This aerial view provided
by the Washington State Department of Ecology shows scattered and
burned oil tank cars, Saturday, June 4, 2016, after the train derailed
and burned near Mosier, Ore., Friday. (Washington Department of Ecology
via AP)
SEATTLE—Dozens of residents of a Columbia River town in
northern Oregon 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.
About a hundred people — a quarter of Mosier’s population — were
evacuated Friday from after several cars carrying the volatile oil went
off the tracks.
But officials said late Sunday night that the Wasco County Sheriff’s
office lifted the evacuation order, after progress was made in cleaning
up the derailment and restoring essential services, including a waste
water treatment plant.
A statement by incident spokeswoman Judy Smith of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency said 10,000 gallons of oil had been
removed from the plant. She said water and sewer services were usable,
but a boil water order remains in effect.
“We’re doing everything we can to get you back home, but we’re not
going to risk your safety,” Union Pacific Railroad official Raquel
Espinoza said Sunday, before the all-clear was signaled.
At a news conference earlier in the day, Espinoza said a failure of
the fastener between the railroad tie and the line was the likely cause
of the problem, but more investigation will be required before railroad
officials know for sure.
Union Pacific inspects the tracks that run through Mosier, Oregon,
twice a week, and the most recent inspection took place on May 31,
Espinoza said. Union Pacific had completed a more detailed and technical
inspection of this section of track at the end of April and found no
problems.
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.
Authorities were working Sunday to clean up an oil sheen in the Columbia
River near the scene of the derailment.
Including Friday’s incident, at least 26 oil trains have been
involved in major fires or derailments during the past decade in the
U.S. and Canada, according to an Associated Press analysis of accident
records from the two countries. The worst was a 2013 derailment that
killed 47 people in Lac-Megantic, Quebec. Damage from that accident has
been estimated at $1.2 billion or higher.
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