OR residents return home following oil train derailment

(Follow-up reports placed the number at 16 cars.) Fire broke out on four of the cars and burned almost 15 acres of brush before U.S. Forest Service firefighters and local fire crews contained it. The tank cars themselves remained burning for almost 14 hours after the derailment.

Some Union Pacific trains carrying other freight have moved on BNSF’s routes through the gorge and Washington’s Stampede Pass, Melonas said, as the companies have worked through traffic jams caused by Friday’s derailment.

From The Dalles, the oil – which had started in New Town, North Dakota – will be brought to its original destination of Tacoma, Washington.

The Oregon Department of Transportation shut down I-84 around 1 p.m.as black smoke billowed into the sky. “I can tell you, it doesn’t take a lot of imagination”.

Following Friday’s derailment in the Columbia Gorge, environmental groups are petitioning the Obama administration to ban rail transport of the most flammable kind of crude oil.

Ecology officials from Washington state said there was no sign of oil in the Columbia River or Rock Creek. On Sunday, Vancouver-based newspaper The Columbian reported that estimated financial costs of a “worse case scenario” train oil disaster in that town could be as high a $5 or $6 billion. And Oregon Democratic Senator Ron Wyden said on the floor of the U.S. Senate Tuesday that it was clear that Oregon got lucky – this time.

A failure of the fastener between the railroad tie and the line was likely the problem, but more investigation will be required before railroad officials know for sure, Raquel Espinoza said Sunday.

Sitting next to his 7-year-old son as he spoke with the newspaper, de Place said he was in a “blind rage” about the fiery crash in Mosier.

Including Friday’s incident, at least 26 oil trains have been involved in major fires or derailments during the past decade in the United States and Canada, according to an Associated Press analysis.

Authorities say an oil-train derailment and fire has damaged essential city services in a small OR town. In March, it transported six unit trains, which generally carry about 75,000 barrels each.

Sadly, the disastrous derailments and fires involving the volatile fossil fuel product shipped through residential and business areas across the nation are indiscriminate and can happen anywhere, anytime.

“It shines a light on how reckless approving the oil terminal would be”, said Brett VandenHeuvel, executive director of the Columbia Riverkeeper.