2 bills in Oregon Legislature aim to curb, prevent oil-train disasters [View all]

[TexasTowelie]

Native Americans, environmentalists and a fishing guide spoke out Monday in support of two bills that aim to prevent, or at least mitigate, an ecological disaster like an oil spill into the Columbia River.

One bill would require railroads that own or operate high-hazard train routes to adopt oil-spill prevention and emergency-response planning, and ensure they carry adequate insurance to address a worst-case spill. The other bill would prohibit the Legislature from funding new bulk coal or oil terminals.

Trains carrying oil travel through Oregon to destinations elsewhere, and among the shipments is the highly volatile crude from the Bakken Crude from North Dakota. It was that type of oil that was in a train that derailed and caused a fire near Mosier on June 3 along the pristine Columbia River, a key salmon habitat fished by Indian tribes. The crash released oil alongside tracks that parallel the Columbia River.

"Our tiny town was nearly wiped off the map," Mosier Mayor Arlene Burns told the House Committee On Energy and Environment. She said that if the winds that normally sweep through the Columbia River Gorge had not been calm that day, a conflagration would have ensued.

Read more: http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2017/03/2_bills_in_oregon_legislature.html