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TRAIN: Estimated 42,000 gallons of oil released
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East Oregonian
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cleared.
Trains began running
Sunday through the town of
about 400 people carrying
mixed goods — but no crude
oil.
“This is all about money.
They’re willing to risk us
blowing up again for their
money to keep coming
in,” said Loretta Scheler,
who rents out a two-story
building just a few hundred
feet from the tracks. “It’s just
insane.”
The derailment occurred
on a stretch of track that
passes within 300 feet of
the edge of the K-8 campus
in this town 70 miles east
of Portland. Sandwiched
between the tracks and
forested cliffs at a bend in
the river, Mosier is part of
a scenic area that’s world
famous for the summer
winds that blow through the
Columbia River Gorge and
attract wind surfers and kite
sailors.
Union Paciic defended
its actions Monday, saying it
was safe to run other trains
while crews continued to
drain oil from the crashed
tankers. Thirteen tankers
remained and 10 still
contained crude, said Raquel
Espinoza, a spokeswoman
for the Railroad. Trains are
moving at about 10 mph.
“We will not run any
crude oil trains through
this area any time soon,”
Union Paciic spokesman
Brent Foster via AP
This aerial video image taken from a drone Monday
shows crumpled oil tankers lying beside the rail-
road tracks after a iery train derailment on June 3
in Mosier.
Justin Jacobs said Monday
morning. “The community
is at the forefront of our
efforts, and we’re absolutely
aware of their concerns.”
Several top Oregon
lawmakers said later in the
day that Union Paciic Rail-
road should not resume oil
train trafic until the company
thoroughly explains the
cause of the derailment and
provides assurances that
it’s taking steps to prevent
another one. They stopped
short of calling for limiting
other train trafic.
Sixteen tank cars went
off the tracks Friday. Fire
started in four of the cars. An
estimated 42,000 gallons of
crude oil was released, said
Don Hamilton, a spokesman
with for the state, federal and
tribal agencies responding.
About 10,000 gallons were
recovered in wastewater
systems, while the rest was
burned off, captured by
booms or absorbed into soil,
he said.
No injuries have been
reported. Dozens of residents
have been given the all clear
to return home.
Friday’s derailment comes
as a massive oil-storage
terminal proposed along the
Columbia River in southwest
Washington is under review.
The proposed terminal near
Vancouver would handle up
to 360,000 barrels of Bakken
crude oil, where it would
be stored and loaded on to
tankers for export to West
Coast reineries.
Critics say the derailment
underscores the risk faced
by every town and city
along rail lines when trains
carrying volatile oil roll by.
“It shines a light on how
reckless approving the oil
terminal would be,” said
Brett VandenHeuvel, execu-
tive director of the Columbia
Riverkeeper. “I can’t see
how any reasonable person
can look at this explosion
and invite more trains.”
The federal government
regulates interstate railroad
commerce, so cities and
towns have no regulatory
power over the movement of
oil trains.
Eric de Place, policy
director with Sightline
Institute, a progressive
think tank, said states and
cities can deny projects in
other ways, such as through
zoning or permit restrictions.
Hoquiam, Washington, last
year approved a ban on bulk
crude oil storage facilities.
Vancouver is considering a
similar ban.
Mosier is among dozens
of communities that have
oficially called for stronger
federal safety measures and
other actions because of
increasing oil train shipments
through the Northwest.
“The federal government,
the railroad and oil compa-
nies need to protect us,” said
Paul Blackburn, mayor of
Hood River, a city about 7
miles west of Mosier.
Hood River passed a
resolution in 2014 opposing
the transportation of crude
oil through the Columbia
River Gorge either by rail or
by barge.
Mosier Fire Chief Jim
Appleton said he had been a
supporter of Union Paciic’s
right to move oil through his
town until the derailment.
OIL: Oil cars travel through downtown Pendleton
Continued from 1A
in North Dakota to a reinery
in Tacoma, Washington,
following UP’s main line
on the Oregon side of the
Columbia River. At some
point, that same train ran
just south of Hermiston
and north of Boardman and
Arlington to get where it
was going.
Stanton, who also serves
on the Regional Hazardous
Materials
Emergency
Response Team for north-
east Oregon, said it was
only a matter of time before
one of those trains derailed.
Though he said UP works
closely with local ire depart-
ments on training exercises,
they still need additional
resources to protect their
communities.
“I think it does bring to
light that, as irst responders,
we must have the training
and tools needed to handle
the situation,” Stanton said.
The regional hazmat team
— which covers Umatilla,
Morrow, Gilliam, Wheeler,
Union and Wallowa coun-
ties, as well as the northern
half of Grant County — is
working to secure a trailer
that could hold up to 1,500
gallons of ireighting foam
to extinguish oil ires,
Stanton said. But one team
can’t do it alone. Just like in
Mosier, he said it would take
cooperation from multiple
agencies to keep residents
safe if a train derailed near
the city.
“We’re going to try to
minimize damage to life,
property and environment as
best we can,” Stanton said.
“You always have the risk of
collateral damage.”
Train derailments aren’t
unheard of in Eastern
Oregon. In 2014, a UP
train jumped the tracks
along Highway 730 east
of Umatilla, dumping ive
empty rail cars into the
Columbia River. Then again
last year, a total of 10 cars
derailed from a UP train over
Meacham Creek between
Pendleton and La Grande.
Neither of those inci-
dents involved oil cars, but
crude-by-rail has become
increasingly common thanks
to increased production from
the Bakken ields and oil
sands of western Canada.
Prior to 2012, crude oil was
traditionally shipped to the
West Coast via waterways,
on either tankers or barges.
A spokeswoman for UP said
the railroad has now shipped
89,000 carloads of crude oil
across its 23-state network,
with each car hauling up to
30,000 gallons.
The Confederated Tribes
of the Umatilla Indian
Reservation said Friday’s
derailment in Mosier high-
lights the danger of shipping
Bakken crude through the
Northwest. Gary Burke,
chairman of the CTUIR
Board of Trustees, said the
tribes are calling on the states
of Washington and Oregon,
along with Congress, to
conduct more comprehen-
sive environmental studies
analyzing the impacts of
more oil traveling by train.
“Train shipments of
Bakken crude oil through
the environmentally fragile
Columbia River Gorge
have the potential to do
incredible damage,” Burke
said in a statement issued
Monday. “The state and
federal governments need to
take a hard look at the rapid
increase in the shipments of
fossil fuels so the risks posed
are fully evaluated before
we have another, larger
incident.”
Others, however, are
defending UP’s overall
safety record and under-
scoring the importance of
freight transportation to the
economy of Eastern Oregon.
Peter Mitchell, general
manager with the Port of
Arlington, said railroads
are critical to the small
community, particularly in
shipping garbage down to
the Columbia Ridge Landill
south of town.
Allowing groups to single
out commodities such as
oil can lead to policies that
greatly affect how compa-
nies are able to do business,
Mitchell said.
“I think Oregon is well-
served by freight on rail,”
he said. “If you stop rail,
what do you propose as an
alternative?”
Mark Morgan, assistant
city manager for Hermiston,
said nobody on the city
council had raised concerns
about an oil train derailment
prior to Friday. Morgan also
distinguished between UP’s
main line and spur line that
runs through the city to the
Port of Umatilla, saying
he would be “absolutely
loored” if any oil cars actu-
ally rolled into town near
homes and businesses.
The council could take a
position if someone brings
it up, Morgan said, but there
aren’t currently any plans to
look into the issue.
Unlike Hermiston, oil
cars do rumble right through
downtown Pendleton as part
of a UP line that reaches into
Idaho, near another shale
formation in neighboring
Utah. That line is listed on
the railroad’s crude-by-rail
network. However, City
Manager Robb Corbett said
the council has not previ-
ously raised concerns.
“We’ve always been
aware the potential exists
for some kind of hazardous
release by the fact that the
rail line runs through our
community,” he said.
In Boardman, Mayor
Sandy Toms said she is
considering whether to
bring the Mosier incident
up for discussion at their
next meeting. She said her
primary concern is whether
the city’s water supply
would be contaminated by
a spill.
A spokesman for UP did
not return calls for additional
comment.
———
Contact George Plaven
at gplaven@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0825.
BAGPIPES: Group also includes six highland dancers
Continued from 1A
kilts don’t have pockets.
The musicians gave the
home crowd the full-meal
deal — about a dozen
Scottish and Irish tunes and
some American patriotic
songs, too.
McIntyre, who did read-
ings between each set, said
he pondered the bagpipe’s
ability to play the American
melodies before adding
them to the playlist.
“The Great Highland
bagpipe plays only nine
notes not counting the
drones, but many of our
great patriotic tunes or at
least snatches of them can
be performed adequately by
this instrument,” he said.
The group will also play
a song written by 1959
Weston-McEwen graduate
and former Pipes & Drum
member Daniel Moore.
Moore’s list of creations
include “My Maria,” “Sham-
bala” and songs recorded by
the Everly Brothers, Three
Dog Night, Joe Cocker and
others. The band will play
Moore’s “Oregon: Give Me
Wings.”
New York and Boston
audiences will learn that
the young musicians hail
from a 170-student school
deep in Eastern Oregon
wheat country and this is the
57-year-old band’s eighth
major tour. The group has
deep roots. Some of the
players have followed the
footsteps of their parents
or grandparents. Freshman
Stephen Reitz and his grand-
father Steve Pyle will play
together on this trip. Pyle,
who directed the group for
many years, assists McIn-
tyre and plays with the band.
The group includes six
girls — Sierra Scheibner,
Ami
Coffman,
Lila
Holloway, Amiee Barrera,
Becky Taylor and Maddi
Muilenburg — who will put
down their instruments and
demonstrate the Highland
ling. Highland dancing
is a tradition at the school
that dates back to 1953.
McIntyre explained that the
Highland ling is the oldest
of the Highland dances.
Warriors
traditionally
danced on the small round
shields they used in battle;
the shields were laid on the
ground and had protruding
spikes. To avoid getting
injured, the dancers stepped
with precision.
“Today, the goal remains
for the dancer to remain in
the same spot,” he said.
McIntyre said he expects
his young musicians to get a
good reception.
“We’ve noticed over
the years that American
audiences ind the bagpipes
to be remarkable,” he said.
“We’re treated like celeb-
rities in some places. The
last trip, we had a family
follow us from New York to
Washington, D.C.”
The group will play
tourist when not performing.
In Manhattan, they will
visit the 9/11 Memorial,
Greenwich Village, China-
town, Wall Street, Times
Square, the One World
Observatory, museums and
Madame Tussaud’s Wax
Museum. They will watch
a Broadway play and see
the New York Yankees and
Kansas City Royals play at
Yankee Stadium.
When
performance
time comes, however, the
musicians will be focused
and will do Athena proud,
McIntyre said. He admitted
he frequently gets emotional
while watching the band
perform.
“I often get a lump in my
throat,” he said. “It happens
to me all the time.”
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.com
or call 541-966-0810.
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
ASSAULT: Mental health
claims part of investigation
Continued from 1A
sons, ages 6-11, and asked
Porter for a ride to St. Anthony
Hospital.
Porter obliged. Logman
and her sons climbed into the
back seat of the pickup, and
they all headed down the road.
Logman then pulled a knife
from her purse, Rowan said,
grabbed Porter’s shoulder,
reached over the seat and
sliced his throat.
Porter stopped the pickup in
the road. He got out and pulled
Logman from the vehicle. He
and Brenda Porter wrestled
the knife away, and a passerby
helped them subdue Logman
and used a belt to tie her hands
behind her back. They waited
for law enforcement.
The
sheriff’s
ofice
received a call at 11:27
a.m. reporting the attack.
Undersheriff Jim Littleield
said county deputies and
Oregon State Police troopers
responded to the scene, and
deputies arrested Logman and
booked her into the Umatilla
County Jail, Pendleton, where
she remained as of Monday
morning.
Bill Porter received 11
stitches, and Brenda Porter
suffered supericial injuries in
the fracas, Littleield said, and
social workers with Children
& Family Services from the
Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reservation
arrived and took Logman’s
children into custody.
Logman told the sheriff’s
ofice she has a history of
mental illness, Littleield said,
and claimed she wanted out of
the vehicle and cut Porter to
make him stop. Both Porters
said Logman made no request
to stop and exit and gave no
indication she would attack.
Pendleton police received a
request the night before, at 6:42
p.m., to check on Logman’s
well-being, according to its
daily bulletin. A man who said
he was Logman’s husband
reported she was possibly
having a “manic episode”
and not taking medication
to treat her mental illness.
He reported he arrived to
their home on Northwest Jay
Avenue, Pendleton, and she
was not there. He also said she
did not contact him following
a medical appointment earlier
in the day.
Littleield said the mental
health claims are a part of the
ongoing investigation.
APARTMENTS: Plan approved
by planning commission in April
Continued from 1A
city owned property.
The city has backed Pend-
leton Heights from the start,
donating the land to Jivanjee’s
limited liability company
and paying the upfront costs
for the irst 32 units’ infra-
structure, which Jivanjee is
expected to pay back.
“Mr.
Jivanjee
has
requested that he be able to
give the Council an update on
his project and an explanation
of his plans. He has requested
that the City participate in the
cost of the infrastructure for
that part of the road needing
to be built, which shares
road frontage with the City
owned Olney Cemetery,”
City Manager Robb Corbett
wrote in a report to the city
council. “Staff has commu-
nicated with Mr. Jivanjee that
they would support sharing
in the cost of the shared road
frontage for the same reasons
we agreed to contribute the
property which came about as
a solution to the high cost of
infrastructure.”
The developers originally
planned to build an addi-
tional 40 units similar to the
previous 32 townhouses, but
they changed the third phase
of the project to an apartment
complex to make the new
units more affordable to
renters.
The planning commission
approved the new plan
in April, which includes
sight-obscuring
foliage
along some of the property’s
borders, a minimum of three
play areas, a minimum of 150
off-street parking spaces and
several other conditions.
The council also will
consider adopting a $58.6
million budget, up from
the $53.8 million the city
budgeted the year before.
The $15.8 million general
fund, the city’s sole discre-
tionary fund that pays for
services like public safety and
parks and recreation, is down
slightly from the year before.
The council meeting will
be held Tuesday at the council
chambers in city hall, 500
S.W. Dorion Ave.
PARKS: Playgrounds not likely
to be immediately replaced
Continued from 1A
budget to cover those costs.
Although the city could
conceivably tap into special
revenue like the parks trust
fund to buy new equipment,
Cook said that would give
the parks department less
lexibility if it needed to
cover any other unexpected
costs.
While Cook is looking
into grants that could be used
to buy new playgrounds,
they’re not likely to be
immediately replaced after
they’re dismantled.
Community
members
have rallied behind play-
grounds before, like when
volunteers and civic groups
rebuilt the Pioneer Park play-
ground after a 2012 arson.
But not every park has
a constituency. Vincent and
Aldrich parks are in the north-
ernmost residential areas in
Pendleton the North Hill and
May Park is on SE Isaac Ave.
near the CAPECO ofice.
Cook said the parks
department reached out to
the residents surrounding
May Park several years
about potentially adding
improvements and received
little feedback.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at
asierra@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0836.
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