Mosier cleanup crews make significant progress and I-84 reopens
Mosier Derailment Unified Command - News Update 6
Response crews made significant progress on environmental cleanup and oil removal from the train cars that derailed in Mosier. Interstate 84 and the Mosier exit 69 have been reopened.
The 96-car train was carrying Bakken crude oil and 16 cars derailed on Friday, June 3. Officials estimate that 42,000 gallons of crude escaped from four rail cars.
Recovery of oil includes 10,000 gallons from the wastewater system, and the remaining 32,000 gallons were either burned off and vaporized, captured by booms in the Columbia River, or absorbed by soil, with an undetermined amount remaining in wastewater lines.
According to Mosier's Volunteer Fire Chief and Joint Incident Command Representative Jim Appleton, the geographic response plans Oregon has in place worked well and allowed multiple agencies to come together quickly and respond to environmental, public health, and community needs.
Thirteen cars remain at the incident site, two have been fully pumped, and the remaining 11 are in the process of having oil transferred to tanker trucks and transported to The Dalles. The oil will be staged in The Dalles until resuming its trip to Tacoma, Wash.
Most essential services have been restored to Mosier. A short-term fix has allowed operations to continue on the city's wastewater treatment plant, which is now operating and allowed the evacuation to be lifted. The City of Mosier continues to ask residents to conserve water.
As a precaution, the boil water order remains in effect. Bottled water is available to anyone who needs it at the Union Pacific Claims Center across from the Mosier Market.
Federal, state, tribal, and local authorities remain at the command center near the scene to coordinate response until the cleanup is complete.
Media and citizen inquiries can be directed to: MosierMP70@gmail.com.
Other sources of information:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MosierDerail/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mosierderail Union Pacific: www.up.com/mosier
Contact: Judy Smith, Incident Information Officer, 5035452540
