The crews burned the chemicals in the derailed tanker cars
The Ohio-Pennsylvania Redistricting Plan for the East Palestine Firefighter’s Office: An Update
East Palestine, a town of 5,000 people along the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, is still healing after a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed two weeks ago. The air and water were deemed safe enough for people to return by state and local officials about five days after the wreck.
The evacuated area is lifted five days later, after water samples are analyzed. The water in East Palestine is safe, thanks to the results, according to the fire chief.
The residents have been assured that there are no dangers in the air or water. The EPA said that crews have checked hundreds of homes and found no hazardous levels of contaminants.
We know that there is a desperate need to test for the per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, which were present in the fire suppressant used to control the blaze, as well as the chemicals that were leaked during the train wreck.
The crews decided to conduct controlled detonations February 6 of some of the tanks that had the potential to kill high levels and increase cancer risk after residents raised questions about safety.
The commander of the Ohio National Guard previously said that members wearing protective gear would take readings inside homes, basements and businesses as officials aimed to ensure the air was safe before lifting the evacuation order.
The Norwich Southern Railroad Company’s investigation into toxic vinyl chloride after a Feb. 3 train accident reveals no environmental monitoring in East Palestine
No one was injured when about 50 cars derailed in a fiery, mangled mess on the outskirts of East Palestine on Feb. 3. The area was evacuated as officials sought to avoid an explosion, and then they set a trainload of toxic vinylchloride alight, sending black smoke into the sky.
Some business owners and East Palestine residents are suing Norfolk Southern, claiming the company was negligent, and demanding that it fund court-supervised medical screenings for serious illnesses that may be caused by exposure to those chemicals.
People living close to the location of the train accident have been offered water and air testing for certain noxious chemicals, including vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate, ethylhexyl)acrylate and isobutylene. But they’ve been given conflicting information about whether and how to clean up chemical residues in their homes.
There have been a lot of reports about people feeling a burning sensation in their eyes, animals becoming ill and a strong smell in town after the order was lifted.
The EPA says air monitoring continues in East Palestine. Monitoring since the fire went out has not detected any levels of concern that can be attributed to the incident.
He said that the home was tested and cleared for volatile organic compounds. And so far, no chemical detections were identified in the air of 291 homes screened by the EPA for hazardous chemicals including vinyl chloride and hydrogen chloride, it said in a Monday news update, with schools and a library also screened and 181 more homes to go.
The vinyl chloride, which was loaded on five cars, is a carcinogen that becomes a gas at room temperature. It’s also known as polyvinylchloride or PVC, which is a kind of plastic used for pipes, wire and cable coating and car parts.
There are chemicals of concern at the site, such as vinylchloride and phosgene, which can be released when vinylchloride breaks down. Chemicals can change when they are broken down by things in the environment, making a stew of potential toxins.
The EPA has been monitoring for several other hazardous chemicals, including phosgene and hydrogen chloride, which are released by burning vinyl chloride. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Exposure to phosgene can cause eye irritation and dry burning throat, while exposure to hydrogen chloride can irritate the skin.
Public Information about the Velez-Velez Contamination Event at the Norfolk Southern Linear Collider During a Public Information Gathering
“Now that we are entering into a longer term phase of this, people are going to be concerned about the long-term chronic exposure that comes at lower levels,” said Karen Dannemiller, a professor at The Ohio State University who studies indoor air quality.
She added that indoor spaces can be an important point of exposure, which is why she urges East Palestine residents to take part in EPA’s at-home air screening.
Dannemiller recommends residents clean surfaces, especially areas with dust, and wash items that absorb smells, such as bed sheets and curtains. She suggests vacuuming in a short amount of time to make sure the air isn’t polluted.
An overwhelming stench of chlorine filled the air this week where Nathen Velez and his wife had been raising their two children, quickly burning his throat and eyes.
In a statement, Norfolk Southern said it was not attending Wednesday’s open house gathering with local, state and federal officials because of a “growing physical threat to our employees and members of the community around this event.”
“We have become increasingly concerned about the growing physical threat to our employees and members of the community around this event stemming from the increasing likelihood of the participation of outside parties,” the company said in a release.
Company officials had hoped to join local leaders Wednesday evening to update the community on the steps they are taking to “safely clean up the accident site and to provide the latest results from ongoing water and air testing,” the release reads.
A community meeting still was expected to go forward Wednesday evening, and plaintiff’s attorneys invited residents to meet with them beforehand to discuss the derailment’s impact.
New Evidence that the Norfolk Southern Railway had not yet removed any contaminated soil from a derailment site in East Palestine, a victim of a devastating train wreck
Many people in East Palestine are still frightened by the train wreck. Velez is spending small sums to try and keep his family away from where they used to live.
Velez wrote on Facebook that his wife is a nurse and that they are not exposing their two young children to whatever is currently in our town. “The risk and anxiety of trying to live in our own home again is not worth it.”
The governor’s office said that it’s best for residents who get water from private wells to get their wells tested, because they may be closer to the surface than the municipal wells.
Nevertheless, worrying signs continue to emerge, including a newly public document that says potentially contaminated soil has not yet been removed from the site – a critical step experts say should be completed quickly so that toxic materials are not further dispersed into the environment and groundwater.
The EPA works with Ohio EPA to investigate soil pollution and any impacts to the water. EPA collects samples of spilled material near the derailment site and in Sulphur Run.
Norfolk Southern has not removed potentially contaminated soil from the site, new documents posted by the EPA show. Norfolk Southern tells CNN it continues to work to clean up the site, including the removal of soil.
Richard Peltier told CNN that contaminated soil will leech up into the air and down into the ground. Every time there is rain, a flood of new substances will enter the environment.
CNN asked Norfolk Southern if it had filled in areas of contaminated soil and chemicals to reopen the rail line, and why it hadn’t removed contaminated soil.
Ben Ratner and his family worry about the environmental consequences of a recent train wreck in East Palestine, Ohio: A CNN interview with Velez Ratner
East Palestine resident Ben Ratner and his family worry about the longer-term risks that environmental officials are only beginning to assess, he told CNN this week.
Ben, the proprietor of a cafe a couple of towns, said that while he knows there is a lot of unknown about the situation, he still feels like an ever-changing mix of emotions and feelings.
“It’s hard to make an investment in something like that or even feel good about paying our mortgage whenever there might not be any value to those things in the future,” he said. “That’s something tough to come to grips with.”
The Norfolk Southern said it would establish a $1 million charitable fund to support East Palestine.
But when Velez returned Monday for a short visit to the neighborhood where his family has lived since 2014 to check his home and his business, he developed a nagging headache that, he said, stayed with him through the night – and left him with a nagging fear.
Some residents of East Palestine, Ohio are concerned their new symptoms could be related to the chemicals released after a train wreck two weeks ago.
The community is now exposed to a mixture of several compounds, so it may not be just one, it could be the mixture of them.
“Anecdotes are challenging because they’re anecdotes,” Vanderhoff said. “Everything that we’ve gathered thus far is really pointing toward very low measurements, if at all.”
The Ratner Family is Moving Across the Ohio River: Concerns about the Air and Water Hazards, Public Concerns, and Future Concerns
James Lee, spokesman for the Ohio EPA, told CNN on Wednesday that residents in the area can smell odors coming from the site. “This is because some of the substances involved have a low odor threshold. The levels of pollutants that people may smell are not considered to be hazardous.
The Ratner family is limiting its water use because of unknown affects, Ben Ratner said. Velez is concerned that turning on the water or giving his daughter a bath could be hazardous.
“The spill did flow to the Ohio River during that initial slug, but the Ohio River is very large and it’s a water body that’s able to dilute the pollutants pretty quickly,” Ohio Environmental Protection Agency official Tiffany Kavalec said last week, adding that they’re pretty confident that the “low levels” of contaminants that remain are not getting passed onto customers.
The “tracking allows for potential closing of drinking water intakes to allow the majority of the chemicals to pass. This strategy, along with drinking water treatment … are both effective at addressing these contaminants and helps ensure the safety of the drinking water supplies,” Kavalec said, adding they’re pretty confident “low levels” of contaminants that remain are not getting to customers.
He and his family moved to another place 30 minutes from home, but their rental options were running out and they had a friend set up a Go Fund Me to help them.
“Unfortunately, many of us residents are stuck in the same situation and the sad truth is that there is no answer,” he wrote. “There is no viable solution other than to leave and pay a mortgage on a potentially worthless home.”
Hundreds of worried people gathered to hear state officials tell them — as they did earlier in the day — that testing so far has shown local air is safe to breathe and to promise that safety testing of the air and water would continue.
There were many questions regarding the health hazard and residents demanded more transparency from the railroad operator, Norfolk Southern, which did not attend the gathering.
Wednesday’s meeting came amid continuing concerns about the huge plumes of smoke, persisting odors, questions over potential threats to pets and wild animals, any potential impact on drinking water and what was happening with cleanup.
Why are the railroads keeping it quiet? East Palestine, Ohio, is going to have to worry about what happened in the September 11 train wreck
“Why are they keeping it quiet?” Kathy Dyke said of the railroad. They aren’t here answering questions and they aren’t out here supporting. For three days we didn’t even know what was on the train.”
In and around East Palestine, near the Pennsylvania state line, residents said they wanted assistance navigating the financial help the railroad offered hundreds of families who evacuated, and they want to know whether it will be held responsible for what happened.
Yost wrote to the company that the pollution in the area had created a nuisance, caused damage to natural resources and resulted in environmental harm.
Some waterways were contaminated after the crash, killing an estimated 3,500 fish, but officials say that they think those pollutants will be contained.
“We will be judged on our actions,” Alan Shaw said in a statement. We are cleaning up the site in a sustainable way, helping residents who were affected by the train wreck, and working with the community to help East Palestine recover.
A one mile walk outside the hot zone and a point of derailed track is done by the National Insurance Crime Bureau. Graham expects the preliminary report to be done in four to eight weeks.
The head of the US Environmental Protection Agency traveled to East Palestine, Ohio, on Thursday and said the agency plans to hold the train company Norfolk Southern accountable for its role in the derailment of a train carrying hazardous chemicals earlier this month.
The administrator of the EPA said that it has full authority to use its powers during the crisis.
Regan told CNN that the company had signed an accountability document indicating that they will be responsible for the clean-up. I will use the full authority of this agency and the federal government, to make sure that the company is held accountable, as this investigation continues and as new facts arise.
EPA and Ohio Transportation Assistance to West Palestine During the Clean-Up After the Detonation of a Hazardous Train Wreck
Hundreds of East Palestine residents attended a town hall Wednesday night to express their frustrations and mounting distrust. The train operator was scheduled to attend but decided against it due to safety concerns.
Some of the efforts that were made to clean up from the hazardous train wreck were observed by Regan Thursday. The state is responsible for the scene, but the EPA was prepared to partner and provide necessary resources.
Requests for medical experts from the federal government have been granted, and DeWine says officials are going to arrive next week to help with the clinic.
Emergency response teams have plans in place to prevent pollutants from washing into local waterways when there is rain, DeWine said in a statement.
DeWine said the Ohio Department of Agriculture continues to assure Ohioans that its food supply is safe and the risk to livestock remains low following the train derailment.
“There (were) two options: We either detonate those tanks, or they detonate themselves,” Mayor Trent Conaway told a group of reporters at Wednesday’s meeting. “Yes, harmful chemicals went into the air. I am truly sorry, but that is the only option we had. If we didn’t do that, they were going to blow up and we were going to have bombs all over the place.
The Jami Cozza and the East Palestine Railroad Derailment Assisted by Judi Conaway, Rhonda, and Vicinity: Is Your House Safe?
Conaway said Wednesday that he needed help. “I have the village on my back, and I’ll do whatever it takes … to make this right. I’m not leaving, I’m not going anywhere.”
Nate Velez, who said he lives less than half a mile from where the train derailed, told CNN on Wednesday night that the company’s absence from the meeting was “a slap in the face.”
” Most people wanted to go home, but they had to.” He said that the people who had to go home were complaining of sickness, smells, and pains in their throats. “I have gone back a few times, and the smell does make you sick. It hurts your head.
They were not present at the town hall meeting last night. The public needs transparency, he said. The public should have the latest information. It is the duty of the federal government to hold this company accountable.
Jami Cozza’s family has lived in East Palestine for generations near the contaminated creek, but right now she is staying at a hotel paid for by the railroad due to toxicity from the derailment.
Speaking to CNN’s Don Lemon, Cozza said the railroad company told her it was safe to return home after conducting air testing. She wanted the railroad company to perform soil and water tests, and the toxicologist thought her house wasn’t safe.
Cozza said that if he’d not used his voice he’d be sitting in the house when they told him it was safe.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/16/us/ohio-train-derailment-east-palestine-thursday/index.html
“I don’t want my son out of preschool, and I know someone is going to school,” said Bethe Greathouse after the derailment
“My concern is how many of those kids are laying in their bed in East Palestine right now that are not safe,” she said. I don’t trust them.
The residents were given the all-clear to live in their homes after air monitoring in East Palestine found no elevated chemicals of concern.
When we returned on the 10th, we decided that we couldn’t raise our kids here. There was a smell that made me think of hair perming solution.
“When we left, I had a rash on my skin on my arm, and my eyes were burning for a few days after that,” said Greathouse, who has two preschool-age children.
The smell was so bad it made me sick. “I just wanted to quickly pick up what I needed and leave. I only brought a few pieces of clothes because I did not want to expose my kids to the chemicals in them.
She says she’s also kept her children out of preschool since the derailment. Even though her son’s teacher has promised her that students are using only bottled water, she’s worried about other types of contamination.
I do not want my son out of preschool because I enjoy the teachers, but I am still scared. Greathouse said that some teachers voiced their concerns about the air quality.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/17/health/ohio-derailment-rashes-health-impacts/index.html
Residents of East Palestine are concerned about their exposures to air, water and soil, and they need help when they can get their help, or what they can do about it
“We are very fortunate that we rent our home. I did not think I would ever say that. I feel awful for my landlord, but I just can’t risk my family’s health.”
Shaw said that they implemented a comprehensive testing program to ensure the safety of East Palestine’s water, air, and soil.
Medical teams from the US Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention and the US Department of Health are also expected to arrive in the community as early as this week to help assess what dangers remain.
Experts say it is difficult to connect chemical exposures to health effects despite the fact that some East Palestine residents experience headaches, sore throat and nose after being exposed to the volatile organic compounds released by the controlled explosion.
Haynes, who has experience investigating toxic exposures in communities, says she is seeking approval from her university’s Institutional Review Board to start a study in East Palestine to help give residents more information on their chemical exposures in air, water and soil.
“They need all the help they can get,” she said. “This is a major emergency. This is a major disaster. They need all the help they can get.
“How safe is it, really?” said DeSanzo, who lives about half a mile from the derailment with her two grade-school-age children. Some people are getting rash, but it isn’t in their heads because they’re getting pink eye from chemicals.
After the derailment, DeSanzo evacuated with her kids just over the state line in Pennsylvania, where her uncle had an empty duplex. They slept on the floor and the couch.
When she came home this week, DeSanzo says, she aired out her house, changed the furnace filter and washed their sheets and clothes. She says that they all went to a local immediate care clinic because of the childrens’ cough and throats being raw.
The doctor told the residents of East Palestine to call poison control if they had the same symptoms, and to go to the hospital for a blood test, DeSanzo said. She hasn’t gotten the test yet.
A small number of people have been treated by the Salem Regional Medical Center after complaining of sore throats and respiratory problems. The emergency room has not seen a lot of patients from East Palestine.
“Our facilities and primary care providers stand ready to help anyone who is seeking medical attention, and we are working closely with the County’s Health Department and other local, state and federal agencies, which are monitoring the situation,” Pietrzak said in an email.
Natalie Rine, a pharmacist who directs the Central Ohio Poison Center, said the state’s poison control centers are getting calls from East Palestine residents, too. Experts who staff the help lines are trained in toxicology and can help if chemicals are a health concern.
Ayla DeSanzo of Leetonia, Maryland, is an Exit from East Palestine with the FBI, and she feels she can’t leave
DeSanzo says she wants to leave but can’t afford to. Her mortgage is about $400 a month, less than half of those of other homes she’s found in the area that are farther from the accident site.
Ayla says her daughters are staying with her parents in Leetonia, about 20 minutes west of East Palestine, until the couple is able to make sure their home is safe.
There is an East Palestine Elementary School where my child could return to preschool. Ayla pulled her back out after she developed a rash on her hands and started complaining of itching.
The Department of Environmental Health at Harvard is chaired by Dr. Kari Nadeau, an allergist.
There are people that are sensitive to certain chemicals who can feel it before a monitor can detect it. “There’s not a great diagnostic pathway for chemical sensitivities. A lot of it is based on clinical symptoms.
Nadeau and other environmental health experts advise people who are having symptoms to see a health care provider, primarily for medical care but also so their case can be documented.
She said that if there was a group of people who all of a sudden had a rash or similar symptoms, that helps doctors come together with institutions like the CDC and do a little more fact-finding.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan is coming to East Palestine to address residents concerns about potential exposures to chemical compounds in the aftermath of the February 3 freight train crash
Ms Guglielmo is one of several people in the area who are looking to conduct their own tests because of the distrust they have in Norfolk Southern and the government.
But Ms. Guglielmo and others, particularly on the outskirts of East Palestine near where the train collided, continue to report a lingering stench of chemicals in some parts of town and have found little comfort in the assurances in light of the rashes and headaches they have experienced.
The town and its surrounding villages are frightened of being forgotten in the coming months, and with the threat of a chemical cocktail released into the air and water, many residents feel as if they are on their own to prove that it is safe. Some have become novice chemists, rattling off the names and effects of chemical compounds that had no meaning to them two weeks ago.
The health clinic in East Palestine is open to address residents concerns about potential symptoms. It will have registered nurses, mental health specialists and, at times, a toxicologist, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan will return to the town Tuesday to meet with residents and local and state officials, an EPA official with knowledge of the visit told CNN.
The visit comes as skepticism and anxiety spread in the small town of 5,000 while reports mount of rashes, headaches, nausea and other symptoms that residents fear could be related to the February 3 derailment of a Norfolk Southern freight train and crews’ subsequent release of the toxic chemical vinyl chloride from the wreck.
In addition to real-time air monitoring, the EPA says it is collecting air samples in conjunction with the 52nd Civil Support Team — a specialized unit of the Ohio National Guard — for analysis.
The toxic derailing upended life in the community and has prompted calls for better rail safety, and questions about the laws surrounding the movement of toxic substances.
“We should never say we’re done looking at this community for potential exposures and health impacts. Some may not occur until later,” said Haynes, adding that anyone experiencing health symptoms should take them seriously and call the poison control center.
“Environmental teams are treating the impacted portions of Sulphur Run with booms, aeration, and carbon filtration units,” Norfolk Southern added. “Those teams are also working with stream experts to collect soil and groundwater samples to develop a comprehensive plan to address any contamination that remains in the stream banks and sediment.”
The general manager of Maysville Utilities in Kentucky said that the company stopped taking water from the Ohio River on Saturday because the chemicals from the wreck would be arriving at the Kentucky water treatment plant.
Maysville Utilities took precautionary measures due to the public concern by temporarily shutting down their Ohio River intake valve, but water measurements have been below the level of concern.
The East Palestine Railroad Collision: Public Concerns, Public Speculations, and Complaints to the Norfolk Southern Transportation Authority
The work near the crash site was continuing, according to DeWine. About 4,600 cubic yards of soil and 1.1 million gallons contaminated water have been removed so far.
The contaminated soil became a particular point of contention last week after a public document sent to the EPA on February 10 did not list soil removal among completed cleanup activities. It is not yet known what significance or impact the soil that was not removed before the railroad reopened on February 8 will have had on the surrounding areas.
As skepticism spreads about the safety of the air and water, some local business say they’ve seen fewer customers, despite calls to return to normal life.
The salon lost business and customers are concerned about what may be in the water, according to the stylist.
“I know a lot of our businesses are already suffering greatly because people don’t want to come here,” local greenhouse owner Dianna Elzer told CNN affiliate WPXI.
US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg demanded accountability and called for greater safety regulations after a toxic train wreck.
Crews are still working to respond to the freight disaster in East Palestine as community members worry about possible adverse health effects from the toxic materials released when dozens of cars derailed after a likely mechanical failure.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan said that Norfolk Southern will not get off the hook for the mess they created.
“In sum, Norfolk Southern injected unnecessary risk into this crisis,” Shapiro said, adding he plans to hold the company accountable for their actions.
“We recognize that we have a responsibility, and we have committed to doing what’s right for the residents of East Palestine,” the company said Tuesday.
The company has committed more than $6 million to date in East Palestine, it said, including $3.8 million in direct financial assistance to families impacted by the accident.
In an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, CEO Alan Shaw said that the company invests more than $1billion a year in “science-based” safety solutions.
“It’s pretty clear that our safety culture and our investments in safety didn’t prevent this accident,” Shaw said. We have to take a look at this and see what we can change and do better.
Shapiro and the EPA: Why do they need to clean it up? The Ohio-Pennsylvania Highway Collision
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro praised the EPA for taking charge of the cleanup from the crash, which took place less than a mile from the Ohio-Pennsylvania border.
Shaw declined to comment in the CNBC interview on potential causes, citing the investigation. The cause of the accident is being investigated by the Federal Railroad Administration, as well as the National Board of Investigation.
Cars carrying the industrial material vinyl chloride were at risk of an explosion as authorities responded to the crash. A black smoke billowed above the small town when officials evacuated the area to conduct a controlled explosion.
“This is really in response to the concerns that we have heard, that people want to be able to go someplace and get some answers about any kind of medical problems that they believe that they are, in fact, having,” he said.
The EPA order is “common sense” according to President Joe Biden. This is their mess. They should clean it up,” the president said of Norfolk Southern in an Instagram post.
In the wake of Norfolk Southern’s behavior, the Governor of Pennsylvania told NPR that it had given the middle finger to the good people of Pennsylvania and Ohio. He said that authorities on his side of the border would be watching the water.
The East Palestine Railroad Accident and the Lack of State-Field-Safety Information after the Destruction of a Trapped Evaporating Train
Skepticism further spread in the community as some residents have reported health problems, like rashes and headaches, and after thousands of fish died in Ohio waterways after the train derailed.
With a toast to the water from the home of a East Palestine, Ohio, resident,DeWine andRenney sought to quell concerns about the safety of the water.
Pennsylvania’s governor – who also ordered evacuations after the derailment – alleged Tuesday that the train operator gave officials “inaccurate information” and “refused to explore or articulate alternative courses of action,” in the days following the toxic wreck.
Shaw said his company had been with the EPA and local efforts in East Palestine after the train wreck.
Shaw said that his company has conducted hundreds of tests with thousands of data points, all of which came back clean, and continues to monitor air and water quality.
The current law in place does not require trains of this type to notify the state and local officials, which is fundamentally wrong, according to DeWine. It is absurd that this train didn’t qualify for notification by the railroad company.
President Biden called on Congress to help implement rail safety measures, while accusing the Trump administration of limiting the government’s ability to strengthen rail safety measures.
Biden wrote that the train accident and toxic waste spill were more than an opposition to safety measures coming home to roost.
The concerns of environmental groups like ours are focused on the ongoing issues with the East Palestine community, where people continue to report odors and immediate health problems, chemical remains on soils and surfaces, and clean-up and soil removal is ongoing.
The state opened a health clinic to address the reports of headaches and nausea for East Palestine residents.
What the EPA has to say about the affected air, water and surface soil: “I can’t help but complain,” said Ms. Mibuck
Asked about the reported symptoms, the EPA administrator said Tuesday that he’s “not discounting what people are experiencing” and asked anyone concerned to seek medical attention.
People who say they are facing adverse impacts, I believe them. We want them to get medical attention, so we can take that information and add it to our response. “We’re not discounting what people are experiencing at all. We just ask that they seek medical help while we conduct all of our investigations.”
“We need our town cleaned up, we need our residents to feel safe in their homes,” Conaway said at Tuesday news conference. That is the number one thing. If you don’t feel safe at home then you’re never going to feel safe anywhere.
“I don’t want to give up — I don’t want to walk away,” she said recently, keeping an eye on a nearby bubbling vat of maple sap in her yard. But as she ran through the questions she had about planting a garden, eating the fruit from her trees and letting her horses drink from the nearby creek in the wake of the chemical burn, Ms. Mibuck conceded: “I don’t feel completely safe doing that. I don’t like that.
When the Norfolk Southern freight train careened off the tracks this month in East Palestine, Ohio, a town of roughly 4,700 people, it destroyed an area where generations of families could afford to purchase acres of land, raise horses and plant gardens. Although farming provides only a small number of jobs in the immediate area, many residents say that raising livestock and working the land are profoundly important to their way of life.
Through a long global pandemic, national political tensions and the stress of inflation, the land, the water and the fresh air had been a source of comfort and safety. Many people have lost their confidence due to the chemical threat in the region. Vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate, ethylhexyl acrylate and ethylene glycol monobutyl are among the substances that were released into the air, surface water and surface soil, the Environmental Protection Agency said.
What Does He Say About The Burning of Nicholas Proia? Some Remarks on a Case Study in East Palestine (N.C. Medical University)
Who is he? Nicholas Proia is a clinical professor of internal medicine at Northeast Ohio Medical University, which is not far from East Palestine.
What are they saying? He didn’t experience the controlled burn but was bracing for a rise in patients after the derailed train.
We really have not seen much in the way of at least respiratory illness come in. What we have heard, mostly through the media, and a few patients will say, perhaps a rash or a foul smell. There have been no overt breathing problems connected to this.
The air and water samples are safe, despite the fact that some people still have concerns. Residents are encouraged to get their homes deep cleaned and seek medical attention, if necessary, officials say at a press conference.
It’s also a caveat to remember that you’re only going to find what you’re looking for. And who knows what else is out there, especially after a large fire with a bunch of different, pretty interesting chemicals.
The East Palestine train wreck: health concerns and the state’s first health care commissioner (NtSB) says he’s worried about his future
The preliminary report on the train wreck in Ohio is due to be released by the National Transport Safety Board.
Jim Stewart, who has lived in East Palestine for more than six decades, said the wreck burned down his dreams of retiring soon and selling his house, adding he worries what the home’s value now looks like. He wondered if he could grow his tomatoes in the summer, after officials said the soil was contaminated by chemicals.
The slowdown was well below the “typical speed range” for a train traveling along that stretch of track, according to documents filed in 2020 with the Federal Railroad Authority.
Courtney Newman, a mother and teacher in East Palestine, said since her family returned home, her son has had “bloody noses every day,” and she has had “skin issues.”
Josh Hickman, a resident who lives in a hotel because he doesn’t feel safe coming home, sought treatment on Tuesday for headaches, dizziness, blood from his nose, and other symptoms he has had while living in the village.
Trent Conaway, East Palestine mayor, said Wednesday that they are getting everything they need except answers. “We need answers, as far as the health concerns.”
Ohio’s governor stressed during the town hall that he didn’t want to downplay any medical issues potentially linked to the derailed train, and he requested medical experts to help the community.
Medical teams from the US Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention and the US Department of Health and Human Services will also be on the ground this week at DeWine’s request, he said Friday.
Feb. 21 — The state opens up a health clinic for residents who worry their symptoms, such as trouble breathing, rashes and nausea, might be linked to the derailment.
A State of Emergency Management in East Palestine, Ohio: The DeWine Effect and its Implications for the Public Works Department and the City of El Paso
“We’re going to get the clean-up 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.”
DeWine said that more than a million gallons of contaminated water and more than four hundred thousand cubic yards of soil were removed from East Palestine. The governor said that the railroad tracks will be taken up so that the soil can be removed.
Water quality continues to improve in a second body of water in the vicinity, as officials continue to treat a creek that runs through the town. No vinyl chloride was detected in the waterways, the update said.
The resident said she is not using the water because she does not know if the story is true or not. “I use bottled water. I can not. I’m not trusting what they’re saying. I am not sure who is telling the truth.
The shelter-in-place order was issued for the entire town. The risk of an explosion was the reason for the order to be issued for the area within a mile of the crash.
East Palestine, Ohio EPA, and Norfolk Southern Air Screening Programs at Sulphur Run and the Confluence with Leslie Run
There are aerator pumps located along Sulphur Run and at the confluence with Leslie Run. Aeration helps treat contamination by injecting oxygen into the water. The East Palestine water treatment plant confirms there was no adverse effects to the plant, the EPA says. EPA and Norfolk Southern contractors collect surface water samples for analysis.
The 52nd Civil Service Team is known for their air monitoring in three public administration buildings.
The EPA says it is investigating a complaint of odors from the Darlington Township, Pennsylvania, fire station. A team with air monitors goes to the station and does not see any contaminants that are above detection limits.
The EPA and Ohio EPA find spilled materials in Sulphur Run, the EPA says. Oily product is leaking from a tank car and pooling onto the soil. The product is being removed using a vacuum truck.
EPA is assisting with voluntary residential air screening appointments offered by Norfolk Southern, the agency says. Crews have screened indoor air at a total of 46 homes. There are over 400 requests for indoor air screening remaining.
Ohio EPA leads efforts to investigate and remediate impacts to water, the agency says. Samples from Sulphur Run and other points of nearby water streams are taken for testing.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/23/us/east-palestine-ohio-train-derailment-timeline/index.html
The Village of East Palestine Shares Clean Water with Local, State, and Local Officials: Measurements and Recommendations from the Columbiana County General Health District
Feb. 15 — Residents pack a high school gym in East Palestine for a meeting with officials to discuss the current state of their community, CNN reports.
Instead, local leaders take questions from emotional residents who expressed distrust of officials’ accounts and anger – including at the transport company’s decision to skip the event.
Regional Administrator Debra Shore attends a community meeting alongside EPA on-scene coordinators and state and local officials to hear residents’ concerns.
Feb. 19 — The village of East Palestine’s municipal well water sample results show no water quality concerns, the EPA says. The Columbiana County General Health District continues to sample private water wells. To date, 52 wells have been sampled, 49 in Ohio, and three across the border in Pennsylvania, the agency says.
• Reimburse the EPA for cleaning services to be offered to residents and businesses to provide an additional layer of reassurance, which will be conducted by EPA staff and contractors,
The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office says it will investigate the train derailment following a criminal referral it received from the state department of environmental protection, according to a statement from the office.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/23/us/east-palestine-ohio-train-derailment-timeline/index.html
Clean Your House: Do You Have to Clean Your Own? After the 9/11 Fire in East Palestine, Pennsylvania, residents are concerned about the airborne health risks?
They will fully pay for it. At any moment, if we have to step in because they refuse to do anything, we will do the cleaning up ourselves. We can fine them up to $70,000 a day,” the EPA chief said.
When we recover our total costs, we can charge them three times the cost of the federal government. That is what the law provides.”
Editor’s Note: Ericka L. Copeland is the chapter director of Sierra Club Ohio and former two-term president of the Cincinnati Public Schools’ Board of Education. Her views are her own, that’s what this commentary says. View more opinion on CNN.
Residents of East Palestine are still waiting for information three weeks after the train accident that resulted in a fire.
And while the accident has received reams of press coverage, people who live in East Palestine have said that their complaints about rashes, headaches and other ailments they believe are linked to the disaster have been ignored.
But a memo from Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection and its Department of Health advised residents that vacuuming inside their homes “may cause chemicals that have settled on floors and surfaces to become airborne, which could cause inhalation concerns” — guidance which is confusing and even scary.
In Ohio, residents say they didn’t get any information about how to clean the interiors of their homes.
Reply to the “Comment on ‘Uncontrolled Chemical Reaction in East Palestine'” by Rep. Pete Buttigieg
US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg toured East Palestine on Thursday for the first time since the disaster and called for the railroad industry to do more to implement higher safety standards. The head of the federal EPA, Michael Regan, toured the scene for a second time on Tuesday, aiming to assure residents that they could feel confident about the testing and cleanup efforts currently underway in their town. Skeptics remain, and I count myself among them.
More recent tests by ORSANCO showed that butyl acrylate is not being detected, probably due tochemical breakdown, as it is well known for being volatile. The levels are likely to be below the limits. The scientists did not find any vinyl chloride or total volatile chemicals in the samples.
I am thinking about health impacts on the residents of East Palestine, which may not be obvious today, but could surface in the future.
Eric Beckman, a co-founder of the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation and a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, explained last week that what occurred in East Palestine amounts to an “uncontrolled chemical reaction.”
So far, inexplicably, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has failed to issue a disaster declaration. A spokesman for the governor has said he might revisit the idea if the circumstances warrant it. Meanwhile residents of East Palestine continue to be exposed to these toxic chemicals and are forced to pay out of pocket for hotel lodgings while he delays his decision.
The community of East Palestine needs our support right now — as do other affected towns downstream, and communities across our nation through which trains carrying highly volatile hazardous chemicals will continue to run until robust safety measures are put in place.
That should be the case even — and perhaps especially — when their community is being used as a thoroughfare for hauling unchecked cargo across hundreds of miles of railway tracks.
