8 I The Lovell Chronicle I May 20, 2010
www.LovellChronicle.com
'I
BP, xD DVeREAUX
Bob Martens digs out a Roundup Ready sugar beet
seed that has yet to sprout in a field at his Lovell
farm last week. Growers were affected tby freezing
temperatures in early May causing about 2,500 acres
to be replanted in Park and Big Horn Counties.
BY BRAD DEVEREAUX
After some low temper-
atures two weeks ago, some
area beet farmers were
forced to replant their crop
while others chose to leave
their planted fields alone.
Either way, the beet grow-
ing season is moving ahead
and farmers are optimistic
for a good year.
Lovell farmer Bob Mar-
tens said though the couple
of nights when it dropped to
about 22 degrees will prob-
ably hurt his overall yield,
the potential loss isn't
enough to re-plant.
Martens said the young
sugar beet plants are most
vulnerable just aider they
come out of the ground be-
fore straightening out. He
said most of his plants were
past the vulnerable stage
and were able to survive the
brief low temps. He planted
his fields April 14 and be-
gan irrigating April 22.
Though he expects his
yields to drop from the de-
sired 140 to 160 plants per
100 feet of row to around
100 beets, he said the more
spaced-out beets should get
a little bigger than expect-
ed.
Nearby at Heart Moun-
tain, Ric Rodriguez said his
crop was hit harder by the
weather, causing him to re-
plant about 95 percent of
his beets.
"The ground was wet
and it froze two or three
inches down," Rodriguez
said, adding that the freeze
affected beets both above
and below the soil. He fin-
ished replanting this week
and some of the new seeds
he started a week ago are
already sprouting, thanks
to the warm weather.
"It's early enough that
you can get in and get things
replanted right away," he
said.
Western Sugar Agricul-
turist Mark Bjornsted said
about 2,500 acres are be-
ing replanted in Park and
Big Horn Counties, about
15 percent of the total sug-
ar crop in the area. He said
farms west of Powell that
were higher in elevation
with lower temperatures
were affected the most by
the cold.
Bjornsted has been
responding to calls from
farmers to assess damages
at their farms and making
recommendations either to
re-plant or hold out until
harvest.
"It's basically a num-
bers game of how many
plants you have and what's
acceptable and what isn't,"
Bjornsted said. "The major-
ity of farmers have enough
to make a crop. I make a
recommendation and the
farmers make a decision."
He said most farmers
who chose to re-plant will
be finished by the end of
this week.
Though 15 percent is
slightly above average for
re-planting, "I still feel
things could turn out to
be a very good crop at this
point," Bjornsted said.
BY KARLA POMEROY
The many fish in the
Big Horn River appear to
have survived the contam-
ination of diesel fuel into
their watery habitat last
week.
Wyoming Game and
Fish Regional Fisheries Su-
pervisor Steve Yekel said
upon hearing about the
Burlington Northern train
derailment on Wednesday
they responded to complete
an initial investigation into
the health of the fish.
"We saw no dead or
stressed fish," Yekel said.
He said they did find dead
invertebrates, however.
"We believe the diesel
was diluted with the large
flows in the river. Diesel
tends to float on the sur-
face. I think the only mix-
ing came in the ripples.
That might have been the
contributing factor to why
we're seeing the dead inver-
tebrates," Yekel said.
"That's the immediate
impact," he said. "We'll be
looking at the long term, as
well." If the contamination
killed a lot of the inverte-
brates, that hurts the fish
food production, Yekel said,
which means there might
not be the growth in the fish
that G&F normally sees.
"We won't know until
we sample in the fall when
we normally sample that
area," he said. "If we don't
see the additional growth
it usually means a higher
winter mortality."
He said they won't be
doing any additional mon-
itoring of the area unless
they receive reports of large
numbers of dead or dying
fish.
Scott and the other occu-
pant of the locomotive, con-
ductor Brett Prettyman of
Casper, barely managed to
pull themselves from the lo-
comotive before it filled with
water.
"It was the worst train
ride of my life," said Scott,
who was "still pretty sore"
when contacted Monday
-- five days after the acci-
dent.
The train, which con-
sisted of two locomotives
and approximately 65 cars,
hit the boulder shortly after
noon about a mile into the
canyon.
Scott said he was going
about 30 miles per hour and
negotiating a curve when
Prettyman yelled, "Rock!"
-- and then a second later,
"Big rock!"
"That' when it came into
view for me -- it was about a
tenth of a mile away," Scott
said.
•
BAWD
Cargo spills from a railroad car as a BNSF repair
crew pulls the car up the embankment on the
western shore of the Wind River in Wind River
Canyon Friday morning.
DERAILMENT
According to the Asso-
ciated Press the Burlington
Northern-Santa Fe freight
train hit a large boulder in
Wind River Canyon, spill-
ing some diesel but causing
no injuries. The AP reported
the incident occurred about
six miles south of Thermop-
olis at the north end of the
canyon.
A Wyoming Highway
Patrol trooper patrolling
U.S. 20/WYO 789 in the
Wind River Canyon wit-
nessed the derailment into
the Big Horn River shortly
after noon on Wednesday.
After the derailment
the two engineers aboard
the locomotive were able to
climb out the side window
of the lead locomotive as the
cab filled with water. The
two were able to make their
way to the safety of the hill-
side. The Trooper and the
engineers were able to yell
back and forth to each other
across the river and the two
engineers advised they had
no serious injuries.
The incident began
when the trooper noticed
a huge rock resting on the
rail line in the canyon. The
trooper notified the Wyo-
ming Highway Patrol Dis-
patch Center in Cheyenne
who in turn was on the
phone notifying Burlington
Northern of the blocked rail.
The Trooper estimated the
rock to be about eight feet
across and six feet gh.
Before Burlington
Northern could make noti-
fication to their personnel,
a southbound train struck
the rock. Both lead loco-
motives and the first three
cars derailed with the lead
locomotive going into the
Big Horn River.
The Big Horn River sep-
arates highway US 20/WYO
789 and the railroad line
and the trooper was unable
to cross the river. Accord-
ing to the Wyoming High-
way Patrol press release, it
has been determined that
the locomotives were spill-
ing diesel fuel from their
fuel tanks into the river.
In addition, the first rail
car behind the locomotives
was loaded with bentonite,
which was also spilling into
the river.
EMERGENCY
MANAGEMENT
Big Horn County Emer-
gency Management Coor-
dinator John Hyde said
his office was contacted
Wednesday about the de-
railment and spill.
In an interview Friday
he said, "As of yesterday,
late afternoon, everything
was apparently fine. They
had set up a staging area
and the regional hazmat re-
sponse team and BN clean-
up team had begun the
cleanup."
He said response
team members or BN of-
ficials would contact Big
Horn County if something
changed and there was ad-
ditional concern.
"Our immediate concern
was the canals. From what
people on the ground have
told us, everything's been
taken care of," Hyde said.
Continued from page 1
Scott said he immedi-
ately applied the emergency
brake, and both he and Pret-
tyman "put our feet up and
held on tight" as they braced
for the crash. "
The boulder, ,about-8
feet by 6 feet," had fallen
from the rain and snow-
soaked canyon wall, approx-
imately six miles south of
Thermopolis.
Scott said everything
from that point "happened
pretty fast," but said he re-
calls the locomotive coming
off the rail, hopping on the
railroad tie and then start-
ing to lean off the shoulder.
"When the locomotive
started to tip over, I opened
the window, thinking we'd
need a way to get out of
here," he said. "It was a hor-
rible noise -- the sound of
the side of the locomotive
scraping on the rocks."
As the locomotive
plunged downward into the
river, Scott recalls the fuel
tank being torn open, and
the cabin filling with a mix of
water and diesel fuel.
"I had grabbed onto my
brake and throttle handle --
it was like I was dangling off
a cliff," Scott said. "I couldn't
see what was happening to
my conductor underneath
me."
Within three to five sec-
onds, the cab was full "up
to a foot of the window,"
Scott said. "Both our heads
were under the water at one
point."
The next few moments
were the most harrowing,
as Scott can recall slipping
as he attempted to get out of
the locomotive.
"I remember thinking,
Tou.know, I'm going to die
here. I'm never going to see
myson agamY
Fortunately, it nev-
er came to that. Scott was
able to pull himself partially
out of the window and was
pulled the rest of the way out
by Prettyman.
From there, they pro-
ceeded to walk on the loco-
motive to the river bank,
then UP to the track.
"We looked down at the
mess,4 T sked Brett -Iow
did we through this?' It
was a pretty scary ride."
Cold, wet and wearing
only T-shirts, the men man-
aged to build a fire, and with:
in a couple of hours, firemen
were able to get to them.
They were then rushed to
the hospital in Thermopolis,
where they were treated and
released.
The derailment resulted
in the spilling of up to 6,800
gallons of diesel fuel into the
Big Horn River.
Working around the
clock, workers were able to
remove the four freight cars
and the two locomotives late
last week.
i-
!:
!
Please join us in celebrating the esteemed
career of Dick Loegering at the
• Bank of Lovell
Retwement Party Open House
When:
Time:
Thursday, June 3rd
I pm
Any decorated
Graduation
or Any
Deli Tray
order
(12". 16"- 18")
Expires 5/25/2010
9 E. Main • Lovell, WY
h=
~L
