Coal dust from passing trains is leaving a black mark on Sicamous and council wants Canadian Pacific Kansas City Rail (CPKC) to do something about its mess.

Coun. Malcolm Makayev brought the matter to council at the July 10 Committee of the Whole meeting, explaining that it's been addressed before but there still isn't a satisfactory solution. 

"It was discussed in 2018 and I've talked to a few people, marine operators in the channel, and they're still seeing significant dust," he said, adding that it's on boats, condo balconies and businesses along the channel. "So whatever CP's doing isn't effective in my opinion. So I think we should drill a little deeper into this and find our why it's not effective."

A July 3 letter from CPKC director of Indigenous relations and government affairs Mike LoVecchio explains that coal trains are sprayed to help keep the dust down three times between the mines near Sparwood and the port of Vancouver. That takes place at loading in Sparwood, Golden and Notch Hill west of Salmon Arm. 

As that dust reduction measure doesn't appear to be effective by the time trains hit Sicamous, Makayev wanted to know why. 

"Why aren't these spray stations eliminating the coal dust? Are they too far apart, are the spray stations having mechanical breakdowns, are they having problems getting the spray product...?" he questioned. "Do we need another spray station, maybe west of Revelstoke just before Sicamous?"

Council unanimously agreed and directed staff to have LoVecchio attend an upcoming meeting to address the problem and explore options to eliminate it. 

"It's not a hazardous material, but it causes property damage and it should be addressed," Makayev added. "If CP's making money transporting the coal, it shouldn't be at our community's detriment."