(CNN) After a brief hiatus, the shipment of contaminated liquid and soil from the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, has resumed following nationwide concerns about where the hazardous waste is going.
Environmental Protection Agency officials previously said they approved sending the contaminated waste to two EPA-certified sites in Ohio: Heritage Thermal Services in East Liverpool and Vickery Environmental in Vickery. Region 5 Administrator Debra Shore said Monday two other sites — one in Ohio and one in Indiana — will also receive debris from the derailment scene.
The move came after officials in Texas and Michigan complained they had not received any warning that waste from the toxic crash site would be sent to their states for disposal. The EPA ordered the train’s operator, Norfolk Southern, to halt shipments Friday so it could review the company’s disposal plans.
Shore said he spoke with officials from Ohio and Indiana on Monday about sending hazardous waste to their cities.
Questions about the disposal of toxic waste from the Feb. 3 derailment have added to the controversy surrounding the crash that also has city residents worried about potential long-term health effects.
The mayor of East Liverpool, one of the Ohio cities slated to incinerate the waste, expressed concerns about the process but said the EPA assured him that everyone was following the necessary guidelines.
“We have a 2-year-old daughter and of course that’s a concern,” said Mayor Gregory T. Bricker. “But, again, I think this is a state-of-the-art facility that can handle this type of waste.”
So far, about 1.8 million gallons of liquid waste and 4,832 cubic yards of solid waste have been removed from the derailment site, according to the Ohio Gov’s office. Mike DeWine.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan is expected to make his third trip to East Palestine on Tuesday to mark the grand opening of a new community center, Shore said.
Buttigieg asked Norfolk Southern to join the hazard reporting system
US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has given Norfolk Southern and other major railroad companies a deadline this week to say whether they will participate in the Confidential Close Call Reporting System – a voluntary program that allows workers to report safety hazards.
“This common sense program encourages employees to report safety hazards, including conditions that could lead to derailments, by protecting these workers from retaliation when they come forward ,” Buttigieg wrote in a Monday letter to Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw.
The transportation secretary said “not a single major railroad freight company participates” in the Confidential Close Call Reporting System, also known as C3RS.
“By refusing to take this commonplace step, you are sending an unwelcome message about your level of commitment to the safety of your workforce and the American communities in which you operate,” Buttigieg wrote.
“I am asking you to join the C3RS program now, even as our Department continues to take appropriate steps to make it a mandatory program.”
Buttigieg first called for the change in a letter to the railroads dated February 14, but now goes directly to the railroad CEOs and asks them to respond to the Department of Transportation “by the end of the week.”
After that, Buttigieg said, “he will show the public a summary of which companies have agreed to this important safety measure and which have refused.”
The White House on Monday Tweet: “Efforts to resolve the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment continue as this Administration remains on the scene. @EPA, @USDOT, @HHSgov, and @FEMA are focused on holding Norfolk Southern accountable , which covers damage, and environmental monitoring and health effects.”
Millions of gallons of waste
Hazardous waste already sent to Michigan and Texas is being processed, EPA regional administrator Debra Shore said Sunday.
About 2 million gallons of firefighting water from the train derailment site is expected to be dumped in Harris County, Texas, which has about half a million gallons already there, the county’s chief executive said last week.
In Michigan, contaminated soil from the derailment site was taken to US Ecology Wayne Disposal in Belleville, Michigan, US Rep. Debbie Dingell of Michigan said.
Vickery Environmental will process the overflow water from the crash scene, according to the Sandusky County Emergency Management Agency.
The agency has not commented on how much water the facility has received so far, saying only that it has received three to four loads per day, but according to Ohio officials, more than 94,000 gallons have been disposed of at the facility so far. today. .
Until Friday, Norfolk Southern was “solely responsible” for the disposal of waste from the train derailment, but waste disposal plans “may be subject to federal EPA review and approval to proceed,” it said. Shore.
Every aspect of transporting and disposing of hazardous waste “from the moment the trucks and rail cars are loaded until the waste is safely disposed of” will be tightly regulated and monitored by federal, state, and local governments, it said. said Shore on Sunday.
After speaking with residents of East Palestine, Shore said “we owe it to the people of East Palestine to move it out of the community as soon as possible.”
“At the same time,” Shore added, “I know there are people in other states who have concerns, legitimate concerns, about how this waste is transported and how it’s disposed of. The EPA will continue to work with our local, state, and federal partners to use our long-standing experience and expertise in these matters to ensure health and safety, and support the East Palestine community and to hold Norfolk Southern accountable.”
The new wells will measure groundwater contamination downstream
Crews remove and dispose of debris from the Norfolk Southern train derailment on Feb. 20.
The fiery derailment and subsequent deliberate release of vinyl chloride from train cars has East Palestine residents worried about the safety of their air and water. Some report rashes, headaches, nausea and nosebleeds.
So far, public drinking tests in East Palestine have found “no indication of danger to customers of the public water system in East Palestine” and the “drinking water treated is not Contaminants related to the derailment were found,” the EPA said in an update Sunday.
And indoor air quality tests of 578 homes in East Palestine detected no contaminants linked to the derailment, the EPA said.
But residents are still worried, and federal teams are going door-to-door to conduct health surveys and hand out information flyers after President Joe Biden ordered the move, a White House official said. on CNN.
And new wells will be drilled this week “to determine if the groundwater beneath the derailment site is contaminated,” DeWine’s office announced Sunday.
Four wells have already been installed and up to three more will be drilled this week after the soil under the railway line is completely depleted, officials said.
“These monitoring wells will also support a better understanding of the direction and rate of groundwater flow in the area,” DeWine’s office said.
As for the wreckage, all but 11 of the train cars that were being held by investigators were removed from the derailment site, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Director Anne Vogel said Sunday.
“It is very important to move to the next steps. We can now excavate more contaminated land and start installing monitoring wells,” said Vogel.
The Ohio EPA will oversee the installation of water monitoring wells at the derailment site that will measure contaminant levels in the groundwater below.
Derailment ‘100% preventable’: NTSB official says
While the crash was “100% preventable,” it appears the train crew did nothing wrong to cause the derailment, said Jennifer Homendy, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board.
A preliminary NTSB report found that one of the train cars carrying plastic pellets was heated by a hot axle that sparked the initial fire, Homendy said last week. Video of the train before the crash showed what appeared to be an overheated wheel bearing, the report said.
The cause of the wheel bearing failure will be key to the investigation, Homendy added.
The investigation will also examine the wheelset and the bearing of the train, the designs of the tank cars and rails, the maintenance methods and procedures, as well as the damage from the derailment, the NTSB report.
CNN’s Pete Muntean, Celina Tebor, Artemis Moshtaghian and Liam Reilly contributed to this report.
