Friday, June 5, 2015

Columbia River Gorge oil train traffic sharply declines after oil price rout



June 4, 2015 

Oil train traffic through the Columbia River Gorge has declined one-third or more from its peak amid an oil price decline that has pressured crude-by-rail shipments nationwide.

A new report from BNSF Railway Co., one of the country's major crude-by-rail haulers, shows between eight and 12 trains, each a mile long, now haul oil through the gorge each week. That's down from as many as 18 each week in 2014.

Oil trains have grown less frequent throughout the Pacific Northwest as oil prices have collapsed. Traffic dwindled earlier this year along two Oregon routes -- through Central Oregon and between Portland and an oil-barging facility in Clatskanie.

A BNSF spokesman, Gus Melonas, said the railroad hasn't moved any oil trains through Central Oregon since February.

Traffic through the Columbia Gorge is significant because it's a reliable measure for how much oil is moving by rail in Oregon and Washington. The gorge is the primary route used by shippers extracting oil in North Dakota and sending it to West Coast refineries.

North Dakota is the site of an ongoing boom that has pushed an unprecedented amount of oil onto railways nationwide, leading to a string of fiery accidents that have raised safety concerns in the United States and Canada.

The BNSF report, which was released in May by the Washington Military Department, is required to comply with an emergency federal order from May 2014.

Though federal transportation officials had said they would end those disclosures, returning a veil of secrecy to oil train movements, they recently agreed to continue them indefinitely after coming under pressure from lawmakers including U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, both Oregon Democrats.

Source:http://www.oregonlive.com