Durango & Silverton to spend $1 million to reduce smoke emissions
January 26, 2007
DURANGO, Colo. - The owner of the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad has pledged to spend $1 million over five years to reduce smoke emissions from steam locomotives at the Durango roundhouse, the Durango Herald reported. The goal is to reduce the smoke emissions by 10 percent per year over the next five years. Residents, especially those living in South Durango, have complained for years that smoke from steam locomotives pollutes the air, leaves a fine layer of soot inside houses, and even turns the white hair on their pets black.
In an interview with the Herald this week, the railroad’s owner, Allen Harper, said the $1 million should produce results and show the community that he and his wife, Carol, are serious about improving air quality in Durango. “We want the community to know that we are good citizens and good neighbors in this town,” said Harper, who moved to the city with his family in August 2005. “We believe in Durango.” Harper has owned the railroad since 1998. During that time, he has done more than any other owner to reduce smoke emissions, he said. “We’re proud of that effort,” he told the Herald.
The Train Smoke Mitigation Task Force will have control over spending $1 million in the next five years. The group was created last year and consists of representatives from the railroad, Region 9 Economic Development of Southwest Colorado, La Plata County, city of Durango, and South Durango residents.
Harper’s plan is as follows:
He will pledge $50,000 cash each year through 2011 to reduce smoke.
He will commit $50,000 each year through 2011 for labor costs directly related to smoke reduction.
In 2010, he will commit $500,000 cash to reduce smoke.
The task force will prioritize how the money is spent, but Harper hopes for a 10 percent reduction in smoke emissions each year for the next five years at the roundhouse. “We feel like we can achieve our goal of a 10 percent reduction of emissions (each year),” he told the Herald. The San Juan Basin Health Department and other state agencies will monitor improvements in emissions.
Options already being considered this year include using wood pellets rather than coal to keep locomotives warm overnight and moving an ash pit to Silverton, Colo.
