Contaminated waste from the site of a train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, will be shipped to two approved facilities in the state. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identified certified sites that can accept some of the waste, allowing shipments to resume from Monday after the EPA ordered a pause on Saturday to enable additional oversight on where waste was shipped.
Norfolk Southern will send some of the liquid waste to a facility in Vickery, Ohio, for disposal in an underground injection well. Solid waste will be shipped to an incinerator in East Liverpool, Ohio, and further locations for solid waste disposal are being sought.
Following the derailment, five of the 20 truckloads of hazardous solid waste, approximately 280 tons, were returned to East Palestine. The other 15 truckloads were disposed of at a Michigan hazardous waste treatment and disposal facility.
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency director, Anne Vogel, confirmed that all railcars, except the 11 held by the National Transportation Safety Board, have been removed from the site, enabling excavation of additional contaminated soil and installation of monitoring wells to check for groundwater contamination.
Federal and state officials have repeatedly confirmed that it is safe for evacuated residents to return to the area, with air testing inside hundreds of homes and in the town failing to detect concerning levels of contaminants.
Despite these assurances, many residents have expressed mistrust and lingering questions about the impact of the derailment on their families and communities. On Friday, President Joe Biden ordered teams from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Environmental Protection Agency, and Federal Emergency Management Agency to go door-to-door in East Palestine to check on families affected by the derailment.
The train derailment involved 38 Norfolk Southern cars, with hazardous chemicals in five of the rail cars. Vinyl chloride, a known carcinogen, was among the chemicals that were burning in 10 of the rail cars. The chemicals were later released and burned, sending black smoke and flames into the sky. Other chemicals, including ethylhexyl acrylate, isobutylene, and ethylene glycol monobutyl, were also being transported on the train.
Symptoms of exposure to these chemicals include drowsiness, headaches, dizziness, throat irritation, shortness of breath, coughing, nausea, vomiting, and potential long-term health effects such as cancer, liver damage, and cardiovascular failure.
»Contaminated waste to be shipped to two approved facilities in Ohio«
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