Monday, October 11, 2021

The "Train of Pain" Travels Thirty Miles from Moab to Crescent Junction - 2011

 


Union Pacific Railroad locomotives pull the uranium mill tailings train to the disposal site - Click for larger image (https://jamesmcgillis.com) 

The "Train of Pain" Travels Thirty Miles from Moab to Crescent Junction  

In April 2009, I was in Moab, Utah when the first mill tailings train departed the Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) site. The train departed from a track running high along a ridge that overlooks the Moab Pile. Five days each week, a trainload of radioactive soil headed north on the Cane Creek Subdivision, better known as the Potash Branch. The destination is a disposal site, northeast of Brendel and Crescent Junction, Utah. In those early days of rail transport, there was no published train schedule. Before I could locate a schedule, it was time for me to leave Moab.
A plume of diesel train exhaust follows the uranium mill tailings special as it gains speed in the desert, near Canyonlands Field, Moab, Utah. - Click for larger image (https://jamesmcgillis.com) 
In October 2010, I returned to Moab, traveling south along U.S. Highway 191. As the road descended towards the entrance at Arches National Park, I looked ahead towards the ridge. There I saw two Union Pacific Railroad locomotives pulling a trainload of containers to the north. After noting the time, I made plans to return and photograph the train as it traveled toward the UMTRA disposal site in the desert.
 
Two afternoons later, I waited near Milepost 134 on Highway 191. From there, I could see the lead engine, a 2004 GE C44AC-CTE approaching from over a mile away. As it pulled the hill, the entire train disappeared behind the Redrock. Reappearing a minute later, the lead engine entered an “S” curve. If this were the old days, I would say that the engines appeared to be “building steam”. As I stood and shot photos, the engines rapidly approached.
 
 
While standing near the edge of the railroad right of way, an unexpected plume of sound, heat and pollution blew me back from my position. After receiving that 8800-horsepower blast of old energy from the twin GE Evolution Series diesel locomotives, almost a minute passed before I could catch my breath. Still, as the parade of nuclear waste bins passed my position, I reflexively snapped more photos.
Lead locomotive crosses a steel trestle bridge near Canyonlands Field, Moab, Utah - Click for larger image (https://jamesmcgillis.com) 
Each of the thirty-six flatcars carried four steel-lidded bins. The two bins at the center of each car held up to thirty-five cubic yards and two outboard bins were larger still. Bringing up the rear were two ancient, exhaust encrusted locomotives. After fifteen years of service in the Rockies, the old diesel-electric engines could still share the load with the newer, equally powerful engines at head-end. Because of the extreme weight of the mill tailing trains, pushers are needed to help climb the initial grade. If an average container held forty cubic yards, the entire train carried almost 5000 cubic yards of contaminated soil. When dumped at the disposal site, a single trainload of contaminated soil would fill an American football field to a depth of about one meter.
Another 5000 cubic yards of nuclear contaminated material heads for the UMTRA Disposal Cell. It is not widely known that U.S. railroads transport radioactive material. 
To put the cleanup process into perspective, consider that it will take ten to fifteen years to complete the removal project. That timeline assumes two trainloads per day, at least five days per week. What might happen if a Colorado River flood were to hit the UMTRA site before the Moab Pile is gone? Only time will tell.
 
After the train passed my position, I jumped into my truck and headed towards the grade crossing at Utah Highway 313. When I reached that spot, the lead locomotives had already passed. I fastened my seatbelt and took off for a spot where the tracks come close to the highway. While taking pictures from a small hill adjacent to the tracks, the big diesel engines soon provided me with another blast of hot diesel exhaust.
The "Train of Pain" approaches the Rock Corral Road grade crossing - Click for larger image (https://jamesmcgillis.com) 
Traveling farther north, I stopped at an arroyo and shot pictures of the engines as they passed over a low bridge. My final stop was north of Canyonlands Field, where the unmarked Rock Corral Road crosses the tracks. This time I arrived well before of the train. After passing under the highway near Canyonlands Field, the train made wide left turn across my field of view. As it did, I could see each car in the thirty-nine car train. As the big diesel electric engines approached, I moved back form the tracks the tracks and continued shooting pictures. The train passed my position; it was heading down a slight grade, gaining speed on the straightaway.
Radioactive mill tailings pass by Rock Corral Road, in Grand County, Utah - Cl;ick for larger image (https://jamesmcgillis.com) 
Thinking that I was smarter than the train this time, I had positioned myself upwind from the exhaust blast. Sounding like an earthquake on wheels, I watched as the mighty engines roared toward me. What I had forgotten was the several horn-blasts required at a rail crossing, even in the middle of nowhere. This time, rather than an exhaust blast I endured several deafening blasts from the horns.
 
Covered with diesel soot and near deaf from the horn blasts, I stopped chasing the "Train of Pain". Instead, I stood between the tracks and watched as the two 1996 GE C44AC pusher engines disappeared down the tracks.
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By James McGillis at 05:45 PM | Environment | Comments (0) | Link

Cleanup of UMTRA Moab Nuclear Site is Now On Flood-Watch - 2011

 


View of the Colorado River, with UMTRA nuclear cleanup site at lower left - Click for map of UMTRA site (http://jamesmcgillis.com) 

Cleanup of UMTRA Moab Nuclear Site is Now On Flood-Watch 

During the Cold War years, the UMTRA project languished for lack of sufficient funding.
 
During heavy rain, the Moab Wash channels water toward the Moab Pile and the Colorado River. An aerial photo on the current UMTRA website shows the wash running toward the site. Both then and now, a subterranean stream passes under the site. As it does so, it carries hazardous materials to the Colorado River. Today, pumps near the river lift much of that contaminated water to the surface. Sprinklers then distribute it across the tailings, where it evaporates into the atmosphere.
 
By 2006, new studies showed a high potential for massive flooding along the Upper Colorado River. What had previously been called a ‘1000-year flood’ might occur once in 300 years. The new 300-year flood might also be three The Moab Pile in April 2009. Click for image one year later (http://jamesmcgillis.com)times larger than the old 1000-year flood. Sediments from ancient floods along the river proved that a large spring flood could sweep much of the Moab Pile downstream. If so, its radioactive poisons would flow toward the Lower Colorado Basin. Suddenly, the prospect of Los Angeles and Phoenix becoming “ghost cities” seemed plausible.
 
During the George W. Bush administration, cleanup funds for the Moab Pile were sparse. At the time, the U.S. was fighting wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Unwilling to add further to the federal deficit, many Cold War era cleanups languished. Conventional wisdom said, “If a large flood is so rare, the odds are that it will not happen here in our lifetimes.” 
 
Soon after President Obama took office, his administration funded cleanup of the Moab Pile. Then, as the economy faltered, the project received additional federal stimulus money. In April 2009, the first trainload of contaminated soil departed for a disposal site near Crescent Junction, Utah. By late 2010, larger waste containers and a second train each day promised even faster removal of the Moab Pile.
Nuclear waste container staging area at the Moab Pile - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis) 
In 2025, when UMTRA concludes its work, the long-running environmental disaster known as the Moab Pile will be gone. With almost fifteen years to go, I wonder what might happen if a 300-year flood hits the site prior to complete removal.  When asked that question, an UMTRA manager explained to me that flood protection at the site was already complete. Most of that work focused on sandbagging where the Moab Wash meets the river on the northern edge of the Moab Pile. As a temporary stopgap, workers had sandbagged to protect the well field adjacent to the Colorado River. That small project protected against a normal spring flood, but would do nothing to stop the potential ravages of a 300-year flood event.
 
Once the removal and transport work began, conventional wisdom reestablished itself. The current prevailing attitude at the UMTRA project is that, ‘If we don't think about it, everything will be OK’. Removal and disposal of material continues, but will that effort ‘beat the clock’ against a 300-year flood event? Statistically, there is a five percent chance that a 300-year flood event will occur before UMTRA concludes. Even so, federal regulators and the private contractor continue to ignore the potential for flood damage at the UMTRA site.
Empty nuclear waste container being moved at UMTRA site, Moab, Utah - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com) 
In recent years, large dust storms have become common occurrences in the Four Corners. The prospect of a regional dust storm rapidly melting heavy snowpack on the Colorado Plateau is real. In preparation for such an event, both UMTRA and its regulators should reassess the risk of flood damage at the site. A one-in-twenty chance that a flood will send any part of the Moab Pile downstream is too high a risk to take. The livelihood of fourteen million downstream residents may depend on protecting the Moab Pile during its removal.
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By James McGillis at 12:49 PM | Environment | Comments (0) | Link

24 Hours of Moab 2010 - The Race

 


Rider #2 uses four arms and two handle bars to take up the shock going downhill - Click for larger image (https://jamesmcgillis.com) 

24 Hours of Moab 2010

- The Race - 

After an exciting start at the 24 Hours of Moab 2010 off-road bicycle race, I moved farther down the course to watch Lap #2. One half mile beyond the Start/Finish line, the course briefly parallels Behind the Rocks Road. By positioning myself near there, I was able to photograph action sequences that featured a brief ascent, followed by a quick drop to the bottom of a sandy arroyo. Those quick terrain changes guaranteed lots of action.
Losing control upon entry to the arroyo in 2009 - Click for larger image (https://jamesmcgillis.com) 
After freewheeling downhill almost from the start, that first climb requires a quick application of energy. As they top the hill, each rider is up off their seat, pumping to maintain speed and momentum. After surmounting that knoll, the racers experience a gentle down-slope, ending in a quick drop to the bottom of a wide arroyo.
 
Over the years, the steep drop to the sandy bottom of the arroyo has flattened considerably. Only two years ago, some racers clamped on the binders and tumbled head over heels down that steep slope. Now, thousands Wheel slippage spells disaster for this 2009 racer - Click for final results (https://jamesmcgillis.com)of laps later, wind, rain and bicycle tires have combined to erode that slope. Rather than an unmanageable drop, the evolved location now resembles a high-speed ramp. Behind the Rocks was cattle country for many years, so the new ramp will be safe only until the next big storm widens the arroyo and recreates the precipice, as it inevitably will.
 
 
Be sure to watch high-speed action from the 24 Hours of Moab 2010 on the accompanying YouTube video.
 
 
 
 
 
Spanning the arroyo each year are two rubber conveyor belts, laid out, end-to-end. Ostensibly, they provide a smooth, continuous surface for the racers. If the old gravel-transport belts were not present, riders might bog down in the deep sand. In past years, we have noticed continued problems with the layout of the belts. Initially, they provide the correct course trajectory; including a slight right turn at their midpoint. During practice day on Friday, the belts begin to migrate, leaving their ends separated by ever greater distances. By race time, racers must traverse a few meters of deep sand, causing danger, delays and frustration.
 
"The Other" fixes a problem on the course at 24 Hours of Moab 2010 (https://jamesmcgillis.com)This year, my friend, “The Other” decided to fix the belt-gap prior to Lap #2 of the race. Until this year, when I caught his shadow on a couple of photos, no one had actually seen The Other. As I watched, The Other assessed the dysfunction of the two belts and then took remedial action. Moments after The Other finished overlapping the belt ends, second-lap leaders appeared over the crest of the hill. As the riders made their high-speed dash down the ramp and across the belts, we saw the shadow of a mysterious character disappear in the wind.
 
That day, I was lucky enough to catch the shadow of The Other both before and after he rejoined the belts. Here, on this page is a slideshow showing how The Other helped with safety and speed at the 24 Hours of Moab 2010. After transiting the belts, riders then sped across the plateau, as if heading straight for the peaks of the Sierra la Sal. Soon, they too disappeared over the horizon. The animated GIF image on this page shows how The Other helped make the 24-Hours of Moab 2010 race safer and faster than ever.
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By James McGillis at 12:34 PM | | Comments (0) | Link

2010 24-Hours of Moab Off-Road Bicycle Race - The Start

 


Dax Massey starts the 2010 24-Hours of Moab off-road bicycle race - Click for larger image (https://jamesmcgillis.com) 

2010 24-Hours of Moab Off-Road Bicycle Race

- The Start - 

In October 2010, I attended the sixteenth annual “24 Hours of Moab” off-road bicycle race, held at Behind the Rocks, a few miles south of Moab, Utah. As usual, it was an exciting affair, with thousands in attendance. By Moab standards, the wind was calm and the cloudless sky promised a warm afternoon and a cool night ahead.
 
 
 
For the two previous years, I had covered Dax Massey in his quest to win his class at the Moab race. This year, I found Dax in the Scoring Tent, checking in only fifteen minutes before the 12:00 PM start time. Competing in the Men’s Duo Championship this year, Dax wore #89 and rode for the Honey Stinger/Trek team.
Yakima & Hammer were well represented at the 2010 24-Hours of Moab Off-road bicycle race (https://jamesmcgillis.com) 
After leaving the Scoring Tent, I positioned myself to see Dax complete his Le Mans style, running start. As I watched, Dax made a quick getaway on his first lap. He and his partner, Nate Bird would complete nineteen laps during the following twenty-four hours.
 
In the 2010 race, Dax and Nate came in a close second to the Hammer Duo team of Ben Parsons and Clint Muhlfeld. Regardless of their placement, Dax Massey and his exciting style of off-road bike racing were a pleasure to see. In order to see for yourself, watch the accompanying video.
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By James McGillis at 10:13 PM | | Comments (0) | Link

24-Hours of Moab Live Pre-Race Festivities - 2010

 


The La Sal Range, as seen from Behind The Rocks, Moab, Utah - Click for larger image (https://jamesmcgillis.com)

24-Hours of Moab Live

2010 Pre-Race Festivities 

In October 2010, I attended the sixteenth annual 24 Hours of Moab off-road bicycle race. Each year, an overgrazed cattle pasture magically transforms into a racing venue known to bicycle racing enthusiasts worldwide. Some race for fun and others race for victory in the most Bicycle Racer, 24 Hours of Moab - Click for larger image (https://jamesmcgillis.com)prestigious event of its kind. This year, three hundred eighteen teams or individuals competed. Of those, two hundred eighteen were still pedaling at the finish, twenty-four hours later.
 
From the full-out run of the  Le Mans start, to the final rotation of a bicycle wheel one day later, it was an incomparable event. With a full view of the Sierra La Sal Range to the northeast, the Behind the Rocks venue is both spectacular and challenging. This year, we visited the site on Friday, as vendors and volunteers set up tents and equipment for the Saturday Noon start time.
His first day riding on two wheels! Click for larger image (https://jamesmcgillis.com) 
On a warm Friday afternoon, the wind kicked up only an occasional dust devil. I watched as dedicated racers practiced along the entrance road. Later, there was time to take in scenes of family life unfolding before me. Out of nowhere, a young boy peddled past me, his winded father running just behind him. As I watched, that boy mastered the art of two-wheeling. As they disappeared around the bend, I could picture that young man competing for prizes in future years.
 
Join me now in reliving a beautiful pre-race afternoon and seeing the sights at that great venue. Enjoy our video tribute to Granny Gear Productions and the great energy that they bring to bicycle racing in Moab each autumn. I hope to see each of you there in October 2011.
 
 
 
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By James McGillis at 06:07 PM | | Comments (0) | Link

Snowstorms Continue in Canyonlands and Moab, Utah - 2011

 


Kokopelli plays his flute, asking the Snow Gods for ample moisture this year (https://jamesmcgillis.com)

Snowstorms Continue in Canyonlands and Moab, Utah - 2011

In 2006, I began working and writing in Moab, Utah. Then, and for several years thereafter, conventional wisdom held that it rarely snowed in Moab. Most locals said that when it did snow, the weather would soon warm up, melting the snow within a few days.
 
Then, along came the winter of 2009 – 2010. It snowed often in December and again in January. Even with partial thawing between storms, there was still snow on the ground well into February. As 2010 drew to a close, our friend in Moab, Tiger Keogh offered hopeful reports. Her emails indicated dry weather and daily high temperatures above forty degrees. Between Christmas and New Year’s, her sunny reports ended. On December 30, 2010, it snowed in Moab and has snowed several times since.
Animated GIF of snowplows working the tarmac at Canyonlands Field, Moab, Utah (https://jamesmcgillis.com) 
One of the benefits of deploying webcams in several locations is that we can check the weather all around Moab every day. Since this winter’s snow began to fall, our Canyonlands Field webcam has shown whiteouts overnight, followed by snowplowing the following day. Our webcam, located at the Moab Rim Campark and Cabins has shown heavy snowfall in the La Sal Range. In early January 2010, during a respite from the storms, I observed a sublime alpenglow-sunset over the Spanish Valley.
 
While viewing different locations in Grand County, Utah, I sat 800 miles away, in Simi Valley, California. From my remote location, I captured a series of images from the two webcams. Since each webcam updates every three seconds, I saved several image sequences. Once I had a series of images saved, I open a “GIF Animator” program and then compiled the sequences into “digital filmstrips”. I then saved each filmstrip as an “animated GIF”.
Animated GIF - A winter snowstorm clears before sunset, Spanish Valley, Moab, Utah (https://jamesmcgillis.com) 
In an age where we can stream high-definition video to mobile devices, the animated GIF image seems quaint. CompuServe first developed the Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) in the 1980s. With the slow-speed modems and dial-up networks then available, creating motion online was quite a feat. In order to show animated images, CompuServe applied “lossless compression” to each image. Restricted to 256 colors, not the millions of colors available in a high-definition video, animated GIFs offer impressions, not details. Even so, an animated GIF that shows spectacular scenery and at least some action can have a charm all its own.
Animated GIF - Nightfall in winter, Canyonlands Field, Moab, Utah (https://jamesmcgillis.com) 
Illustrating this article are three animated GIFs. The first shows snowplows working on the tarmac at Canyonlands Field. The second shows the Spanish Valley and Sierra La Sal Range, ending with an alpenglow after sunset. The third shows nightfall at the airport on January 8, 2011. I hope you enjoy the action and the scenery as much I enjoyed compiling these animated slideshows.
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By James McGillis at 04:54 PM | | Comments (0) | Link

Fasten your seat belts. It's going to be a bumpy night - 2011

 


1950's Civil Defense Fallout Shelter Sign - Click for larger image (https://jamesmcgillis.com)

Fasten your seat belts.

It's going to be a bumpy night.

As I look back on the first decade of the twenty-first century, I realize that it had no generally accepted name. From the Gay 90’s to the Roaring 20’s and then on to the Fabulous 50’s, we know that special decades receive special names. Perhaps the ultimate alchemical reduction was when we named the 1960s simply “the 60’s”.
 
I favor calling our recently lost “double-zero” decade. After all, we seem to be right back where we started on Millennium night 2000. The gloss and veneer might look better in high definition, but the underlying energies feel largely unchanged. Many pundits say that opposing energies are stronger than ever, thus leading us toward “energetic gridlock”. One needs to look no further than our formerly revered U.S. Senate for a prime example of gridlock thinking.
 
Appearances can be deceiving. Inside, we know that a profound shift in human energies occurred during the double-zero decade. It was a shift far larger than the global energy shift exemplified by the earthquake and tsunami of December 2005. Although the date is still unknown to most humans, on October 17, 2007 we all experienced a quantum leap in energy. Throughout the first two thirds of the decade, human energies dithered within a small range of the status quo. On 10/17/07, humanity began its inexorable movement toward a worldwide spiritual awakening. New Energy powers the new Now and thus the momentum of the unfolding shall continue of its own accord.
1950's Civil Defense Poster - Click for larger image (https://jamesmcgillis.com) 
What, if anything, should we fear? We should fear nothing, as fear is not a natural part of our lives. When I think “back” to 1984, 2000-2001 and “forward” to 2012, I smile at the superstitions surrounding each of those dates.
 
In 1984, according to George Orwell’s 1949 predictive book by the same name, we faced the prospect of a nameless state taking over human destiny, disseminating false truths and thus controlling the populace. Did it happen? Some would say, “Yes”, that the world is controlled by a cabal of unseen, powerful corporations. Although that may have once been true, the world is now too complex and diverse a place for any group to dominate and control. I believe that no 1984-style person or group controls human destiny. Whether we like it or not, we are all in this together.
 
As we approached 2000-2001, collectively known as the “Millennium Year”, the Year Two-Thousand computer bug, known as Y2K was widely discussed in the media. Survivalists predicted an “end of the world” scenario and holed up in their bunkers. I wonder if all of that dehydrated food tasted good after the world did not end.
 
For those who do not know it, the ubiquitous term “computer bug” has literal meaning. In the era of vacuum tube computers, electromechanical relays controlled the logic gates. Patterned after mid-century telephone relays, the rapid-fire closing of any particular gate might crush an insect resting there, which then acted as an insulator. Loss of only one relay could crash the computer. Until operators could locate and remove the “bug”, the computer was useless. Thus, the pejorative term, “computer bug” entered our lexicon.
Warning sign affixed to the nuclear waste train, near Moab, Utah - Click for alternate image (https://jamesmcgillis.com) 
Since the Quantum Leap in October 2007, time no longer holds us as tightly to its old linear progression. Now we can look forward to 2012 as if it were already in our past. If nothing else, recent history has shown that world-ending events are not preordained. However, according to some, they are. In recent years, a cult has developed around the “ending” of the ancient Mayan calendar. When this occurs in December 2012, what form of logic dictates that the finite end of a calendar system also predicts the “end of the world”?
 
Perhaps it is time to start a new calendar, based on the ancient wisdom that created the original. I believe that the Maya truncated their calendar as a wake-up call to us. We are here in their future, ready to experience a new beginning. The message from the ancients to us is, “Wake up and live”.
 
When compared to the three tumultuous years mentioned above, 2011 appears benign. As an odd numbered year, 2011 seems less substantial or serious than 2010 or 2012. Luckily, the only predictions that the world will end in 2011 revolve around the recent unexplained deaths of a few thousand birds in Arkansas and Missouri.
Scene from "Thelma & Louise" (https://jamesmcgillis.com 
In November 2011, we shall pass the date 11/11/11. In 1918, World War I ended on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. Not ironically, more ordnance exploded in that final hour than in any other hour of the Great War. For those who died during the last minute shelling and small arms fire in 1918, we can all agree that they “went out with a bang”. At the end of World War II, utilizing nuclear fission, we witnessed a quantum leap in violence and destruction. Our misplaced attempts to rationalize the unthinkable led us to using explosives as entertainment.
 
In September 2011, we shall observe 9/11/11, which marks ten years since the shocking attacks on American military and financial institutions. In the time since those acts of violence, what have we learned?
 
While watching a contemporary Hollywood action movie, one finds corporate owned media pushing unhealthy and violent energies upon us. Most people say, “That's OK. The violence is not real, and by the way, it looks even better in 3-D”. From the ever-present pistol in the hero’s hand, to the outlandish and fiery explosions, traditional media keeps pushing our “fear-button”, all in the name of entertainment.
 
The more high-definition, surround-sound graphical violence that we feed to our individual and collective unconscious, the more we shall attract violence into our “real lives”. As long as we, both as individuals and as a culture, are addicted to violence, we shall continue to attract violence into our daily lives.
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By James McGillis at 04:34 PM | Current Events | Comments (0) | Link