EPA Tests Air, Water for Chemicals After Ohio Train Derailment

The EPA so far hasn’t detected significant air contamination in the eastern Ohio community evacuated last week following a Norfolk Southern train derailment and explosion that produced a chemical plume, the agency said Tuesday.

The Feb. 3 freight train derailment and resulting release of vinyl chloride and other chemicals forced residents to evacuate their homes in the village of East Palestine near the Pennsylvania border.

The Norfolk Southern Railway Co. was notified by the Environmental Protection Agency on Feb. 10 that the company will be held responsible for the cleanup and reimbursing the EPA’s costs in responding to the contamination under federal Superfund law.

But the EPA thus far hasn’t detected significant air contamination following sampling of hundreds of homes where residents voluntarily agreed to the tests.

The EPA said Tuesday it has deployed significant air quality testing, including a mobile analytical lab and its ASPECT plane, a single-engine turboprop equipped with sensors and hardware. EPA Administrator Michael Regan a year ago pledged greater use of the plane to beef up air monitoring as part of efforts to address longstanding pollution exposures and other environmental justice concerns.

Other agencies are reviewing the derailment and resulting releases, including Ohio EPA and the National Transportation Safety Board.

The rail company faces several class action lawsuits, including one filed on behalf of East Palestine residents and businesses over potential health impacts including increased cancer risks and organ damage from inhaling toxic chemicals.

EPA Testing Continues

Several of the train cars that derailed were listed as containing hazardous substances—including vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate, ethylhexyl acrylate, and ethylene glycol monobutyl—that released into the air, soil, and surface waters, the EPA said.

Screenings under a voluntary program to detect vinyl chloride or hydrogen chloride have been completed for 396 homes as of Tuesday, but didn’t detect the contaminants, according to Debra Shore, regional administrator for EPA’s Region 5 office.

An additional 65 homes were scheduled for the next round of testing later Tuesday, she said. Agency air monitoring conducted since the fire triggered by the derailment was put out Feb. 8 “has not detected any levels of health concern in the community that are attributed to the train derailment,” she said in a statement.

The EPA earlier detected contaminants in various creeks and other small waterways as well as the Ohio River, and said the materials were seen entering storm drains. The agency launched a website to keep the community updated.

Water Sampling

Whether there has been extensive water contamination, including in private wells and those tapped for public water supply, won’t be known for a week.

Norfolk Southern said in an e-mail Tuesday it is focused on coordinating with the local and state officials on a plan for sampling drinking water including private wells, Connor Spielmaker, Norfolk Southern’s communication manager, wrote in an e-mailed response to questions.

The company “has been working with the Columbiana County Health District, Ohio EPA, and the Ohio Department of Health to generate a plan to sample the Village of East Palestine’s drinking water supply wells, drinking water system, and private wells in areas potentially impacted by the incident,” he said.

Areas to be tested include properties located within a half-mile perimeter of the derailment as well as those close to Sulfur Run, Leslie Run, Bull Creek, North Fork, and Little Beaver Creek up to the Ohio River, Spielmaker said. Other wells determined to be at risk will also be tested under the plan, and sample results “will be available in the next week.”

The Village of East Palestine’s drinking water supply wells, drinking water system, and private wells in areas that may be have affected by the crash also will be tested, with those results also expected in the next week, he said.

The spokesman also confirmed Norfolk Southern has received EPA’s letter warning the company of its cleanup obligations under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, or Superfund law.

Norfolk Southern has “confirmed to them that we have and will continue to perform or finance environmental monitoring and remediation,” he said.