News from Mosier

Sewers shut off, water aquifers dry as Mosier deals with oil train derailment aftermath

By Casey Parks | The Oregonian/OregonLive

The town's sewer system remains shut off. And the aquifers are dry, leaving the city's 430 residents without water reserves on a day projected to hit record high temperatures.
Burns said she's hopeful crews can work up temporary fixes Sunday, but Mosier won't return to normal any time soon.
"If this isn't solved," she said, "we'll all have to move somewhere else."
Burns and public safety officials began warning residents Saturday not to flush their toilets.

City of Mosier, Small Enough to Make a Difference!
The City of Mosier has issued a press release.

Union Pacific Says It Plans to Restart Train Traffic Through Mosier Before Oil is Removed from Derailed Rail Cars Along Track:

City of Mosier Passes Emergency Motion Calling on UPRR to Remove All Oil from Damaged Cars Before Traffic Reopened

The City of Mosier held an emergency meeting this afternoon and passed a motion objecting to Union Pacific’s plans to restart train traffic while derailed oil cars, many still full of oil, sit just feet
from the tracks in severely damaged condition. The City is calling on Union Pacific, as well as Gov. Kate Brown andOregon’s Congressional delegation to:

1. Remove all oil from derailed cars prior to starting any train traffic in light of the risk of igniting the damaged oil train cars;
2. Complete the investigation determining what went wrong and have it fixed before any oil train or other high risk train traffic resumes.

“The City of Mosier strongly objects to Union Pacific’s plans to restart running trains, including oil trains, as early as tonight through the derailment site where damaged oil tankers
continue to sit feet from newly laid railroad track,” says Arlene Burns, Mayor, City of Mosier. “Restarting trains before the high-risk carnage of their last accident is even cleared from the
tracks is telling Mosier they are going to play a second round of Russian roulette without our town -it’s totally unacceptable.”

“Everyone wants to see train traffic restarted, but we are very concerned about the safety of our town. The new tracks will be no safer than before the derailment and now we have tens of thousands of gallons of oil sitting in damaged rail tankers just feet away from the proposed new active track,” says Mosier City Council President Emily Reed. “They do not yet know what happened in this section of track to cause the accident on Friday so on what basis can they safely re-start running oil trains down this same section of track? This is literally hundreds of feet from our homes and school.”

Mosier, Ore., moves to halt traffic on rail line after derailment

via Seattle Times, Mike Carter and Daniel Gilbert
Union Pacific Railroad says it appears some sort of track failure caused the derailment of 16 oil tanker cars near Mosier, Ore., causing the fire and oil spill.Officials in Mosier, Ore., are objecting to Union Pacific’s decision to restart train traffic after a fiery oil-car derailment Friday prompted an evacuation and disrupted the town’s sewage and water systems.
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 company resumed running trains Sunday evening.
“We just think it’s way too soon for them to resume business as usual,” Burns said in an interview. “It seems utterly unreasonable.”
Justin Jacobs, a spokesman for Union Pacific, said the company had repaired the track and would continue to inspect it through the night. “We’re absolutely aware of the concern, and we’ll continue to work with the city,” he said, adding that trains are running at reduced speeds of 10 mph through Mosier as a precaution.



Oil train derails, catches fire in Columbia River GorgeOregon officials said Sunday night that an evacuation order had been lifted for Mosier residents, and the city’s wastewater treatment plant was operating after the removal of 10,000 gallons of oil. Residents can flush toilets but are still being asked to boil water for drinking.Earlier Sunday, Greg Svelund, a spokesman with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), said that “Investigators had discovered that the Mosier wastewater- treatment plant and sewer lines were nonoperational as a result of damage from the train derailment.”
Oregon environmental officials think they’ve contained oil that was leaking into the Columbia River from the derailed cars.
Sixteen tank cars, part of a 96-car train operated by Union Pacific railroad, derailed Friday. Four of the cars erupted in flames and burned until Saturday morning. A small quantity of oil leaked into the Columbia River, but that has been contained by booms, officials said Sunday.