EPA Orders Temporary Halt To Shipping Of Ohio Toxic Train Crash Contaminated Waste

Authored by Jeff Louderback via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Amid objections from Michigan authorities who said they weren’t aware that hazardous materials were headed into their state, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has ordered a temporary pause on shipments of contaminated waste from the site of Norfolk Southern Railway’s Feb. 3 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

“Everyone wants this contamination gone from the community,” EPA Region 5 Administrator Debra Shore said. “They don’t want the worry, and they don’t want the smell, and we owe it to the people of East Palestine to move it out of the community as quickly as possible.”

Shore vowed that the removal process will resume “very soon.”

On Feb. 3, a Norfolk Southern train carrying 151 cars derailed in East Palestine, a village of 4

The National Transportation Safety Board reported that the train had 20 cars with hazardous materials, 11 of which derailed.

To avoid an uncontrolled explosion that officials claimed would send shrapnel into the air, toxic vinyl chloride was intentionally released and burned from five cars on Feb. 6, sending up a massive cloud of black smoke that could be seen for miles around and was likened to a mushroom cloud caused by a nuclear weapon.

The burn triggered questions about the health effects on the residents of East Palestine.

EPA Takes Over Waste Disposal

Norfolk Southern had been responsible for waste disposal until Feb. 24, Shore said. The railroad provided Ohio environmental officials with a list of disposal sites.

Shore said disposal plans, including locations and transportation routes for contaminated waste, will be subject to EPA review and approval.

“EPA will ensure that all waste is disposed of in a safe and lawful manner at EPA-certified facilities to prevent further release of hazardous substances and impacts to communities,” she said.

On Feb. 21, the EPA ordered Norfolk Southern to pay for cleanup costs in East Palestine.

“Norfolk Southern will pay for cleaning up the mess that they created and the trauma that they inflicted on this community,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said. “I know this order cannot undo the nightmare that families in this town have been living with, but it will begin to deliver much-needed justice for the pain that Norfolk Southern has caused.”

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said in a Feb. 23 statement, “[Under EPA guidance,] Norfolk Southern brought in large dump trucks to move contaminated soil to U.S. Ecology Wayne Disposal, a licensed hazardous waste disposal facility in Michigan. This will be a continuous effort to properly manage and safely dispose of the waste.

“So far, 4,832 cubic yards of soil have been excavated from the ground and more may be removed as cleanup proceeds. When the process begins to dig up the tracks and remove the soil underneath, that soil will be hauled away immediately and taken to a proper disposal facility.”

More than 1.7 million gallons of contaminated liquid have been removed from the derailment site, according to DeWine’s office. Most of the 1.1 million gallons hauled off-site were sent to a Texas-based hazardous waste disposal facility, which has stated that it will no longer accept shipments.

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