After halting the process on Feb. 24, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that shipment of contaminated waste from the toxic train derailment site in eastern Ohio could resume on Feb. 28.
Amid objections from Michigan authorities who said they weren’t aware that hazardous materials were headed into their state, the EPA ordered a temporary pause on the contaminated waste shipments over the weekend.
The decision was made to allow more oversight about where the waste was taken. Some liquid and solid waste from the site had already been transported to locations in Michigan and Texas.
“Everyone wants this contamination gone from the community,” EPA Region 5 Administrator Debra Shore said after the shipping pause. “They don’t want the worry, and they don’t want the smell, and we owe it to the people of East Palestine to move it out of the community as quickly as possible.”
EPA-certified facilities that can accept the waste were identified, allowing shipments to resume on Feb. 28, Shore said.
A portion of the liquid waste will be transported to a facility in Vickery, Ohio, where it will be disposed of in an underground injection well, Shore explained. Norfolk Southern will also send some of the solid waste to an incinerator in nearby East Liverpool, Ohio.
The EPA is searching for additional solid waste disposal facilities, Shore added.
“All of this is great news for the people of East Palestine and the surrounding community, because it means cleanup can continue at a rapid pace,” she said.
A 151-car Norfolk Southern Railway freight train derailed on Feb. 3 in East Palestine, a village of 4,761 near the Pennsylvania border.
Eleven cars that derailed contained hazardous materials, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
A Feb. 10 letter from the EPA indicated that toxic compounds released into the environment included butyl acrylate, ethylhexyl acrylate, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, and vinyl chloride.
A colorless gas used in making plastic products, vinyl chloride, has especially caused concern since the derailment.
To avoid an uncontrolled explosion that officials claimed would send shrapnel into the air, vinyl chloride was intentionally released and burned from five cars on Feb. 6, sending up a massive cloud of thick black smoke that could be seen for miles around and was likened to a mushroom cloud caused by a nuclear weapon.
The burn triggered questions about the health effects on the residents of East Palestine.
Vinyl chloride can cause a rare form of liver cancer after long-term exposure. When burned, it transforms into phosgene, a chemical warfare gas used in World War I that has been banned by the Geneva Convention, and other gases.
List of Disposal Sites
Norfolk Southern had been responsible for waste disposal until Feb. 24, Shore said. The railroad provided Ohio environmental officials with a list of disposal sites.Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said in a Feb. 23 statement, “[Under EPA guidance,] Norfolk Southern brought in large dump trucks to move contaminated soil to U.S. Ecology Wayne Disposal, a licensed hazardous waste disposal facility in Michigan. This will be a continuous effort to properly manage and safely dispose of the waste.”
On Feb. 23, the Ohio Emergency Management Agency said in a press release that more than 1.7 million gallons of contaminated liquid had been removed from the derailment site. Of those materials, more than 1.1 million gallons were transported to Texas Molecular in Deer Park, Texas, and in Vickery, Ohio
On Feb. 25, DeWine’s office said that 15 truckloads of hazardous solid waste were taken to the Michigan facility. Five truckloads of hazardous solid waste, weighing around 280 tons, were shipped to sites in other states but returned to East Palestine. Those contents will now be shipped to Vickery and East Liverpool, Ohio, which is around 17 miles south of East Palestine.
East Liverpool’s Heritage Thermal Services, which was approved for Norfolk Southern to transport and burn contaminated soil, has been fined for violating federal air quality laws and fought multiple lawsuits.
Authorities in municipalities that have received waste from the derailment site have expressed anger.
Some Not Consulted
Evans said Wayne County government officials should have been consulted before the contaminated waste was shipped to their area.“I don’t know how you do that without contacting the local officials so that we can, No. 1, know how to respond to our communities, and No. 2, give advice in terms of routes that you may take,” Evans said.
“I’m not here to say anybody was attempting to do anything nefarious. But I can say that the outward effect of it looks like we’re being sandbagged.”
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo is also the county’s chief executive and director of emergency management. Deer Park, Texas, is in her jurisdiction.
Approximately 2 million gallons of firefighting water from the derailment site were scheduled to be disposed of in Harris County.
In a Feb. 24 statement, she said that “I and my office heard today that ‘firefighting water’ from the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment is slated to be disposed of in our County.”
Hidalgo said she was frustrated that she learned about the plans from the media, and not a government agency of Texas Molecular, the company tasked with disposing of the water.
There is no legal requirement that her office be notified, Hidalgo explained, but “it doesn’t quite seem right.”
On Feb. 23, Texas Molecular told Hidalgo that 500,000 gallons of the contaminated water were already in Harris County, and shipments started arriving the previous day, she added.
The EPA announced on Feb. 28 that Ross Incineration Services in Graton, Ohio, and Heritage Environmental Services hazardous waste landfill in Roachdale, Indiana, have been lined up to accept liquid and solid waste.
These sites are in addition to the disposal centers in Vickery and East Liverpool.
The news was not well-received by Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb.
“I continue to object to the EPA Administrator’s decision, from Washington, D.C., to move hazardous waste from the East Palestine train derailment to Indiana,” he said. “Further, there has been a lack of communication with me and other Indiana officials about this decision.
“After learning third-hand that materials may be transported to our state yesterday, I directed my environmental director to reach out to the agency,” Holcomb added. “The materials should go to the nearest facilities, not moved from the far eastern side of Ohio to the far western side of Indiana.”
Holcomb added that he has requested to speak to the EPA.
“I want to know exactly what precautions will be taken in the transport and disposition of the materials.”
