The East Palestine train derailment

Over the weekend, the EPA sent a letter to Norfolk Southern Railway Co. revealing that additional toxic chemicals had been released during the company’s train derailment this month in East Palestine, OH, that weren’t previously made public.

Quick reminder: On the night of February 3, a mechanical issue with a railcar axle caused ~50 cars out of a 141-car train to jump the tracks in a small village near the Ohio–Pennsylvania border. And similar to the used-gum bucket lugged around by the janitorial staff while cleaning the bleachers, it was carrying some pretty nasty stuff.

In the initial days following the derailment, the EPA said around ten cars carrying vinyl chloride and butyl acrylate, two hazardous chemicals used in plastic products, had been involved in the crash.

But the new letter carries some additional details: namely that three other toxic chemicals – ethylhexyl acrylate, isobutylene, and ethylene glycol monobutyl ether – were also released into the surrounding air, soil, and water, including the Ohio River.

• Exposure to any of the five chemicals can cause a range of symptoms, including headaches, shortness of breath, burning in the skin and eyes, permanent damage to the lungs, liver, or kidney, and increased risks of developing cancer.

🚂 The local scene: The EPA announced yesterday that it failed to detect hazardous chemical levels in any of the ~500 nearby homes it has screened thus far. Officials also said new testing found no sign of contaminants in the tap water for East Palestine.

But residents within a 10-mile radius of the derailment have reported multiple health symptoms associated with the released toxic substances, as well as the sudden deaths of hundreds of fish and chickens. And some outside experts have raised concerns that government officials aren’t testing for the full range of harmful chemicals that could’ve been produced while the train’s hazardous substances were on fire.

Stay tuned.