By Oregon Public Broadcasting

Oregon regulators fined a railroad company about $82,000 after its trestle bridge in Corvallis collapsed last January, causing a train derailment that dumped toxic chemicals into the river below. But that company has appealed the fine and disputed even basic facts about what the state says happened.

Portland & Western Railroad filed an appeal last month, as reported by The Corvallis Gazette-Times. In its appeal, Pacific & Western says the derailment didn’t have a “significant adverse impact” on people or the environment.

In its enforcement notice, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality says the derailment released almost 200 tons of urea into Marys River.

Urea, also known as carbamide, is widely used in fertilizers. It adds nitrogen that can cause algal blooms and deplete oxygen, harming fish and other aquatic creatures. Urea can also break down into ammonia, a toxic chemical.

“Given the circumstances of this incident, DEQ is concerned about the condition and safety of Portland & Western, Inc.’s railroad crossings over water bodies,” DEQ’s notice reads.

Portland & Western disputed multiple statements that were in DEQ’s enforcement notice. Many of those disputes did not include clarifying information. Among them, the company denied that it operates about 478 miles of track in Oregon, but it didn’t say how much railway it does operate in the state.

Portland & Western also says it denies “four railcars were ‘sent’ off the bridge spanning the Marys River in Corvallis, Oregon on January 4, 2025.” But it’s not clear what part of that statement is potentially incorrect. The company characterized the trestle bridge collapse as an act of God or nature.

“A significant contributing factor to the failure of the bridge over the Marys River in Corvallis was flooding that generated unusually high and fast-flowing waters at or around the time of the incident,” its appeal reads.

The company and its representing attorney didn’t immediately respond to OPB’s request for comment.

Portland & Western is owned by Genesee & Wyoming, which is owned by a $16-billion dollar global infrastructure company, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners.