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Burlington Northern Santa Fe's Railway Company Case Summary

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Burlington Northern Santa Fe’s Railway Company (BNSF) are accused of violating the Clean Water Act (CWA) by discharging coal dust into waterways from uncovered train cars without the proper permits. Plaintiffs include; the Sierra Club, Puget Soundkeeper, Columbia Riverkeeper, RE Sources for Sustainable Communities, Riverkeeper and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Friends of the Columbia Gorge Spokane. In April, BNSF was sent a 60 day notice by plaintiffs, demonstrating the companies' responsibility and pertinent evidentiary support showing coal emissions in waterways. The plaintiffs requested a plan of action to curb the amount of discharge or they intended to take the case to court. BNSF and associates did nothing to attempt to curb their pollution or obtain the correct permit. Plaintiff's filed the joint lawsuit on July 24, 2013 accusing BNSF with dumping a pollutant into a waterway without a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit.
Waterways along the BNSF train routes have shown increased levels of lead, arsenic, and mercury, found in conjunction with the coal dust and chunks, and petroleum coke. BNSF’s Vice President of Transportation admits that;
"BNSF estimates that up to 500 pounds of coal dust may be lost from the top of each car.” -Gregory Fox
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The defense also sited precedence from higher court rulings, challenging that their particular form of pollution is legally defined as "non-point source pollution" because it does not come from "a discernible confined and discrete conveyance that transports the pollutants from land to water.” (Stark 2014). Such a ruling would prevent them from being found in violation of the CWA, pertinent only to point source

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