinney County Car Preparation Facility can be transparent and open to the public for citizens to raise and air their concerns and questions regarding the facility.
Jaime presented a power point presentation regarding a summary of the Kinney County Car Preparation Facility and why it is being constructed in Kinney County, Texas. Jaime detailed the Union Pacific system, including its regional and local operations, the environmental benefits of freight rail, and how the growing economy dictates what is the best method to serve it.
Jaime noted that the growing U.S. economy and U.S.-Mexico trade are the reason for Union Pacific to construct its largest railroad car washing and repair facility in Kinney County. Kinney County is strategically located between Union Pacific’s California to Houston tracks and its U.S.-Mexico Port of Entry at Eagle Pass, Texas and Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico.
Jaime noted that Brackettville and Eagle Pass are vital in the shipping industry through rail. “When you look at all the volume that is moving in and out of Mexico through Eagle Pass and eventually ending up in Kinney County and then it’s connected with a broader network,” said Jaime. “To give you an idea of the magnitude of this, it’s 350,000 railcars or so on an annual basis as of 2013,” said Jaime.
Jaime showed a historical comparison of how railroad traffic has increased through Union Pacific’s Port of Eagle Pass. The Union Pacific rail port of Eagle Pass was moving close to 300 railcars per day in 2004 and today is now moving between1,200 to 1,500 railcars per day. Jaime stated each railcar is the equivalent of three freight trucks. “We are moving the equivalent of 1,000,000 freight trucks worth of volume in and out of the port of Eagle Pass,” said Jaime.
Jaime noted that Spofford, Texas is currently a run through operation which connects to other areas for shipment and that by adding the railway preparation facility it would enable for over 200 to 300 railcars to be serviced in the Spofford facility to continue servicing Union Pacific’s customers.
Jaime told the public that the Spofford facility would mostly be washing and cleaning railroad cars dealing with residues that are left from automobiles, auto parts, beer, corn, consumer goods, grain, aggregates and other goods but that the facility would not be cleaning rail hopper cars carrying hazardous chemical agents, powders, or coal cars either.
Jaime pointed that the newly expanded Constellation Brands Beer Brewery in Nava, Coahuila, Mexico, just outside of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, is as an example of an industry that will be served at the Spofford railcar preparation facility.
Jaime provided the details of the Spofford/Kinney County Railcar Preparation Facility to the audience. The facility is being built on 470 acres, which was purchased from two landowners, and will employ between 100 to 120 employees starting in January 2016. The estimated cost of construction of the facility is between $35-45 Million. The facility will use an estimated water usage 2,500 gallons per day. Of these 2,500 daily gallons of water usage, an estimated 1,500 gallons will be for employee facilities and offices including restrooms, locker rooms, and offices. The remaining 500 to 1,000 gallons of daily water usage will be used for cleaning and washing of railroad cars. An estimated 90% of the cleaning water will be captured, filtered, and reused for railcar cleaning. The remaining 10% of the daily water usage will be discharged into an unspecified location.
Jaime noted that Union Pacific has been working with the Kinney County Commissioners Court, the City of Brackettville, the City of Spofford, and local news media since June 16, 2014. After his Power Point presentation, Jaime opened up the meeting to questions from the public.
“Those box cars are going to be cleaned and do some normal light repair on them. When you talk about cleaning those cars it’s mostly dry sweep out type of work. Right now we find that only 10% of the cars that we will handle doing this require repairs.” said Randy Gaston, Union Pacific Senior Mechanical Operations Director.
“What do they haul? They haul all kinds of different things. The purpose that they are going to be used out of here is to carry beer from the Constellation Brewery that was on the paper today,” said Gaston. “They don’t carry heavy hazardous materials,” added Gaston.
Gaston pointed that most of the water which will be used at the facility will be recaptured and filtered, recycled out and be reused. “We are not going to be going through tens and thousands of gallons of water per day. We’re probably going to go through 1,000 to 1,500 gallons per day,” said Gaston.
“The harshest chemical that we will be using is the same thing that you buy off the grocery store shell, Simple Green. That’s what we will be washing the cars with when we need to,” answered Gaston to a question.
One concerned Kinney County resident asked Jaime where will Union Pacific get its water from for use in the facility. Jaime replied that water has been obtained from the City of Brackettville pending an agreement with the City of Spofford for the transportation of the water through Spofford’s water pipeline. Spofford City officials raised a concern that their existing water pipeline cannot handle the increased water usage and will require an upgrade. Jaime noted that Union Pacific is willing to pay for Spofford’s upgrade and engineering costs and are awaiting to hear from Spofford City officials.
A Spofford resident raised a question over the water usage situation and transport problems associated with the facility and the City of Spofford’s inadequate water pipeline system. ” I know that they don’t have a big enough pipe to pump a thousand gallons or more of water down there,” asked the resident. “How are we supposed to do that? We have a contract with the City of Brackettville that says we cannot pump water outside the city limits. We can only use it inside city limits and it has to be for domestic use only,” asked the resident.
Allan Lindskog, a Consulting Engineer of Union Pacific, answered that research had been done on Spofford’s city water system and that they do realize that there are pipeline improvements that need to be made. “Union Pacific is prepared to make those,” said Lindskog.
Lindskog stated that one possible solution to the problem is for the railcar preparation facility take its water during the night, for example from 11 P.M. to 4 A.M.
The Eagle Pass Business Journal asked Jaime if there was a specific amount of acre feet of water in the water purchase agreement between Union Pacific and the City of Brackettville. “At this point in time what I will say is we have not been able to narrow down an agreement because there is no legal representation in the City of Spofford at this time. I think any discussion of the legal agreement at this time would be premature,” said Jaime.
Another question asked was what amount of the employee base was to be brought in from out of town that are already trained and what amount was to be taken from the Kinney County work force. “Our goal is to hire as much locally as we can. There is a vested interest to have people from the area representing the company. We don’t know how successful we’re going to be. Also we will contract out the hiring of those employees as well,” said Jaime.
Another question was if there is going to be a contractor for just the hiring process or also for the operation of the facility? “The contractor running the facility will be primarily responsible for the hiring. It will be subcontracted out,” said Randy Gaston. In other words, Union Pacific will own the facility but hire a contractor to operate it for them.
Do you already have a specific contractor in mind or already hired? “We’re still in the pre-bid process. We are still considering that,” said Jaime. In general, 30% of the jobs would be administrative or other support jobs while 60% would be out in the field. The skill level of employees will be a high school diploma or GED diploma. The salary for most of these positions will pay between $12-18 per hour, which is considerably less than what Union Pacific pays its employees.
Another resident raised questions concerning the type of railcars to be treated, washed, or repaired at the facility. “Are the boxcars going to contain tankers?” Jaime answered no. “Now, or in the future?” the citizen asked.
Jaime replied that Union Pacific has been in the business for over 150 years. “This might not be the direct answer you are looking for, but in 1862 could they predict what would happen in 2000. What I can tell you is the facility is not designed for that. This region is not a chemical producing or consuming region or hazardous materials,” said Jaime.
“If you do begin to clean any Railcars that carry hazardous materials at the Spofford Facility, are you going to notify the public?” Jaime stated that U.P. is federally regulated but never directly answered yes or no to the citizen’s question. Instead he passed the microphone to another representative. “The intent of the facility is focused in on plain box cars.” Said Gaston
“With the coal mine down south of this place, is your cleaning facility going to handle any of the coal cars coming through this area? “ “It’s not designed for that either. That facility is 9 miles from the border and there is no sense in bringing that up north and then back south,” said Jaime.
“On your permit you said that the area you will be disturbing is to be 100 acres but on your presentation you just said it will be 470 acres?” “If I said 100 acres I apologize I meant to say 470 acres,” said Jaime.
“It was on the permit, it says 100 acres. I was wondering why the difference,” asked the citizen. Jaime then proceeded to state that the current building footprint is for 100 acres but that it will be expanded to the 470 acres.
Another resident asked what percentage of the jobs would be for females. Jaime answered that rail industry has been predominantly male oriented but as of lately there has been more females coming into the industry. “The labor force has been really diversifying. I don’t have the exact percentage but I can get that for you and get back to you,” said Jaime.
Another Union Pacific representative stated that on average the ratio would be at 5% female depending on the different sections of the jobs. “Veterans make up 30 to 35 % of our workforce, ” said Jaime, meaning Union Pacific employees, not the private contractor.
“When you sweep out your cars where is it going to go? On the ground, a tank, and the water once its flowing out of the cars what’s it going into?” asked a resident.
“We will have containment underneath that where the water is collected and then pumped back to be recycled through the filter system. As far as sweeping we capture that at the source where we sweep,” said Gaston.
Will the facility be ready for fire protection asked a concerned resident?
“We have initial basic concepts plans in place dealing with fire suppression. And we are going to have further discussions soon to look at it through the county’s aspects,” said Blevins.
Another resident raised concerns as to the use of Simple Green as a cleaning agent as stated earlier during the presentation. “It is documented in my work scope and to be utilized with this equipment, Simple Green will be the agent of choice,” said Blevins.
Jaime was then asked if Union Pacific was required to apply for air quality permits with TCEQ for this facility. “I have to get back to you on the permits. What I can tell you is that railroad is a heavily regulated industry. When you’ve been in operations for 150 years you have a track record of regulations. I know we are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies. I’d have to get you a more specific answer on what you asked,” said Jaime.
Another question asked by a citizen was did Union Pacific have to apply for certain permits with TCEQ and would TCEQ be holding public hearings for the community to ask questions regarding the facility. Jaime answered that they generally do not hold public hearings. “What we have suggested is that we hold quarterly public meetings where we can give you project updates,” said Jaime. “This is an issue for us as a corporation where we don’t put this on. That is for your government elected officials to call public hearings. Anytime that they call a public hearing then we can accept the invitation,” said Jaime.
What is the disposal process of the waste from the water?
U.P. representative stated that there are certain procedures that can be followed including dealing with a proper disposal facility if needed.
What kind of filtration system will be set in place at the facility?
“What we are using at other locations it’s an HT RPFE1 water filtration system,” said Blevins.
You have stated that mostly you will be handling rail cars that have to do with the beer industry do you happen to know where the actual tankers and hopper cars that deal with coal and the chemical industry are taken to be cleaned out?
“They’re certain designated facilities throughout that are especially equipped for that. They take great care on how they do that. Actually on how they do that it is not an exposed cleaning it’s all in a contained system in order to do that. This facility in no means will be cleaning tank cars, it’s simply not equipped it takes much more than what we intend to do,” said Blevins.
Three Spofford residents raised questions regarding potential environmental contamination from the facility, but their questions were not directly answered by Union Pacific representatives.
Will you disclose your TCEQ permits to the public?
“I’m pretty sure they’re public. I will follow up on that. Union Pacific will not have a problem with the permits we are seeking from a public agency. I just need to get real familiar with what permits have been requested,” said Jaime.
A concerned female resident asked the Union Pacific panel if they could guarantee that no rail cars containing hazardous materials such as chemicals or coal would not be brought to the Spofford Railway facility to be cleaned now or in the future.
“Union Pacific cannot make that guarantee. Union Pacific is a common carrier per federal law, as a company serves the public interest. As such we cannot decline to ship a product that is properly packaged by a customer,” said Jaime.
Another resident with chronic respiratory illness asked if the facility will pollute the air in Spofford due to the southeast Gulf prevailing winds but did not receive a direct answer from Union Pacific.
Several Spofford residents told the Eagle Pass Business Journal that they are concerned regarding the potential contamination of their community’s air and water supply as a result of the facility built outside the southeast city limits. Julio Solis expressed he had personal concerns that the water wells, water system, and air in Spofford not become contaminated by the facility. “There is going to be increased train locomotive and railcar traffic emitting diesel fumes almost 24 hours a day of the year. Noise pollution is also a concern for me,’ said Julio Solis. “We want to make sure that the citizens of Spofford will not be adversely affected by pollution coming from the facility,” said Solis.
Kinney County Judge Tully Shahan told the Eagle Pass Business Journal that he is “very excited to have this $45 Million investment in Kinney County which will help the local economy tremendously.”
The facility will be operational by October 2015 and be fully operational in January 2016.
