The 2018 Pittsburgh spill that spilled a load of mouthwash gets worse: East Palestine fire chief Keith Drabick says contaminated water is safe under the Trump administration
Larger spills happen when trains derail. In 2018, a Norfolk Southern train derailed in Pittsburgh, spilling a load of mouthwash and releasing “a strong odor,” according to a city news release. The rule that the Biden administration halted last year for the rail transport of highly hazardous liquid natural gas was also lifted by the Trump administration.
Feb. 8 — The evacuation order is lifted, five days after the derailment, after water samples are analyzed overnight. The results lead officials to deem the water is safe, East Palestine Fire Chief Keith Drabick says at a news conference.
The evacuation order was lifted on Wednesday and since then, there have been a growing number of reports about people experiencing a burning sensation in their eyes, animals falling ill and a strong odor lingering in the town.
Some business owners and East Palestine residents have filed lawsuits against Norfolk Southern, saying the company was negligent and demanding the company fund court-supervised medical screenings for serious illnesses that may be caused by exposure to those chemicals.
The EPA says air monitoring is ongoing in East Palestine. There are no levels of concern that can be attributed to the fire.
As of Tuesday, the EPA reported it had screened indoor air at 396 homes in the area, with 100 homes remaining. The agency has studied the air of local schools and libraries. It has also tested local waterways several times after a plume of contamination was released into them.
Indoor air quality: How do you protect yourself from the harmful effects of vinyl chloride? An educational expert advises people to take precautions during the indoor air screening
The vinyl chloride was loaded on five cars and made them emit a gas at room temperature. It is commonly used to make plastic that is used in pipes, wire and cable coating, and car parts.
Vinylchloride can break down from sunlight within a few days, then change into other chemicals in the environment. When it is spilled in soil or surface water, the chemical evaporates into the air quickly, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
Phosgene and hydrogen chloride are both released by burning vinyl chloride and the EPA monitors them. Exposure to phosgene can cause eye irritation, dry burning throat and vomiting; while hydrogen chloride can irritate the skin, nose, eyes and throat, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Now that we are entering into a longer term phase of this, people are going to be concerned about the long-term chronic exposure that comes at lower levels,” said Karen Dannemiller, a professor at The Ohio State University who studies indoor air quality.
She encourages East Palestine residents to take part in the EPA’s air screenings because indoor spaces can be an important point of exposure.
Dannemiller suggests that residents wipe down surfaces, especially those that collect dust, and wash items that absorb smells, such as bed sheets and curtains. She suggests cleaning in short spurts to prevent dirt from entering the air.
The U.S. Railroad Safety and Transportation Policy Explains the Ohio River Spikes, Leases, and Contamination of a Heavy Chemical Flux into Water
America’s railroads move a lot of chemicals. Freight trains moved 2.2 million carloads of chemicals in 2021, according to the Association of American Railroads.
“If this is true – and I’m told it’s true – this is absurd,” DeWine said. When hazardous material is carried on trains through Ohio, we should know.
“It’s the mode of transportation that’s capable of moving bulk quantities,” Federal Rail Administration spokesperson Warren Flatau told CNN. Commodities can’t be moved by rail, but by truck over the highways that aren’t looked upon favorably.
Despite federal and industry statistics showing rail is safer than truck or plane, spills and leaks still happen.
The real issue is the risk of a train explosion, according to a researcher at Northeastern University. “If natural gas were to have a derailment like the vinyl chloride, it would be devastating.”
The agency says the Ohio EPA is in charge of investigation and clean up impacts to water. Testing is carried out on the samples from the water streams.
The EPA says there were chemicals that got into the local waterways that lead to the Ohio River, but that much of it was contained. An initial plume of chemicals that was spilled into the waterway had made it to the Ohio River, but officials said they exist in very low concentration, and they are working with water facilities on enhanced filtration so they are not passed onto water customers.
While most of the Tuesday news conference focused on volatile organic compounds – chemicals found in common household products – there are other kinds of chemicals that were released in the spill that don’t diffuse as easily, according to Purdue University professor Andrew Whelton, an expert on disasters, environmental chemistry and water quality.
“Because of their size, they don’t go in the air as easily,” Whelton said. They prefer soils and other materials. The question is, how contaminated is the creek and what will they do to remediate that?”
Officials believe the contaminated waterways are contained, even though thousands of fish were killed by the crash.
The volatile organic compounds released by the controlled explosion can cause symptoms including headache, sore throat, and nose and eye irritation – which some East Palestine residents have complained of. The Ohio health director said air quality does not appear to be a factor in the deaths of animals near the train wreck.
Water Treatment for PFAS in a West Jerusalem Township, Ohio, City Councilman Eric Kavalec told the Daily Observer
necdotes are challenging because they are anecdotes. “Everything that we’ve gathered thus far is really pointing toward very low measurements, if at all.”
residents of East Palestine were told to use bottled water until testing was completed on their water source He said it is important to use bottled water if you are pregnant, breastfeeding or making baby formula.
The Ohio EPA Office of Emergency Response has been involved in the excavation and removal of nearly 500 cubic yards of vinylchloride-impacted material. The EPA is also blocking off ditches around the contaminated dirt so that it doesn’t contaminate more water.
Kavalec said water treatment facilities should be able to remove the low levels of volatile organic compounds from the water, and that the water will eventually become safe to drink.
PFAS is typically found on non-stick pans and in some firefighting foams. EPA officials said Tuesday they had not yet tested the water for PFAS but would start working on it.
A sickening smell of chlorine gushed from the air this week where a man was raising his two children with his wife.
The Nuclear Chemical Crisis: How Do We Feel? A Community Meeting to Discuss the Problem of the Accident Site at Norfolk Southern Railway on Wednesday, Oct. 21
Representatives of the train’s operator, Norfolk Southern, planned on attending Wednesday night’s meeting to provide information to residents on how they’re responding to the chemical crisis. But the company backed out, citing threats against its employees.
The company stated that they were concerned about the increasing threat to their employees and members of the community due to the increasing participation of outside parties.
Company officials planned to join local leaders on Wednesday to provide an update on the clean up of the accident site, as well as the latest results from ongoing water and air testing.
A community meeting was expected to take place Wednesday evening and the residents were invited by the attorneys to meet with them prior to the meeting.
Is it okay to be here? My kids are small, are they safe? Are the people safe? Is the future of this community safe?” East Palestine resident Lenny Glavan told reporters at the meeting. We all know what is at stake and how severe that question is. Some people think they are downplaying; some people don’t think so – let’s find out.”
Velez wrote on Facebook that his wife is a nurse and that he and his two children won’t be exposed to the things that are in our town. “The risk and anxiety of trying to live in our own home again is not worth it.”
The Norfolk Southern Railroad: A Critical Step in Long-Term Cleanup of the Norfolk Southern Experiment and the Ohio Department of Environmental Health and Water
The Ohio governor’s office said that the water coming from five wells that supply the system showed no contaminants and that the state decided it was safe to drink.
Nevertheless, worrying signs continue to emerge, including a newly public document that says potentially contaminated soil has not yet been removed from the site – a critical step experts say should be completed quickly so that toxic materials are not further dispersed into the environment and groundwater.
Kurt Kohler said in February that after the emergency response the Ohio EPA is going to remain involved in long-term cleaning up of the site. Administrator Michael Regan of the federal EPA said Tuesday that they will do everything in their power to protect the community.
Norfolk Southern has not removed potentially contaminated soil from the site, new documents posted by the EPA show. Norfolk Southern tells CNN it continues to work to clean up the site, including the removal of soil.
“Contaminated soil will continue (to) leech contaminants, both up into the air, and down into the surrounding ground,” Richard Peltier, an environmental health scientist at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, told CNN in an email. A flood of new pollutants will enter the environment during rains.
Shaw told CNN Tuesday that he made the commitment to Norfolk Southern on the first day. “We’re going to do it through continuous long-term air and water monitoring. We will invest in the long term health of this community and improve the safety of the Norfolk Southern railroad.
Ben and Velez Ratner, the Ratners, and Norfolk Southern: The impact of a long-term environmental impact on East Palestine
Ben Ratner told CNN this week that his family was concerned about the long-term risks that environmental officials were only beginning to assess.
But the Ratners – who played extras in a Netflix disaster film with eerie similarities to the derailment crisis – still are feeling “an ever-changing mix of emotions and feelings just right from the outset, just the amount of unknown that was there,” said Ben, who owns a cafe a few towns over and isn’t sure he still wants to open another in East Palestine.
“It’s hard to make an investment in something like that or even feel good about paying our mortgage whenever there might not be any value to those things in the future,” he said. It is difficult to come to grips with.
Norfolk Southern announced Tuesday that it is creating a $1 million fund to help the community of some 4,700 people while continuing remediation work, including removing spilled contaminants from the ground and streams and monitoring air quality.
“We will be judged by our actions,” Norfolk Southern President and CEO Alan Shaw said in a statement. The residents of East Palestine have been reimbursed for lost wages, as well as cleaning up the site and working with others to find ways to recover.
But when Velez returned Monday for a short visit to the neighborhood where his family has lived since 2014 to check his home and his business, he developed a nagging headache that, he said, stayed with him through the night – and left him with a nagging fear.
“In terms of some of the symptoms of headache, et cetera, unfortunately volatile organic compounds share, with a host of other things, the ability to cause very common symptoms at the lower levels – so headache, eye irritation, nose irritation, et cetera,” he said. The air sampling in that area isn’t pointing towards an air source for this, so we have to look at the measured facts.
James Lee from the Ohio EPA said residents in the area and away from the site can smell odors. “This is because some of the substances involved have a low odor threshold. The contaminants could be much lower than what is considered hazardous.
Residents in East Palestine, Ohio, urged action to reduce toxic contaminants at a grocery store or an Airbnb tenant’s home in the aftermath of a railroad accident
Ben Ratner said that the family is limiting water use because of unknown affects. He worried that giving his daughter a bath or water could be hazardous.
The majority of the chemicals could be passing, if the intakes were closed. This strategy, along with drinking water treatment … are both effective at addressing these contaminants and helps ensure the safety of the drinking water supplies,” Kavalec said, adding they’re pretty confident “low levels” of contaminants that remain are not getting to customers.
He and his family have been Airbnb-hopping 30 minutes from their home since they evacuated, but rental options and their finances are running out, he said, and a friend set up a GoFundMe to help the family.
“Unfortunately, many of us residents are stuck in the same situation and the sad truth is that there is no answer,” he wrote. Leaving and paying a mortgage on a potentially worthless home is the only viable solution.
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — Residents of the Ohio village upended by a freight train derailment packed a school gym on Wednesday to seek answers about whether they were safe from toxic chemicals that spilled or were burned off.
State officials told the hundreds of people gathered that testing so far has shown air is safe to breathe and that safety testing would continue.
There were many questions about health hazard and residents demanded more transparency from Norfolk Southern, which didn’t attend the gathering, citing safety concerns for its staff.
Concerns about the huge plumes of smoke, the odors, and the potential effects on drinking water were some of the issues raised at Wednesday’s meeting.
Why is the railroad hush-hush? Residents in Palestine, Pennsylvania, and the EPA are concerned about the Norfolk Southern train wreck
“Why are they being hush-hush?” Kathy said about the railroad. “They’re not out here supporting, they’re not out here answering questions. For three days we didn’t even know what was on the train.”
In and around East Palestine, just north of the Pennsylvania state line, residents are interested in learning if the railroad will be held responsible for what happened.
In a letter to the company, Yost said that the pollution was creating a nuisance, damaging natural resources and causing environmental harm.
According to CNN, investigators are looking at many videos of the train before it derails. One video shows “what appears to be a wheel bearing in the final stage of overheat failure moments before the derailment,” the National Transportation Safety Board says in a statement.
The administrator of the EPA arrived in Palestine to assess the response to the Norfolk Southern train wreck. The administrator met with city, state, and federal leaders involved in the response, hearing directly from residents about what the crisis meant for them.
The EPA has full authority to use its enforcement capabilities in the current crisis, according to Administrator Michael S. Regan.
According to Regan, the company has signed on to an accountability notice and will be responsible for the clean up. “But as this investigation continues, and as new facts arise, let me just say, and be very clear, I will use the full enforcement authority of this agency, and so will the federal government, to be sure that this company is held accountable.”
Remediation efforts after the hazardous train derailment: a frustrated resident’s voice in the town hall and the Ohio Department of Agriculture
Hundreds of East Palestine residents attended a town hall Wednesday night to express their frustrations and mounting distrust. The train operator had agreed to attend but later pulled out of the event due to safety concerns.
Regan visited the town Thursday and observed some of the remediation efforts following the hazardous train derailment. He said the state has primary responsibility over the scene but the EPA was prepared to partner and provide necessary resources.
DeWine asked the CDC to dispatch medical experts to East Palestine to evaluate residents with questions or health symptoms.
Emergency response teams are prepared to prevent contaminated water from entering local waterways in the event of a storm, according to DeWine.
DeWine said the Ohio Department of Agriculture continues to assure Ohioans that its food supply is safe and the risk to livestock remains low following the train derailment.
The mayor said at the meeting that there were two options, one of which was to blow up the tanks. “Yes, harmful chemicals went into the air. I am truly sorry, but that is the only option we had. They were going to blow up, and we were going to have a large amount of metal in this town.
The Ohio Train Derailment East Palestine-Thursday Line (OHIC-ELT Line): I Need Help
“I need help,” Conaway told reporters Wednesday night. “I have the village on my back, and I’ll do whatever it takes … to make this right. I am not going anywhere and I am not leaving.
Regan said he wanted the community to know that they will get to the bottom of the situation. Everything is being tested for volatile organic chemicals. Everything that was on that train is being tested. So we feel comfortable that we are casting a net wide enough to present a picture that will protect the community.”
Velez told CNN on Wednesday that the company’s not showing up at the meeting was a slap in the face.
People didn’t want to go, but they had to. So, all the people who had to go home were complaining of smells, pains in their throat, headaches, sickness,” he said. The smell makes you sick, and I have gone back a few times. It hurts your head.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/16/us/ohio-train-derailment-east-palestine-thursday/index.html
Jami Cozza, the Baltimore toxicologist and chemist, says she doesn’t believe her voice when she hears the word of the railroad company
I was very angry that they didn’t show up at the town hall meeting. The public deserves transparency,” he said. The public should have the most up to date information. It is our job as the federal government, to hold this company accountable.
Jami Cozza’s family has lived in East Palestine for generations near the contaminated creek, but right now she is staying at a hotel paid for by the railroad due to toxicity from the derailment.
Speaking to CNN’s Don Lemon, Cozza said the railroad company told her it was safe to return home after conducting air testing. She wanted the railroad company to do soil and water tests, and a toxicologist to deem her house unsafe.
“Had I not used my voice, had I not thrown a fit, I would be sitting in that house right now, when they told me that it was safe,” Cozza said Thursday.
She said that she was worried about how many kids were laying in their bed in East Palestine. “I absolutely do not trust them.”
Reflecting the fundamental mistrust residents have in the railroad company Norfolk Southern and the government, Ms. Guglielmo is one of several people who live in the region who are seeking independent tests or are looking for ways to conduct their own.
Ms. Guglielmo, who lives in the outskirts of East Palestine near where the train collided, and others continue to report a smell of chemicals in many parts of town, and have not found comfort in the assurances that have been given.
The threat of possible long-term exposure to the chemical cocktail released into the air and water, coupled with a deep fear that the town and its neighboring villages will be forgotten in the coming months, has also left many residents feeling as if they are on their own to prove that it is safe to remain or return through means that include paying out of pocket for their own tests. A lot of people have become novice chemists, rattling off the names of chemical compounds that had no meaning to them just a few weeks ago.
The Ohio State Health Department is opening a health clinic in East Palestine after the Norfolk Southern freight train accident, EPA spokesperson Michael Regan told CNN
The Ohio State Health Department is opening a health clinic on Tuesday in East Palestine as the community is still concerned over the effects of the train wreck.
US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan will return to the town Tuesday to meet with residents and local and state officials, an EPA official with knowledge of the visit told CNN.
The visit comes as skepticism and anxiety spread in the small town of 5,000 while reports mount of rashes, headaches, nausea and other symptoms that residents fear could be related to the February 3 derailment of a Norfolk Southern freight train and crews’ subsequent release of the toxic chemical vinyl chloride from the wreck.
Medical teams from the US Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention and the US Department of Health are also expected to arrive in the community as early as this week to help assess what dangers remain.
East Palestine residents are dealing with concerns surrounding potential impacts from the toxic wreck as crews continue to clean it up.
Last week Dr. Haynes told CNN that it was important to monitor people’s health and the environment around the train accident for some time to come since the health impacts might not emerge until later.
We shouldn’t say that we’re done looking at the community for potential health impacts. Haynes added that anyone with health symptoms who is experiencing them should call the poison control center.
Contractors with the EPA install booms and underflow dams to restrict the flow of contaminated water as well as contain and collect floating product to mitigate any possible impacts to the Sulphur Run and Leslie Run streams, they say.
In the meantime, water intakes from the Ohio River that were shut off Sunday “as a precautionary measure” were reopened after sampling found “no detections of the specific chemicals from the train derailment,” according to news releases from the Greater Cincinnati Water Works and Northern Kentucky Water District.
Julian said water measurements have been below the level of concern and that Maysville Utilities took precautionary measures in temporarily shutting down their Ohio River intake valve due to the public concern.
Transportation Safety During the East Palestine Freight Disaster: Public Concerns over the Impact of a Toxic Train Wreck on East Palestine
Cleanup efforts involve the removal of contaminated soil and water from under the railroad tracks. The tracks will be lifted to remove that soil, Ohio officials said.
The contaminated soil became a particular point of contention last week after a public document sent to the EPA on February 10 did not list soil removal among completed cleanup activities. There is no idea if the soil that was not removed before the railroad reopened on February 8 would have had an impact on the surrounding areas.
As skepticism spreads about the safety of the air and water, some local business say they’ve seen fewer customers, despite calls to return to normal life.
A stylist at a hair salon also told the station there’s no doubt the salon lost business and that customers may be worried about what may be in the water washing their hair.
“I know a lot of our businesses are already suffering greatly because people don’t want to come here,” local greenhouse owner Dianna Elzer told CNN affiliate WPXI.
Pete Buttigieg, the US Transportation Secretary, demanded accountability and called for more safety regulations after the toxic train wreck.
“Together with local health officials, we have implemented a comprehensive testing program to ensure the safety of East Palestine’s water, air, and soil,” Shaw said.
Crews are still working to respond to the freight disaster in East Palestine as community members worry about possible adverse health effects from the toxic materials released when dozens of cars derailed after a likely mechanical failure.
Feb. 22 — EPA Administrator Michael Regan threatens to fine Norfolk Southern if it fails to fully clean up after the mess the derailment left behind, he says, citing the agency’s authority under CERCLA – the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act.
“In sum, Norfolk Southern injected unnecessary risk into this crisis,” Shapiro said, adding he plans to hold the company accountable for their actions.
A State of the Art: The East Palestine Project as a Service to the Public Works Commission and the Pennsylvania Highway Authority
The company has committed more than $6 million to date in East Palestine, it said, including $3.8 million in direct financial assistance to families impacted by the accident.
In an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, CEO Alan Shaw responded to criticism from Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, saying the company invests more than $1 billion a year in “science-based” safety solutions, including maintaining tracks, equipment and technology.
“It’s pretty clear that our safety culture and our investments in safety didn’t prevent this accident,” Shaw said. “We need to look at this and see what we can do differently, and also what we can do better.”
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro praised the EPA for taking charge of the cleanup from the crash, which took place less than a mile from the Ohio-Pennsylvania border.
Meanwhile, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro is furious with Norfolk Southern, telling NPR on Wednesday that it had “given the middle finger to the good people of Pennsylvania and Ohio” in the way it had handled its response. Authorities on the other side of the border would also be monitoring the water.
Shaw did not comment on potential causes during the CNBC interview. He also said Norfolk Southern is fully cooperating with the NTSB and the Federal Railroad Administration to determine the cause.
“This is really in response to the concerns that we have heard, that people want to be able to go someplace and get some answers about any kind of medical problems that they believe that they are, in fact, having,” he said.
Environmental Impacts on Public Health after a Toxic Train Accident in East Palestine, Ohio: The Ohio Department of Environmental Protection and the State of Pennsylvania
A toxic train accident in East Palestine, Ohio led to fears about health effects and the nation’s top environmental official said the train’s operator must pay to clean it up.
President Joe Biden said the EPA’s order was common sense. “This is their mess. They should clean it up,” the president said of Norfolk Southern in an Instagram post.
As part of the investigation, the governor said a criminal referral was made against Norfolk Southern. The Ohio attorney general is also reviewing all actions the law “allows him to take,” Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said.
Skepticism has spread in the community as people say they have health problems, including headaches and rashes, after thousands of fish died after the train derailed.
Air and water quality testing has so far found no dangers to residents of the small village near the Pennsylvania border after the February 3 derailment, and Regan said he has “absolute confidence” in the agency’s data.
While drinking tap water from a residence in East Palestine, Ohio, Regan and DeWine sought to quell concerns about the water’s safety.
Pennsylvania’s governor – who also ordered evacuations after the derailment – alleged Tuesday that the train operator gave officials “inaccurate information” and “refused to explore or articulate alternative courses of action,” in the days following the toxic wreck.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/22/us/ohio-train-derailment-east-palestine-wednesday/index.html
The Impact of a Train Derailment on the East Palestine Public Health Care: Alan Shaw, President and CEO, Dan DeWine, Petersen, Ala., and Jeffery Conaway
Norfolk Southern President and CEO Alan Shaw said that his company has been aligned with the EPA and local efforts on the ground in East Palestine since the train derailment.
Shaw said that his company continues to monitor air and water quality and has conducted hundreds of tests with thousands of data points, “all of which have come back clean.”
DeWine said the law didn’t require Norfolk Southern to notify officials if a train carrying hazardous materials was in the state.
President Biden called on Congress to help implement rail safety measures and accused the Trump administration of limiting the government’s ability to strengthen rail safety measures.
“This is more than a train derailment or a toxic waste spill – it’s years of opposition to safety measures coming home to roost,” Biden wrote in an Instagram post.
Still, as worries remain, the state opened a new health clinic for East Palestine residents to address the reports of rashes, headaches, nausea and other symptoms.
The administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency asked anyone concerned about the reported symptoms to seek medical attention, and he wasn’t discounting what people were experiencing.
“I believe people when they say that they’re facing adverse impacts. To get them to seek medical attention, we have to add that information as part of our response. We don’t discount what people are experiencing. We ask that they seek medical help, so that we can conduct all of our investigations.
Conaway said at Tuesday news conference that the town should be cleaned up and residents feel safer in their homes. That is the number one thing. Your home is where you feel safe the most: if you feel unsafe in your home, you won’t feel safe anywhere.
What do some people in East Palestine say about the Proia evacuation experience? And what can they tell us about their experiences with fires?
Who is he? Nicholas Proia is a pulmonologist who works for Northeast Ohio Medical University which is close to East Palestine.
What are they talking about? Proia said that he hadn’t experienced it, but pulmonary doctors in the area were bracing for a rise in patients after the derailed train.
Respiratory illness has not come in to the attention of us. What we have heard, mostly through the media, and a few patients will say, perhaps a rash or a foul smell. But really no overt shortness of breath, or respiratory failure has been connected to this.
Despite officials deeming the air and water samples safe, some residents still have concerns. The residents are urged to get their houses cleaned and to seek medical help if necessary.
It’s also a caveat to remember that you’re only going to find what you’re looking for. And who knows what else is out there, especially after a large fire with a bunch of different, pretty interesting chemicals.
EPA is assisting with voluntary residential air screening in east Palestine, Ohio: An evacuation order for the area around a train crash near a city center
The entire town of 5,000 people was given a shelter-in-place order. An order to evacuate is issued for the area near the train crash because of the risk of an explosion.
EPA is assisting with voluntary residential air screening appointments offered by Norfolk Southern, the agency says. Crews have screened indoor air at a total of 46 homes. More than 400 requests remain for indoor air screening.
There are three aeration pump locations along Sulphur Run and the confluence of Leslie Run. Aeration helps treat contamination by injecting oxygen into the water. The EPA says the East Palestine water treatment plant has no adverse effects. EPA and Norfolk Southern contractors collect surface water samples for analysis.
The EPA continues to perform air monitoring and work with Norfolk Southern, health departments and other responding agencies to develop procedures for safely reoccupying the evacuated areas.
A complaint of odors from a fire station is being investigated by the EPA. A team of people with monitoring equipment goes to the station and doesn’t see anything that is above detection limits.
The EPA and Ohio EPA find spilled materials in Sulphur Run, the EPA says. Oily product is leaking from a tank car and pooling onto the soil. Norfolk Southern is able to remove the product from the spill by using a vacuum truck.
EPA discontinues phosgene and hydrogen chloride community air monitoring. The threat of vinylchloride fire is gone after the fire was extinguished. The EPA will continue to monitor community air for other chemicals.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/23/us/east-palestine-ohio-train-derailment-timeline/index.html
Residents’ Concerns About Transport and Water Derailment in East Palestine: State Health Care, Public Health Services, and the Township’s Health Clinic
Residents pack a high school gym in East Palestine for a meeting with officials to discuss the current state of their community.
Local leaders take questions from residents who are angry, distrust officials, and find the transport company to be a strange choice to skip the event.
The Regional Administrator attended a community meeting with locals to hear their concerns.
Gov. Mike DeWine says there is a section of Sulfur Run that remains badly polluted, and that no derailment contaminants have been found in homes tested for air quality.
Feb. 19 — The village of East Palestine’s municipal well water sample results show no water quality concerns, the EPA says. The General Health District is looking at private water wells. To date, 52 wells have been sampled, 49 in Ohio, and three across the border in Pennsylvania, the agency says.
Feb. 21 — The state opens up a health clinic for residents who worry their symptoms, such as trouble breathing, rashes and nausea, might be linked to the derailment.
The EPA will offer cleaning services for businesses and residents to get an additional layer of reassurance.
The company said that it has committed to doing what is right for the residents of East Palestine.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/23/us/east-palestine-ohio-train-derailment-timeline/index.html
The Pennsylvania Train Wreck Charged by the Attorney General’s Office in the State of Pennsylvania. (II) The EPA is investigating the case of the Pennsylvania train wreck
The Attorney General’s office in Pennsylvania received a criminal referral from the state Department of Environmental Protection and will conduct an investigation into the train wreck.
“Number two: They will pay for it – fully pay for it. We will clean up ourselves if we have to because they refuse to do anything. The EPA chief said they could fine them up to $70,000 a day.
We can charge them three times the cost of federal government if we recover our total costs. That is what the law gives.