“We are very concerned about additional oil trains passing through our community due to their safety record, the risk of fires, of explosions, the risks of spills”, he said. “A sheriff’s official in an SUV told me to get the hell out”.
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The company said crude oil represents less than 1 percent of its cargo, and said it has trained more than 2,300 emergency responders across OR since 2010.
Given that this particular train derailed at such a point to avoid hitting homes or spilling much larger amounts into local waterways-which led the Mosier fire chief Jim Appleton to say the community actually “dodged a bullet”-Eric de Place, policy director at the Sightline Institute, a progressive Seattle think tank, told The Oregonian newspaper there was no reason to think that other areas would experience such “luck” next time”.
Regulators say fastener failure can cause a derailment if the rails move slightly, making them the wrong distance apart.
Looking forward, the group said it will ask “President Obama and our federal elected leaders to support a ban on high risk oil train shipments through the Columbia Gorge and other USA communities”.
Arlene Burns, Mosier’s mayor, said that the City Council passed a resolution Sunday calling for Union Pacific to halt train traffic until the derailed cars are removed and the investigation into the incident is complete. The new CPC 1232 tank cars have thicker shells, bulkhead and valve protection but have been involved in recent derailments and fires.
An oil-train derailment and fire has damaged essential city services in a small OR town, authorities said Sunday.
Booms have been set up in the Columbia River as seen the morning of Saturday, June 4, 2016. Crews were working to suppress the fire, which they expected to continue doing into the night.
Sanchey and several other Yakama Nation first responders were monitoring the containment effort through binoculars from a nearby overpass. Jacobs says the company will announce publicly when UP begins running oil on that section of track again. The train was headed to the TrailStone Refinery in Tacoma, refinery spokeswoman Marcia Nielsen said Friday in an e-mail.
“Fortunately, that derailment did not involve oil cars, but the potential danger and damage of derailments to both the environment and the Yakama People can not be understated”, the Yakama said.
“I want to apologize to the community”, Union Pacific spokesperson Raquel Espinoza said at a news conference.
No injuries were reported in the derailment in which 16 of 96 tank cars went off the tracks and started a fire in four of the cars.
Jim Appleton said Friday was a frightful day for his town, and he feels like he narrowly avoided a catastrophe.
And another resident named Jerry said, “I stand behind the railroads because they spend a lot of time and money to make sure these track are looking good”. Residents with health questions can talk to a health expert at 888-623-3120. “We hope that this is a wakeup call”.
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The derailment sparked a fire that led to mandatory evacuations and damaged essential city services. The 2013 Quebec derailment killed 47 people.
