<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=192888919167017&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">
Thursday, March 28, 2024
March 28, 2024

Linkedin Pinterest

Letter: Present and future danger in Gorge

The Columbian
Published: February 22, 2014, 4:00pm

There are already coal and oil trains passing through the Columbia River Gorge. Coal travels in open cars and coal dust is lost from the those trains. Besides polluting the river, that coal dust settles in the ballast supporting the tracks, making it slick and causing it to shift, increasing the likelihood of derailments. Proposals being considered would increase coal train traffic thus greatly increasing the amount of coal dust.

Also planned is an oil terminal in Vancouver, which will bring as many as four 100-car oil trains per day through the Gorge on these tracks. Oil train derailments are devastating in that they almost always result in fire and explosions. Even without fire, a derailment would dump tens of thousands of gallons of crude oil into waterways and contaminate acres of land.

The proposals being considered represent a significant threat to health and safety, to life and limb. They are also a threat to the economic well-being of communities in the Gorge because local communities would have the responsibility for cleaning up any derailment. No Gorge fire department is equipped or trained to deal with an oil train fire or a coal train derailment.

Gov. John Kitzhaber, the Oregon State Land Board, Gov. Jay Inslee, and the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council need to hear from citizens from both states about these threats to health, safety, and our economic well-being.

Peter Frothingham

Odell, Ore.

We encourage readers to express their views about public issues. Letters to the editor are subject to editing for brevity and clarity. Limit letters to 200 words (100 words if endorsing or opposing a political candidate or ballot measure) and allow 30 days between submissions. Send Us a Letter
Loading...