Oil on river?

[30knotwind]

Is sailing affected by oil spill? Thx

[wmike]

A little oil behind the containment boom at Rock Creek. No sailing at Rock Creek for quite a while. They were SUPing at the Event Site today.

[hilton08]

I saw numerous SUPs, jet skiers and water skiers in the water East of the HR bridge near Bingen today that didn't seem to be affected.

[kmf]

Let's see....they dropped 16 cars, 3 of those burst and caught fire, each tanker carries around 30,000 gallons of oil, so let's say 90,000 gallons of oil were potentially exposed to the environment. Some burned, some stayed in the tanks, but the firefighters spent the first 12 hours pouring thousands of gallons of water on the fire and tankers to cool them down.....so oil floats on water, the oil water mix has totaled the Mosier Water treatment plant and is now in the creek bed. So my guess is that there will be oil downstream of Mosier for months. Bingen, then Hood River, the Hatch, Swell, then Stevenson. Maybe not tons of oil, but you can bet that you will get some on you.

This has just started.

KMF

[biffmalibu]

Yes. Sailing is affected by oil. First, you have to be able to access the water. One may not do that right now at Rock Creek/Mosier. There are two booms containing the oil that was flushed down Rock Creek from the train spill. I am an empiricist at times, and so I had to go down there to see/feel/smell for myself. Hey! Nobody told me I couldn't! Don't bother trying to do this yourself; there are cops that will prevent you from doing so. I know secret ways, so I was able to go to Rock Creek beach and see it all. And I poked my finger in the water and smelled it too. The finger had light residue, and I could smell it. There is a light spill there that will require some clean up with whatever solvents they use for that sort of thing. I predict Rock Creek with be closed for at least two weeks. Geezers better bust out of their comfort zones and get used to other places, such as East Mayer (Rowena), Luhr Jensen, and Rufus.

I hope they are smart enough to do it all immediately before the wind makes a mockery of the containment booms. But I am not confident about this. Because I was there this evening around dusk (best time to sneak), and there was ZERO activity at the beach.

I believe this oil spill is tiny compared to the amount of gas, diesel, and oil discharged every day by recreational and commercial boat motors. Remember: with a 2-stroke engine, for every three parts burned, one part goes unburned directly into the water and atmosphere. But that doesn't make this spill OK.

You have already sailing in oil.

[dhanson928]

So....Where is the Gorge Commission in all this? They are quick to jump all over someone who wants to paint their house white, but they're dead silent on the oil and coal trains that run every day on both shores of the river. In all the coverage I saw there wasn't one mention that the Gorge is a National Scenic Area...Yes, we get to see a lot of scenic oil-train cars all the time...Try to check Dougs as you head west on 14 sometime....likely you will see trains...only.

It's fine for the railroads to build huge rip-rap landfills to construct new train sidings that protrude into the river, but recreational users of the river aren't permitted to even add a few truckloads of washed gravel. "bad for water quality".... "bad for the salmon"....Huh?

Do they even realize just how lucky they were is was dead calm that day? Imagine that string of oil tanker cars, the ones directly downwind of the burning cars, imagine 100-odd cars exploding, like a string of over-cooked sausages. Imagine the The Dalles trying to evacuate...

so glad my friends in Mosier weren't killed by this...

[isobars]

[isobars]

[WMP]

The railroads are treated very *special* because of their deity status. Deities don't need to answer any questions or follow any rules..... they are far superior to us humans and can do as they please. Indeed, railroads are at the top of the pecking order here in the Gorge. Our entire system is built to favor certain *special* forms of life (corporations and special interest groups).

"We’ll continue to work with the city of Mosier” says Justin Jacobs, a spokesman for Union Pacific.

Fact is, Union Pacific decided to run trains without finalizing work with the city of Mosier on the issue of cleanup. Meanwhile, the investigation continues even though the trains are running again. It's all about the money and the body count. Since there's no dead people, the railroad feels free to continue with business as usual.

Meanwhile, our broken government just goes along for the ride. AND how did that Hood River Bridge perform in this time of emergency? See for yourself what your high tolls have done to "improve" this vital transportation bridge...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYLugyWEl4w

Amazing how dysfunctional this place is, isn't it?. Just be glad there were no railroad cars carrying ammonia on this train. If those rupture, it will send a killer gas cloud that will wipe out entire populations instantly..... no time for evacuations.

[drblanke]

If Union Pacific is going to close Rock Creek launch for their hazardous materials cleanup, CGWA should file a claim. BNSF paid $75,000(?) for taking away some of the parking at Doug's Beach and that money did a lot of good at other places (waterfront park launch, Swell City purchase).