Oil train derails and catches fire in Oregon, forcing evacuations


A 96-car oil train derailed along the Columbia Gorge in Oregon on Friday afternoon, prompting the evacuation of the small town of Mosier. Two cars caught fire, but no injuries were reported. "Right now there are no impacts to the Columbia River from any oil releases," said Greg Svelund at the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. "We can say that with confidence."
Union Pacific trains a mile long carry three million gallons of Bakken crude oil along the Columbia River to Washington refineries each month. Local officials say the towns along the train route are not prepared for oil spills.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
October 1 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Wednesday's political cartoons include Pete Hegseth's warrior ethos, taxes in a shutdown, and the battle of Portland
-
‘Friendflation’: the increasing cost of maintaining a social life
Under the Radar Cost-of-living squeeze has left some feeling priced out of social events and struggling to keep up friendships
-
What’s behind Europe’s sharp drop in illegal migration?
Today's Big Question Fall in migrant crossings won’t head off tougher immigration clampdowns
-
Electronic Arts to go private in record $55B deal
speed read The video game giant is behind ‘The Sims’ and ‘Madden NFL’
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fine
Speed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in Intel
Speed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to China
Speed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with Disney
Speed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B deal
Speed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance merger
Speed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profits
Speed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits