Tag: derailment

Ohio residents demand answers two weeks after toxic chemical train derailment

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Hundreds of residents of the Ohio village upended by a freight train derailment and the subsequent burning of some of the hazardous chemicals on board, have questioned officials over potential health hazards.
Norfolk Southern, the rail operator, did not join Wednesday night’s meeting in East Palestine – which was billed as an open house gathering with local, state and federal officials – because of concerns for their staff’s safety.
“Unfortunately, after consulting with community leaders, we have become increasingly concerned about the growing physical threat to our employees … around this event stemming from the increasing likelihood of the participation of outside parties,” the railway said in a statement.
The meeting came as the community continued to seek answers over the potential impact on drinking water and the plans for cleanup. There also remain concerns over the huge plumes of smoke and persistent odors.
Even as school resumed and trains were rolling again, people in and around East Palestine were asking whether the air and water was safe for people, pets and livestock. Community members have asked for assistance in navigating the financial help that the railroad offered hundreds of families who evacuated.
Ohio attorney general Dave Yost advised Norfolk Southern on Wednesday that his office is considering legal action against the rail operator.
“The pollution, which continues to contaminate the area around East Palestine, created a nuisance, damage to natural resources and caused environmental harm,” Yost said in a letter sent to the company.
The state’s Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday that the latest tests show water from five wells supplying the village’s drinking water are free from contaminants. But the EPA also is recommending testing for private water wells because they are closer to the surface.

This photo taken with a drone shows portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. Photograph: Gene J Puskar/AP
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources estimates the spill affected more than 7 miles (11.2 kilometers) of streams and killed about 3,500 fish, mostly small ones such as minnows and darters.
There hasn’t been any confirmed deaths of other wildlife, including livestock, state officials said.
Norfolk Southern announced Tuesday that it is creating a $1m fund to help the community of about 4,700 people while continuing remediation work, including removing spilled contaminants from the ground and streams and monitoring air quality.
It is also expanding the number of residents who can be reimbursed for their evacuation costs, to cover the entire village and surrounding area.
“We will be judged by our actions,” Norfolk Southern president and CEO Alan Shaw said in a statement. “We are cleaning up the site in an environmentally responsible way, reimbursing residents affected by the derailment, and working with members of the community to identify what is needed to help East Palestine recover and thrive.”
No one was injured when about 50 trains cars derailed on the outskirts of East Palestine on 3 February. As fears grew about a potential explosion, officials seeking to avoid an uncontrolled blast had the area evacuated and opted to release and burn toxic vinyl chloride from five rail cars, sending flames and black smoke billowing into the sky again.
A mechanical issue with a rail car axle is suspected to be the cause of the derailment, and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said it has video appearing to show a wheel bearing overheating just beforehand. The NTSB said it expects its preliminary report in about two weeks.
Misinformation spread online in the aftermath of the derailment, and state and federal officials have repeatedly offered assurances that air monitoring hasn’t detected any remaining concerns. Even low levels of contaminants that aren’t considered hazardous can create lingering odors or symptoms such as headaches, Ohio’s health director said Tuesday.
Authorities say that precautions are being taken to ensure contaminants that reached the Ohio River don’t make it into drinking water.
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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )

February 16, 2023
What do we know about the Ohio train derailment and toxic chemical leak?

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A train carrying hazardous materials heading from Pennsylvania to Illinois derailed in early February, causing a major fire and alarm over a possible imminent explosion. The situation has local people worried, despite reassurances from officials, and has highlighted how vulnerable many Americans are to similar incidents.
Up to 2,000 residents living in the immediate area were evacuated as chemicals being carried by the train, run by Norfolk Southern Corporation, were released to prevent an explosion.
Evacuated residents returned to their homes last week but residents report concerns over the lingering effects of the chemicals in the air, water and soil even as officials monitoring the area have deemed it safe. Officials are still investigating the potential long-term environmental impacts of the derailment.
Here is what we know about the derailment and the chemical release so far.
What happened
On the night of Friday 3 February, at least 50 out of 150 train cars of a train heading from Conway, Pennsylvania, to Madison, Illinois, derailed. The train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, a town of about 5,000 residents along the Ohio and Pennsylvania border. A huge fire that spanned the length of the derailed cars erupted. No injuries or deaths were reported.
Residents within a one-mile radius of the derailment were evacuated as officials noted that over a dozen cars carrying vinyl chloride, a carcinogenic chemical, were involved in the derailment and could have been exposed to the fire.

On Monday 6 February, officials enacted a mandatory evacuation, threatening to arrest residents who refused to evacuate, as fear of an explosion rose. Governor Mike DeWine told residents that leaving was “a matter of life and death”. Crews ended up releasing toxic chemicals from five derailed tanker cars to prevent an explosion. Small holes were made into the train cars, whose chemicals were released into pits that were lit on fire. Pictures of the chemical release showed huge clouds of black smoke billowing into the sky over homes.
Evacuated residents, who were staying at shelters and schools, were given the clear to return to their homes on Wednesday 8 February as officials deemed air and water samples safe for residents.
What chemicals were released
The most concerning chemical being carried by the derailed train was vinyl chloride, which is used to make polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, a hard resin used in plastic products. Vinyl chloride is colorless and highly flammable. It has been linked to a rare form of liver cancer, as well as other types of cancer like leukemia and lung cancer. Short-term exposure effects include dizziness and drowsiness, while high exposure can lead to hospitalization and death. Another chemical on board was butyl acrylate, also used in plastic production.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) later released information that showed three previously unreported chemicals were also released upon the derailment: ethylhexyl acrylate, isobutylene and ethylene glycol monobutyl ether. Exposure to the chemicals can cause shortness of breath, burning in the skin and eyes, coughing, headaches and nausea, among other symptoms.
In total, the EPA has reported five chemicals that were contained in rail cars that were “derailed, breached and/or on fire”, in a letter the agency wrote to Norfolk Southern.
Investigation into the derailment and chemical release
The National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates major rail accidents, said a malfunction of an axle – a rod that connects two train wheels – caused the derailment. Surveillance camera footage from a Salem, Ohio, manufacturer showed a fire under the train happening before it reached East Palestine. An investigation into the derailment is still under way.
Meanwhile, the EPA has been actively monitoring environmental conditions in East Palestine and surrounding towns. Residents have signed up for voluntary home screenings by the agency. As of 13 February, the EPA did not detect vinyl chloride or hydrogen chloride – a chemical that is released by burning vinyl chloride – in 291 screened homes, with 181 homes waiting for screening. Officials have told residents that monitoring has shown the area’s drinking water to be safe.
Concerns from residents
Despite reassurances from officials that the area’s air and water quality is safe, residents in the vicinity of the derailment have reported multiple health symptoms, including nausea and burning sensation in their eyes. One resident in a town 10 miles north of East Palestine told a local TV news station that six of their chickens died suddenly a day after the chemical release. Another nearby resident reported seeing dead fish floating in a local creek. Experts have expressed concerns that the agency is not testing for other chemicals that could have been made through the burning of the toxic substances.
Local business owners and residents are suing Norfolk Southern in an effort to get the company to cover medical screenings for residents within a 30-mile radius of the derailment. The lawsuit argues that the company “failed to exercise reasonable care to protect” local residents, who were “exposed to toxic substances, toxic fumes and carcinogens”.
The EPA warned Norfolk Southern that it could be liable for costs related to the derailment, including cleanup and prevention efforts.
History of toxic derailments goes back a decade
Reports have shown that as many as 25 million Americans live in zones that are vulnerable to deadly derailments of trains carrying toxic materials, including substances that can cause explosions.
Just over a decade ago in November 2012, a similar derailment in New Jersey caused 23,000 gallons of vinyl chloride to be released into the environment. The incident sparked a push for further regulation of the rail industry over how it handles the transportation of toxic materials, including crude oil and hazardous chemicals, according to investigative news outlet, the Lever. The push ultimately led to a law that required trains carrying toxic substances to be retrofitted with electronic braking systems, which brake trains cars immediately altogether, rather than front to back like conventional brakes.
The Trump administration, under pressure from lobbyists who argued the change was costly to rail companies, rescinded the rule.
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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )

February 15, 2023
Reporter arrested during news event on Ohio train derailment

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“I’m doing fine right now. It’s been an extremely long day,” Lambert said after his release. “No journalist expects to be arrested when you’re doing your job, and I think that’s really important that that doesn’t happen in our country.”
At the end of his news conference, DeWine said he didn’t authorize the arrest and reporters have “every right” to report during briefings.
“If someone was stopped from doing that, or told they could not do that, that was wrong,” DeWine said.
A following statement from the governor’s office said DeWine didn’t see the incident because a bank of cameras blocked his view but he did hear a “disagreement toward the back of the gymnasium.”
DeWine “has always respected the media’s right to report live before, during, and after his press briefings” the statement said.
Mike Viqueira, NewsNation’s Washington Bureau chief, called the arrest an infuriating violation of the First Amendment.
The Washington, D.C.-based Lambert could still face charges of disorderly conduct and criminal trespassing, NewsNation said.
The Columbiana County Sheriff’s Office administration said the arrest was made by officers from the East Palestine Police Department. A message seeking comment from the department was not immediately returned.

About 50 train cars, including 10 carrying hazardous materials, derailed in a fiery crash Friday night on the edge of East Palestine. Federal investigators say a mechanical issue with a rail car axle caused the derailment.
Nearby residents in Ohio and neighboring Pennsylvania were ordered to evacuate when authorities decided on Monday to release and burn chemicals from five tankers filled with vinyl chloride, sending hydrogen chloride and the toxic gas phosgene into the air.
At the news conference, authorities said sampling had shown air quality in the area was safe and residents could return home, although DeWine said some residents may want to wait until the air inside their homes is checked.
The news conference started more than two hours late and DeWine started speaking at the same instant Lambert had to do a live broadcast from the back of the gym, Preston Swigart, a photographer who was with Lambert, told NewsNation.
Swigart said police officers approached Lambert and asked him to stop talking. Lambert finished the live report but was then asked to leave by authorities, who tried to forcibly remove him from the event, NewsNation reported.
“From their standpoint, he didn’t obey orders,” Swigart said. “Gymnasiums are echoey and loud and sound kind of carries, so I’m guessing that they just didn’t like the fact that there was sound competing with the governor speaking, even though it was all the way at the other end of the room.”
The anchor handling the report said she heard the reporter saying, “The governor has just started speaking. I’m being told that I have to quit my report” before it was cut short.
Video captured by NewsNation affiliate WKBN-TV showed Lambert on his face on the ground being handcuffed. He was then taken outside and placed in the back of a sheriff’s patrol car.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 9, 2023