by Associated Press in Hood Oregon / The Guardian An aerial view provided by the Washington State Department of Ecology shows scattered and burned oil tank cars near Mosier, Oregon. Photograph: AP Environmental crews worked on Saturday to contain a sheen of oil that appeared in the Columbia river along the Washington-Oregon border after a Union Pacific train derailed and caught fire. Officials said there was no immediate indication of harm to wildlife. Sixteen of the 96 tank cars on the train derailed on Friday near Mosier, Oregon, about 70 miles east of Portland. Four burned, sending a thick plume of black smoke into the sky before firefighters were able to extinguish the flames a little after 2am on Saturday. No injuries were reported. There was no immediate word on the cause of the derailment, which forced the evacuation of about 100 people from a nearby mobile home park, as the site remained too hot to examine. Officials said they would consider lifting the evacuation order on Saturday evening. […] The derailment, in the scenic Columbia River Gorge, manifested the fears of environmentalists who have long argued against shipping oil by rail – especially through populated areas or along a […]
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