Wednesday, December 14, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Costs of train
derailment adding up
Teen’s death inspires story
VANCOUVER, Wash.
(AP) — Six months after a
train hauling Bakken crude oil
derailed along the Columbia
River Gorge, Washington,
Oregon and other officials are
still tabulating a bill to send
to Union Pacific Railroad.
Union Pacific said in
a statement that it is com-
mitted to absorbing all the
costs incurred as a result of
the fiery crash on June 3 in
Mosier, Oregon.
The railroad is not
required to disclose costs
associated with its cleanup
efforts or how much its
insurance policy will cover,
The Columbian newspa-
per reported. But an email
obtained by the newspaper
shows the railroad has esti-
mated its costs associated
with the derailment at about
$8.9 million.
The railroad reported
$1.7 million in equipment
damage and $176,811 in
track damage to the Federal
Railroad Administration,
with the remaining millions
for response and remediation
costs.
Meanwhile, an intergov-
ernmental group made up of
officials with Mosier city,
the fire district and a school
foundation is currently in
negotiations with the railroad
over compensation and other
issues.
William Gary, a Portland-
based attorney working with
that Mosier group, declined
to say what kind of compen-
sation the government agen-
cies are seeking. “We are in a
confidential mediation at the
moment,” Gary said. “We’re
working with the railroad to
resolve a host of fairly com-
plicated issues.”
Three Oregon agencies
that responded to the newspa-
per’s request for information,
including the Department
of Environmental Quality,
say they’re seeking a total
of nearly $400,000 in reim-
bursement costs. Those num-
bers could increase.
The Environmental
Protection Agency’s bill is
at $340,000, the newspaper
reported.
And two Washington
agencies that responded to
the derailment are billing the
railroad $66,000 next month,
a Department of Ecology
spokeswoman said.
Sixteen tanker cars that
went off the tracks in June
held 448,000 gallons of oil,
EUGENE (AP) — Jamie
Heizelman wishes she would
have known that her 15-year-
old grandson, Brandon
Kimble, was so distraught,
but no one came forward. By
the time she learned that the
boy she called “Honeybear”
was feeling suicidal, he was
already gone.
“He was so funny, he
was a wonderful person,
everyone in that school and
the surrounding communi-
ties loved him,” Heizelman
said Wednesday. “Florence,
Mapleton, Chemult,
Brickerville, Deadwood
— this baby was loved
everywhere.”
Brandon, a Mapleton High
School freshman and football
player, hanged himself in his
bedroom closet on the night
of Dec. 1. Heizelman said she
woke up around 3 a.m., and
found the boy. His concerned
black Labrador, Choco, was
with him. Police later told
Heizelman that Brandon had
been dead for several hours.
Heizelman is determined
to create awareness about
teen suicide in her community
and around the state. She said
the image of her grandson’s
heartbreaking death will not
outweigh all of the “perfect
memories” she has of him.
“I just want to make peo-
ple aware so that if someone
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but only 47,000 gallons
leaked. Much of that went
into a wastewater treatment
unit, avoiding a more diffi-
cult river cleanup.
There remain unanswered
questions, however, such as
the degree to which the river
was effected and what long-
term effects there could be on
the groundwater and soil.
Following the Exxon
Valdez oil spill in Alaska
waters in 1989, Congress
passed the Oil Pollution Act
in 1990. That law requires
polluters pay for cleanup,
remediation and response
costs; they must have insur-
ance and the funds to cover
the cleanup.
To address the growing
risks of oil movement through
the state, the Washington
Legislature in 2015 passed
a law that will soon require
railroads hauling crude oil
to demonstrate the ability to
pay damages in the event of
a spill.
They will also be required
to share information about
the type of oil and the vol-
ume with the state and first
responders. California and
Minnesota have similar laws
for railroads hauling crude,
according to Washington’s
Department of Ecology. But
Oregon does not have such a
law.
is talking about this (suicide),
please tell someone so they
can get help,” Heizelman
said. “Even if you don’t think
they’re going to do it, please
tell someone.”
Heizelman said police
found evidence on Brandon’s
phone and Facebook that he
had shared with some of his
friends that he was thinking
about killing himself.
He even went as far as to
send a photo of himself with
a belt around his neck to at
least one friend before he
died.
“If someone would have
tried to tell me he was feeling
like this, I could have done
something,” Heizelman said.
“But I had no idea. At home,
with me, he seemed happy.”
Heizelman has arranged
for a representative from
Lines for Life to speak at
Kimble’s memorial service,
which will take place in the
school gym on Friday.
Lines for Life is a non-
profit organization that helps
prevent substance abuse and
suicide, as well as promote
mental health.
Suicide is the second lead-
ing cause of death for people
between the ages of 10 and
34 in Oregon, according to
the American Foundation of
Suicide Prevention.
Mapleton School District
Superintendent Jodi O’Mara
said Wednesday that sev-
eral counselors were made
25
available to students at the
high school the day after
Brandon died, and that at least
one counselor will be avail-
able at the school for several
more days. District staff also
participated in a grief training
session Wednesday, which
provided staff with ways to
communicate with students
and provide support for them
after a suicide.
“This is something we
need to talk about and not shy
away from,” O’Mara said.
“As educators we often talk
about outside threats to stu-
dents, and how students may
hurt one another. But what
we really don’t address is
the threat of students hurting
themselves, and it’s a con-
versation we all need to be
having.”
About 50 students attend
Mapleton High. O’Mara said
Brandon was well-known
among his peers and within
the small community.
He was a wide receiver for
the Mapleton Sailors football
team. He was the 2016 home-
coming prince.
Heizelman said that she
had raised her grandson,
the eldest of three children,
for most of his life. His
mother was 16 when the boy
was born. Heizelman said
Brandon’s parents didn’t pro-
vide a good environment for
the child, and they gave her
custody of her grandson at a
young age.
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