”A train full of toxic crude oil derailing, burning, and exploding near homes, schools, and businesses is a worst fear realized for people who live in Mosier and in other communities along the tracks throughout the Gorge,” several lawmakers said in a joint statement. ”They deserve to know that the causes of this derailment have been both identified and fixed, and there should be a moratorium on oil train traffic until they get those explanations and assurances.”
With damaged tank cars still lying near to the tracks in Mosier, the site of Friday’s fiery oil train derailment, Union Pacific said Monday it would temporarily suspend moving oil trains through the Columbia River Gorge.
The company’s announcement came just minutes after Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and Reps. Earl Blumenauer and Suzanne Bonamici called for a temporary moratorium, saying it was too soon to allow more oil trains through.
The lawmakers said they would be pushing the federal Department of Transportation to “take a hard look at alternative routes for oil and hazardous material trains that would put fewer Oregonians at risk of a dangerous crash in their backyards.”