In Our View: Don’t Derail This Lesson

On Monday, three days after an oil train derailed near the small Oregon town of Mosier, about 100 residents were told they could return to their homes; crews worked to contain an oil spill in the Columbia River; officials tried to get the city’s wastewater treatment plant up and running; and residents failed to be mollified by the notion that things could have been worse.

The derailment of a 96-car Union Pacific train carrying crude from the Bakken region provided a snippet of the dangers presented by oil trains and added to the discussion that has been raging in Vancouver for three years. Officials at the Port of Vancouver in 2013 approved construction of the nation’s largest rail-to-marine oil terminal, a facility that would bring an average of 1.5 million gallons of crude each day down the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area and through heavily populated areas for off-loading at the port.

The Columbian has long editorially opposed the project, which is undergoing review by state regulators, and Friday’s incident in Mosier increases our resolve to assail the proposal. It would be wrong for Vancouver, wrong for Clark County, wrong for the future of a vibrant city while creating dangers that cannot be fully mitigated.

The derailment in Mosier, fortunately, resulted in no injuries. But it did provide important lessons about oil trains as 16 cars derailed and four caught fire, resulting in explosions and thick black smoke being sent hundreds of feet into the air. The most insightful lessons, however, came from Jim Appleton, the fire chief in Mosier, which lies about 70 miles east of Portland along Interstate 84. “I hope that this incident becomes the death knell for this mode of shipping this cargo,” Appleton told Oregon Public Broadcasting. “I think it’s insane. … With all due respect to the wonderful people that I’ve met at Union Pacific, shareholder value doesn’t outweigh the lives and happiness of our community.”

In a stunning development, Appleton revealed that first responders could not use fire-suppressing foam until 10 hours after the derailment. “The rationale that was explained to me by the Union Pacific fire personnel is that the metal is too hot, and the foam will land on the white-hot metal and evaporate without any suppression effect. That was kind of an eye-opener for me.”

So, the fire chief in a town that sees oil trains on a daily basis had not been properly informed about how best to combat a fire on one of those trains. That revelation points out the need for communities to increase accountability for railroads, oil companies, government regulators, and port officials. That points out the fact that the United States is not well-prepared for the vast increase in oil trains that has accompanied a boom in production from the Bakken region. And it points out the need for increased pipeline production rather than carrying volatile crude through heavily populated areas.

For Vancouver, the benefits of jobs at a Port of Vancouver oil terminal would be dwarfed by the dangers presented by an increase in oil-train traffic. Marking Clark County as oil country would run counter to the region’s natural attributes, blackening the culture and altering the zeitgeist of the area. It is difficult to imagine any local residents bragging that their city has the nation’s largest rail-to-marine oil terminal.

That is a reality that was delivered last week upon the people of Mosier. Yes, the incident could have been worse; next time it might be.