National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017

Floor Speech

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Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, rural Oregonians who have long worried about trains rumbling through our treasured Columbia River Gorge had their fears realized last Friday when a mile-long oil train derailed and caught fire in the heart of one of our State's crown jewels, the Columbia River Gorge.

Our State is rich with breathtaking places, and we believe the Columbia River Gorge is right at the top of the list. Local tribes consider the area sacred ground, and it took the breath away from Meriwether Lewis, who wrote in his journal of ``beautiful cascades which fell from a great height over stupendous rocks. . . .''.

In addition to being a haven for wildlife, the gorge is the lifeblood for tens of thousands of residents in the Pacific Northwest, a critical transportation corridor, and a center for outdoor recreation and tourism. Those who visit the gorge do so to windsurf, kiteboard, and parasail, fish, hike, and camp. It boasts the most visited recreation site in the Pacific Northwest, the thundering Multnomah Falls that Meriwether Lewis wrote about.

In this pristine area, trains carrying flammable liquids barrel through the gorge on tracks that were built in the first half of the 20th century. On Friday, just a stone's throw from our region's lifeblood, the Columbia River, one of those trains fell off the tracks. Sixteen cars hauling crude oil crashed within view of a community school in the small town of Mosier. Three tank cars caught fire, one car leaked oil, and one experienced what is known as a thermal tear, sending a column of flames shooting into the air.

We can see from the photo next to me just how close this fiery crash was to that school. People within a mile of the crash site were evacuated. The evacuation zone included Interstate 84, which was closed for 12 hours, and at least 100 nearby households. Some of these folks have yet to return to their homes. The sewer system was damaged badly enough that it was taken offline. Firefighters were forced to use so much water to put out the fire that the town's main well was depleted. As a result, residents who remain have been forced to drink bottled and boiled water. This has all been taking place in the middle of a heat wave at home.

Here is the point about the reality I just described. A lot of Oregonians are telling me that we got lucky with the oil train accident in Mosier, and they are right. This crash has left Oregonians wondering what unlucky would have looked like. I can tell you it doesn't take a lot of imagination. The Mosier crash could have been much worse if the train had been going faster and with more cars derailing. It could have been worse if the crash had happened on Thursday, when winds were clocked above 30 miles an hour and the fire would have spread to the nearby tree line. If the crash had happened a mile east, it would have been on the edge of the river, causing a potentially catastrophic spill in the middle of a salmon run. If it had happened 60 miles west, it would have been in downtown Portland or in one of the suburbs.

Oregon has been lucky a lot, and at some point that luck is going to run out. What people in small communities in Oregon want to know, and what they deserve to know, is what happens next. What is Congress going to do to start fixing the problem?

I am here this morning with my friend and colleague from Oregon, Senator Merkley, to talk about what specifically we are going to do to get this fixed. More than a year ago, I introduced legislation with Senator Merkley, Senator Schumer, and five other Senators called the Hazardous Materials Rail Transportation Safety Improvement Act. Since then, four more Senators have signed on. Among the bill's lead supporters are the International Association of Firefighters and the International Association of Fire Chiefs.

Our bill reduces the chance of accidents in the first place by providing funding for communities to relocate segments of track away from highly populated areas and for States to conduct more track inspections. Next, it helps communities prepare for a possible accident by paying for training for first responders before the next accident. Finally, the bill provides market incentives to use the safest tank cars to transport hazardous materials, which lowers the chance of a spill or a fire in the event of an accident.

On Monday I talked with Union Pacific's CEO, Mr. Fritz. He committed to work with me and the Senate sponsors on this legislation. He indicated there were parts of the bill that the company can support. I think knowing that the company is willing now to follow up is a bit of constructive news and an encouraging development, but much more needs to be done.

Yesterday, Senator Merkley and I, with our Governor, Congressman Blumenauer, Congressman Bonamici, called for a temporary moratorium on oil train traffic through the Columbia River Gorge. Yesterday, when I talked to the CEO of Union Pacific, Mr. Fritz, he committed that the Union Pacific will not ship Union trains of oil through the gorge until there are three developments: No. 1, the cause of the accident has been determined, No. 2, Union Pacific ensures that an accident will not happen again, and the company sits down and works out concerns that are obviously of enormous importance to the residents of Mosier.

These commitments are helpful, and we are going to monitor them closely. The company has to do everything possible to help get residents in the town back on their feet. That includes getting the sewage system up and running and getting people back in their homes so they can get about their everyday lives.

In my view, it would be hard, after a very close call like the one in Mosier on Friday, for anybody to just walk away and say, well, there probably will not be another accident, because while the people of Mosier work to get back to their normal lives, the threat of another crash is going to linger. Our people are talking about it. They are telling the newspapers they are nervous. They are nervous about the prospect of another accident, which is lingering in the minds of folks across my State.

It has been clear for years that more needs to be done to protect our communities and prevent the next accident from ever occurring. It is tragic that Mosier has now joined a long and growing list of both small towns and big cities that have experienced an oil train accident, including: Casselton, ND; Lynchburg, VA; Aliceville, AL; New Augusta, MS; LaSalle, CO; Galena, IL; Watertown, WI; and Philadelphia, PA.

More needs to be done to ensure that transportation systems used to haul crude oil and other flammable liquids are up to par. I hope Members of this body on both sides of the aisle will join me and Senator Merkley and nine other Senators. We already have over 10 percent of the Senate. I hope they will join us in our effort to protect communities everywhere from the next oil train accident. This has nothing to do with Democrats and Republicans. What this has to do with is whether we are going to take commonsense steps to prevent these accidents and ensure that in particular we do everything we can to have the kind of trains that are not as likely to be part of accidents in the future.

My colleague Senator Merkley has been a terrific partner in this effort. We have been talking about how we are going to tackle this urgent issue for the people we represent, and he is going to have important remarks about Friday's accident in Mosier as well.
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