UPDATE: An analysis of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data by Texas A&M University has found elevated levels of nine chemicals that “may be of health concern” to residents of East Palestine, Ohio. The small town of 5,000 played host to a nightmarish scenario early this month when a train carrying hazardous materials crashed, leaking toxins into the soil, water and air.
The results of the Texas A&M analysis seem to contradict assurances from state and federal agencies that the crash site is safe, and water and air levels are “normal.” Some locals say they began experiencing headaches, dizziness, vomiting and bloody noses after the crash.
The researchers compared EPA measurements after the crash to national air toxics data and found elethe presence of nine chemicals known to have adverse health effects.
“If these levels continue, they may be of health concern (especially acrolein),” the researchers wrote.
Acrolein is a colourless or yellow substance found in smoke that can cause nose, throat and respiratory irritation, according to Health Canada.
Levels of the carcinogen benzene and other toxic chemicals involved in plastic production were not elevated, the researchers found. “Good news,” they said.
Weihsueh Chiu, a professor of veterinary physiology and pharmacology at Texas A&M told the Washington Post that the highest levels of air pollution were collected in the days after emergency crews performed a controlled burn of the toxic chemicals within the train. However, some samples taken more recently still show higher-than-normal levels.
“We can’t say whether these levels are causing the current symptoms,” Chiu said. The EPA should “definitely make sure that these higher levels that are detected would be reduced before they left and declared everything cleaned up.”
ORIGINAL STORY: New details about the Ohio train derailment and toxic chemical spill have emerged this week as agency officials release their preliminary findings from investigations into the Feb. 3 accident.
An official from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources said in a news conference Thursday that it has updated its initial estimate of how many animals died in the area after the 38-car train derailed and caught fire, threatening to explode and flatten the nearby town of East Palestine, Ohio.
Eleven cars on the Norfolk Southern train were carrying hazardous materials, including the known carcinogen vinyl chloride, which emergency crews drained into a trench and burned off — sending up a massive black plume of phosgene gas and hydrogen chloride into the air.
Shortly after the controlled burn, videos circulated of thousands of dead fish in the waterways around East Palestine, a small town of 5,000. At the time, Mary Mertz, director of Ohio‘s Department of Natural Resources, reported around 3,500 animals died after the derailment.
On Thursday, she amended that figure to around 43,700 animals.
Mertz said all the dead animals were aquatic species, not believed to be endangered or threatened. She said there is no evidence that any terrestrial animals were killed by the chemical spill, contradicting reports from locals of dead foxes and chickens immediately following the accident.
Mertz also said there is no sign that any of the train’s chemicals killed animals in the nearby Ohio River and no additional animal deaths have been reported since the crash first occurred.
Initial federal report into the accident
On Thursday, the National Transportation Safety Board released its preliminary report on the train crash as local residents continue to question how safe it is to return to their homes despite assurances from the Environmental Protection Agency.
The report found that the train crash was caused when a hot axle underneath one of the train’s cars carrying plastic pellets sparked a fire, said Jennifer Homendy, chair of the safety board. The Norfolk Southern train passed two wayside defect detectors as the axle got hotter and hotter, yet they did not trigger an audible alarm to notify the crew that temperatures were becoming dangerous. Homendy explained this was because the heat threshold, which is set by the railroad, hadn’t been met yet.
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The alarm was only triggered after the train drove through a third wayside detector, which registered a “critical” temperature level — 253 degrees Fahrenheit above ambient temperature — but it was already too late.
The train’s engineer applied the train’s brakes after hearing the alarm but, “during this deceleration, the wheel bearing failed,” Homendy said. “Car 23 derailed, and the train initiated an emergency brake application and came to a stop.”
“This was 100 per cent preventable. … There is no accident. Every single event that we investigate is preventable,” Homendy said during the Thursday news conference. “The NTSB has one goal, and that is safety and ensuring that this never happens again.”
The National Transportation Safety Board report noted no wrongdoing on the part of the train engineers.
This next phase of the investigation will seek to answer why the train’s axle and bearings failed, and will review the train’s use of wayside defect detectors and the company’s railcar inspection practice.
Homendy told CNN that it’s “too early to tell” what could have prevented the disaster, but she noted that the safety board does not have the authority to make regulation changes and can only recommend measures to Norfolk Southern and the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Another aspect of the investigation focuses on the emergency response to the train crash, particularly the decision to burn off the toxic chemicals in the train.
Days after the train crash, the wreck was still burning. Five of the train’s cars held more than 115,000 gallons (437,500 litres) of vinyl chloride, a flammable chemical known to increase a person’s risk of liver cancer and death.
Crews drained the chemicals into a ditch to be burned off in order to avert a potential explosion, after a dangerous rise in temperature was registered from within one of the cars. Locals were evacuated from the area and the controlled burn took place on Feb. 6, three days after the derailment.
Two days later, EPA and state officials were already telling residents it was safe to return to their homes, and that air and water readings were coming back normal. But some residents say they have experienced headaches, dizziness, vomiting and bloody noses after the crash.
Some residents are pointing fingers at Norfolk Southern’s business practices as the underlying cause of the crash.
An investigation into Norfolk Southern by independent news outlet The Lever found that the company has laid off thousands of rail workers, despite safety concerns about overworked and understaffed crews. Last year, the company reported a record-setting profit of US$4.8 billion.
Norfolk Southern also fought off a shareholder initiative that would have required executives to “assess, review, and mitigate risks of hazardous material transportation,” SEC filings show.
The Lever found that the railroad company helped lobby the Trump administration to gut legislation that would have improved braking systems across the nation’s rails. The regulators specifically killed a provision for trains carrying hazardous flammable materials to be equipped with an electronic braking system.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, has ordered Norfolk Southern to cover the full cost of the clean-up in the aftermath of the train crash.
“EPA has special authority for situations just like this where we can compel companies who inflict trauma and cause environmental and health damage to communities, like Norfolk Southern has done, to completely clean up the mess that they’ve caused and pay for it,” said EPA administrator Michael Regan.
If the company doesn’t follow the order, the EPA will step in to clean up the water, soil and debris, as well as people’s homes and businesses, while fining Norfolk Southern up to US$70,000 a day.
Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw told the people of East Palestine that he is “terribly sorry that this has happened to this community,” and promised to “make it right.”
“We’re going to get the cleanup right, we’re going to reimburse the citizens, we’re going to invest in the long-term health of this community,” Shaw said. “I’m going to see this through, and we’re going to be here. And we’re going to work with these community leaders to help you thrive.”
The company plans to rip up the tracks where the train derailed and remove the potentially contaminated soil underneath. Norfolk Southern also plans to use the results of the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation to update its safety measures.
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