After a fiery derailment in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, Washington officials have declined to join their Oregon counterparts in calling for a moratorium on shipping crude oil by railroad.
The train, bound for Tacoma, derailed near Mosier, Ore., and several tank cars caught fire, prompting Oregon officials to call for a halt to oil trains barreling through the state. They also voiced concerns about rail safety inspectors’ ability to ensure rail lines are in working order.
However, a Washington state agency that plays a similar role — and is tasked with rail safety in the state — said calling on the federal government to stop oil trains would be futile.
Amanda Maxwell, a spokeswoman for the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, which oversees rail lines, said the agency “does not have the authority to halt train traffic,” because interstate commerce laws give the federal government jurisdiction over railways.
The Oregon Department of Transportation doesn’t have the authority to prohibit rail traffic either, but still made the request for a moratorium.
“Our role is to bring attention to the Federal Rail Administration safety concerns that our inspectors are having,” said Tom Fuller, a spokesman for the Oregon Department of Transportation.
In the past couple of years, the number of oil “unit trains” traveling through both states has increased dramatically. Many more trains would be likely to travel through the Gorge if Vancouver Energy’s plans to build the nation’s largest oil terminal here are approved.
In Oregon and Washington, safety inspectors partner with the federal government to inspect the rails.
The Union Pacific tracks had been inspected shortly before the derailment and no problems were identified. However, accident investigators believe a track problem caused the derailment.
“We determined we were not satisfied with the method to test for the presence of sheared-off lag screws (so) we wanted, in the abundance of caution, a moratorium for unit trains,” said Oregon’s Fuller.
Washington’s Maxwell said two state safety inspectors were sent to the Gorge this week to examine the BNSF Railway tracks running from Pasco to Vancouver. Maxwell said results of the weeklong inspection will be available to the public in a couple of weeks.
Meanwhile, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has called on the federal government to strengthen oil train regulations. Inslee wrote U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx asking for the federal government to increase efforts to improve rail safety.
Inslee called for speeding up the transition to safer tank cars, lowering speed limits and tightening requirements for railroad oil spill response plans.
A spokeswoman from Inslee’s office also said the governor’s staff is “monitoring the response to (calls for a moratorium) and then we will assess our next steps.” As governor, Inslee would make the decision on whether to approve Vancouver Energy’s oil terminal plan.
Thanks to a measure passed by the Washington Legislature, Washington is in the midst of implementing stricter rules surrounding oil transport. In 2015, lawmakers passed House Bill 1449, which increased the number of the state’s rail inspectors, requires railroads hauling crude oil to demonstrate an ability to pay for a cleanup, and ensure oil refineries share information about the type of oil and volume with both the state’s Department of Ecology and first responders.
When Inslee signed the law, he called it a “solid step forward.” But, he added, “These trains are a mile long with very volatile material, they’re rolling through our neighborhoods and they’re not safe today.”
U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., is urging the U.S. Department of Transportation to set a standard for volatility of crude oil.
“While standards for tank cars improve, derailments, fires and explosions continue to occur. It is clear that the shipment of crude without a national standard regulating volatility poses an imminent hazard. For the safety of our communities, we urge you to move now to issue an interim standard for volatility,” Cantwell, along with other U.S. senators, wrote in a statement.
