A multi-car oil train derailment Friday in the Columbia River Gorge near Mosier sent up a massive plume of black smoke and stoked long-standing fears about the risks of hauling crude oil through one of the Pacific Northwest’s most renowned landmarks.
Eleven cars from a 96-car Union Pacific train derailed west of the small city about 12:20 p.m. At least one car caught on fire and released oil, but no one was injured, said railroad spokesman Aaron Hunt.
The train originated in New Town, North Dakota and was moving Bakken crude to the U.S. Oil & Refinery Co. refinery in Tacoma, said company spokeswoman Marcia Nielsen.
The railcars were all coiled, insulated CPC-1232 models, she said.
State officials were still assessing the accident early Friday afternoon.
“We don’t know whether there’s any environmental damage including whether there’s spillage to the Columbia,” said Jennifer Flynt, spokeswoman for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.
Maia Bellon, director of the Washington Department of Ecology, said there are no signs of oil in the Columbia River.
The cars derailed within about 20 feet from the city’s sewage plant, said Arlene Burns, mayor of the city of 440 people, east of Hood River. It’s not clear how much damage the plant sustained, she said. Residents have been asked not to use bathrooms and other drains into the city’s sewage lines.
“We’ve been saying for a long time that it’s not fair for trains with toxic loads to come into our towns near our Gorge,” Burns said. “We don’t have the capacity to fight these fires.”
Coincidentally, the derailment happened four days before a Wasco County Planning Department public hearing with Union Pacific Railroad and its consultants CH2M Hill. The companies want to expand the existing tracks on either side of Mosier, according to a public notice.
“We need the ability to fight an oil fire which water does not fight nor does sewage,” Burns said.
Thankfully, she said, “It’s not a windy day and it’s not August and the ground is not brittle and dry.”
The fire burned at least a quarter of an acre of nearby land, said state Forestry Department spokesman Ken Armstrong. He wasn’t sure who owned the land.
The Oregon Department of Transportation shut down Interstate 84 westbound in The Dalles by milepost 87 and eastbound by milepost 64 — about a 27-mile stretch — as a precaution.
Mosier Community School was evacuated, according to a spokeswoman from the superintendent’s office of the North Wasco County School District 21. The K-8 school was the only one in the district affected, she said.
Mosier resident Justin Brimer said he saw 20-foot flames near the vicinity of the school. His house is about four miles to the east of the fire.
Union Pacific has hauled two types of oil through the gorge — a thick, waxy crude from Utah and Bakken crude from North Dakota. In late 2015, the company began moving one mile-long train of Bakken oil each week on the Oregon side of the gorge to the Tacoma refinery.
A massive boom in North Dakota has pushed an unprecedented amount of crude into the country’s rail system, turning the Columbia River Gorge into one of the United States’ most heavily traveled oil train routes.
Oil spill response crews from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Environmental Quality and National Response Corp., a contractor that works with Union Pacific, are all en route, Flynt said.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said in a statement she is “closely monitoring the derailment and ready to make every state resource available as needed.”
Local health officials put out an air quality advisory for people with asthma, respiratory infections, lung or heart disease and diabetes, recommending that they stay inside and limit physical activity.
Portland Airport Fire & Rescue is sending a specialized fire truck that carries about 1,300 gallons of fire-suppression foam and a five-person crew to assist in Mosier, said Steve Johnson, a Port of Portland spokesman.
Mosier volunteer fire department workers responded to the derailment, helped by Mid-Columbia Fire and Rescue, Hood River County’s Westside Rural Fire Protection District and Wy’East Fire District and the Dallesport Fire Department across the river.
The Federal Railroad Administration said it is aware of the incident and is sending investigators.
Two hours after the derailment, traffic jammed surrounding highways as cars diverted from the interstate, said Judy Dutcher, general manager of Copper West Properties in nearby Hood River.
“It’s all backed up as far as you can see,” she said. “It’s bumper to bumper.”