Agencies conduct an oil spill drill at Frenchman’s Bar

Union Pacific Railroad, in partnership with the Washington State Department of Ecology and Clean Rivers Cooperative, practiced responding to a major oil spill Wednesday morning along the shores of the Columbia River at Frenchman’s Bar Regional Park. Project Manager Dale Raymond, left, and Technician Peter Siegel assemble a containment boom during the drill, which simulated the first hours of an oil spill response. A binding rope, used in Wednesday’s drill, can be seen on the park’s sandy beach. Crews carefully unloaded materials from a spill response truck during the drill, which is held twice a year.