The Environmental Protection Agency says that Norfolk Southern may be responsible for cleanup following an Ohio train derailment earlier this month that spewed out hazardous substances in and around the village of East Palestine near the border with Pennsylvania.
In a letter sent to the rail operator, the agency said that approximately 20 rail cars were listed as carrying the materials, including vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate, ethylhexyl acrylate and ethylene glycol monobutyl ethers. A Tuesday report from the National Transportation Safety Board said 10 of those cars had derailed.
Those chemicals were “known to have been and continue to be” released to the air, surface soil and surface waters, according to the EPA. Vinyl chloride was diverted to an excavated trench and then burned off. A spokesperson for Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that the only option was to release the chemicals to avoid an explosion.
The EPA gave Norfolk Southern one calendar day of receipt of the letter to respond.
OHIO RESIDENTS FEAR TRAIN DERAILMENT POISONED AIR, GROUND, REPORT ANIMALS DYING
A large plume of smoke rises over East Palestine, Ohio, after a controlled detonation of a portion of the derailed Norfolk Southern trains Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
“Norfolk Southern received the EPA’s letter and we have confirmed to them that we have and will continue to perform or finance environmental monitoring and remediation,” Norfolk Southern confirmed to Fox News Digital on Tuesday. “Our hazmat team was in East Palestine within an hour of the incident, and the response continues today in close coordination with the Ohio and U.S. EPA, NTSB and other federal, state and local agencies.”
Norfolk Southern said in-home air monitoring has “not shown any detections of substances related to the incident and does not indicate a health risk,” adding that “thousands of data points have been collected during outdoor air monitoring in the community and continues to indicate no risk to health from incident-related substances.”
Sample results from water supply wells, the village’s water system and private wells will be available in the next week. A West Virginia water utility said over the weekend that it would enhance its water treatment process as a precaution following the Feb. 3 derailment.
HEPACO workers, an environmental and emergency services company, observe a stream in East Palestine, Ohio, Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023, as the cleanup continues after the derailment of a Norfolk Southern freight train Friday. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
DeWine’s Press Secretary Dan Tierney told Fox News Digital in an interview that the office had not seen any change in safety issues and that while local health officials have said the municipal supply of water is safe, bottled water had been made available to residents who want to act out of an abundance of caution.
“The belief amongst officials is that the geological makeup of the ground in the area puts a significant barrier between drinking water wells and where the incident happened,” he said, noting that there are detectable traces of contamination in the Ohio River with an “immediate fish kill.”
Tierney noted that levels were below what would cause a safety concern and that residents were not allowed to return to evacuated areas until air levels were at a level that was “below that of concern.” The EPA’s Great Lakes region tweeted on Tuesday that it had screened 396 homes and no detections of vinyl chloride or hydrogen chloride were identified, with 64 additional homes still left to screen. East Palestine and other Ohio residents were evacuated due to health risks from the fumes – including the dark plume of smoke from the vinyl chloride – but have since been allowed to return.
Smoke rises from a derailed cargo train in East Palestine, Ohio, on February 4, 2023. (Photo by Dustin Franz/AFP via Getty Images)
“At this time, our air monitoring has not detected any levels of health concern that can be attributed to the incident,” EPA Great Lakes wrote.
There have been no reports of injuries or deaths from the derailment, but many continue to question how safe the area was to return to. Some residents have said they are feeling unwell following the event.
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Tierney said that the governor’s office has been aware of social media reports of symptoms but has not received reports from medical facilities and Ohio’s public health system that people are going to the doctor due to toxicity from the chemicals involved on the train.
Two Pennsylvania residents who filed a federal lawsuit are seeking to force Norfolk Southern to set up health monitoring for residents in both states.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
