They say Union Pacific Railroad should not resume oil train traffic until the company thoroughly explains the cause of the derailment and provides assurances that it’s taking steps to prevent another one.
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More than half the oil in derailed train cars have been moved from the crash site outside of Mosier, officials said Tuesday.
Jim Harvey, who lives near the spot where the oil cars derailed, told KOIN 6 News he’s not certain Union Pacific should be moving freight trains while the investigation and the oil unloading continues. Justin Jacobs, a spokesman for Union Pacific, said a replaced track, speed reductions and other safety remedies made rail transportation possible.
SEATTLE (AP) Dozens of residents of an OR town have been given the all clear to return home, after crews made progress in repairing damage caused by the derailment of an oil train that sparked a fire.
The Mosier disaster involved a unit train carrying Bakken crude from North Dakota.
A Washington state official says an unknown amount of oil has been discovered in a vault that feeds into a wastewater treatment plant for the town of Mosier, Oregon.
An appeal for a temporary cessation of oil trains through the Columbia Gorge, led by Oregon Gov. Kate Brown along with Sens.
That still leaves many questions ahead, among them the delivery and routing by rail of other oils and hazardous cargoes.
Department of Ecology response manager David Byers said Monday that sewer pipes near the railroad tracks were damaged after Friday’s fiery train derailment. “They’re willing to risk us blowing up again for their money to keep coming in”, said Loretta Scheler, who rents out a two-story building just a few hundred feet from the tracks.
On Monday, officials also gave a better sense of the events they think lead to the 16 vehicle derailment that left a small oil sheen on the Columbia River over the weekend.
Booms have been set up in the Columbia River as seen the morning of Saturday, June 4, 2016.
“It’s unfortunate that it was an oil tanker but if it had been a load of grain I don’t think people would have been so upset”, Conroy said.
The federal government regulates interstate railroad commerce, so cities and towns have no regulatory power over the movement of oil trains.
The company restarted service despite objections from the Mosier City Council.
Hood River passed a resolution in 2014 opposing the transportation of crude oil through the Columbia River Gorge either by rail or by barge.
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“My attention was focused on the incident that didn’t happen”, Appleton said.
