Screen_Shot_2016-06-06_at_9.33.02_AM.png

The citizens of Mosier don't have a working sewer system, following Friday's oil train explosion in the midst of the small Columbia River Gorge city. They're unsure if the water they're drinking is safe, which has prompted officials to issue a boil order. And as of Sunday, something around 100 people still weren't able to return to their homes.

It's anything but normal there, but for Union Pacific, which operated the train in Friday's derailment, business continues. The company has resumed train traffic through Mosier, despite pleas from the town to hold off until all oil is removed from the damaged tank cars still beside the tracks, and an investigation is complete into how the incident occurred.

"They have started the trains back up again," Mosier's city council president, Emily Reed, tells the Mercury. "They started running yesterday evening."

According to Reed, a community meeting on the oil explosion and its after effects was just winding up around 8 pm when a Union Pacific train made its way through the city.

That was less than three hours after city officials issued a public plea for the company to hold off on train traffic, partly out of concern that the remaining tanker cars are unsafe and an explosion risk in the event of another derailment. After an emergency meeting Sunday afternoon, the city "passed a motion objecting to Union Pacific's plans to restart train traffic while derailed oil cars, many still full of oil, sit just feet from the tracks in severely damaged condition," read a statement from the city.

The city has asked Gov. Kate Brown and Oregon senators and congressmen to get the oil removed, and determine what went wrong "before any oil train or other high risk train traffic resumes."

But trains are moving through Mosier. This video was posted by Columbia Riverkeeper.

The situation reflects the challenge local leaders face when trying to curb oil train activity. Late last year, Portland officials passed some of the stoutest fossil fuel restrictions in the country. But when it came to oil trains, they were limited to a symbolic resolution. Interstate commerce laws make it so officials are unable to keep the trains out of city limits.

Update, 10:02 pm: Union Pacific spokesperson Justin Jacobs called back to talk about this.

"We are absolutely aware of the city’s concerns," he says. "We’re doing everything we can to assure the scene is safe."

According to Jacobs, all cars that have "been compromised" have been emptied of oil. "There are cars that remain on scene that have oil in them," he says, and UP argues they're safe. They're also being emptied now, Jacobs says. He didn't know how many UP trains traverse that section of track on a daily basis.

Update 12:12 pm: Oregon's political leaders have responded to Mosier's call to action—at least in part. In a freshly released joint statement, Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, Reps. Earl Blumenauer and Suzanne Bonamici, and Governor Brown all called on the railroad to cease oil train traffic through Mosier while last week's accident is being cleaned up. THey also say they'll call on federal transportation offiicials to look into "alternative routes for oil and hazardous material trains that would put fewer Oregonians at risk of a dangerous crash in their backyards.”

Union Pacific, meanwhile, says it's aware of the request, and doesn't plan to run oil trains through Mosier "in the near term." Jacobs says the company will announce publicly when UP begins running oil on that section of track again. He says eight trains had passed through Mosier between Sunday evening and Monday morning at roughly 10 am. He couldn't say how many trains pass through the city on a daily basis, and suggested UP might keep that information secret "for security reasons." Between 20 and 25 trains pass through the city on a daily basis.

No information the company's received has differed from early speculation that a defective rail fastener might have been to blame for the derailment. UP has replaced a stretch of track to keep trains moving through. Jacobs didn't know the length of the replaced segment.

Here's the full statement from the politicians:

“Oil train tankers are still lying on their sides in Mosier, the ground and water have yet to be cleaned up, and there’s still no good explanation for the cause of Friday’s crash. It is too soon to resume oil train traffic through the Columbia River Gorge. Union Pacific should not resume oil train traffic before meeting with the community of Mosier and giving a thorough explanation for the cause of this accident and an assurance that the company is taking the necessary steps to prevent another one. 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. 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. We will also be pushing for the 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.”