East Palestine's controlled chemical burn in 2023 spread pollutants to at least 16 states, new study shows

Norfolk Southern's controlled burn spread chemicals
to surrounding states. (Adobe Stock photo)

In February 2023, a Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, leading to an explosion and a toxic vinyl chloride spill. The subsequent controlled burn, which was intended to prevent further explosions, created a plume that spread air pollutants to at least 16 states, according to research published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, Zack Budryk of The Hill reports. The cloud "reached as far north as New England . . . according to researchers from the University of Wisconsin. They found the overall radius spanned more than 540,000 square miles."

Researchers studied soil samples before and immediately after the spill to evaluate the burn's reach. "They found evidence of high chloride concentration in states including Virginia, South Carolina and Wisconsin, as well as particularly high concentrations near Canada's border with New York, an area downwind of the crash site," Budryk explains. 

The chemical plume may have also changed precipitation pH levels in surrounding areas. "Researchers found unprecedentedly high, or more basic, pH values across a broad belt in the Midwest and Northeast," Budryk reports. "They also found elevated alkaline and earth metals levels, in some cases within the 99th percentile of measurements for the last decade."

The study's lead researcher, David Gay, said, "All of these pollutants are important in the environment because their accumulation has an impact on the Earth's aquatic and terrestrial environments in many ways."

In March 2024, the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, Jennifer Homendy, testified at a Senate hearing that the deliberate burn was not necessary because there was no risk of additional explosions.

Two-person crews are now required for almost all freight trains in an effort to improve railroad safety

Photo by Laurent Jollet, Unsplash

More than a year has passed since the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, where cars carrying vinyl chloride exploded and a "controlled chemical burn" was completed and then later disputed as unnecessary. Although East Palestine isn't the only town to face the devastating consequences of a rail disaster, the small town's crisis brought rail safety back into the forefront, and now the federal government has put a new rule in place.

"The Biden administration rolled out a mandate requiring nearly all freight trains nationally to operate with two-person crews," reports Daniel C. Vock of Route Fifty, "ending for now a decade-long fight by the railroad industry to stymie similar efforts in Congress and in statehouses around the country. . . .Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the new Federal Railroad Administration rules will 'address the patchwork of differing uncoordinated requirements that had been developing across the states.'"

"More than 13,000 people commented when the FRA announced its two-person crew proposal, Buttigieg said, and nearly all of them were supportive of the idea," Vock writes. "One worker told the agency that asking someone to run a train by themselves for a 12-hour shift is 'kind of like solitary confinement.'"

The rail industry has maintained that it remains the safest way to move dangerous chemicals, "something the head of the National Transportation Safety Board agreed with in recent testimony in the House -- though officials acknowledge the railroads need to continue improving safety," reports Josh Fund of The Associated Press.

Ian Jeffries, the president and CEO of the Association of American Railroads, pushed against the new regulations, saying that they had "no proven connection to rail safety," Vock reports. "The FRA's rules require two workers to staff freight trains unless a railroad gets a special exemption from the agency. When companies seek an exemption, the public and railroad workers will get a chance to weigh in before the agency decides."

In East Palestine, Ohio, residents and officials now know the 'controlled burn' was not neccesary

Vinyl chloride is used to make
PVC piping. (Wikipedia photo)

More than a year has passed since the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, which left the community of 5,000 facing the aftermath of a chemical explosion followed by a "controlled chemical burn" of vinyl chloride that at the time was presented as the "least bad" of two options. However, area residents and Congress discovered last week that Ohio decision-makers didn't have all the facts needed to avoid the burn.

"The decision to blow open five tank cars and burn the toxic chemical inside them after a freight train derailed in Eastern Ohio last year wasn't justified, the head of the National Transportation Safety Board told Congress," reports Josh Funk of The Associated Press. "But she said the key decision-makers who feared those tank cars were going to explode three days after the crash never had the information they needed."

The East Palestine train derailment.
(Wikipedia photo)

The company Oxy Vinyl made the vinyl chloride inside the five cars, and its experts told "contractors hired by Norfolk Southern railroad that they believed that no dangerous chemical reaction was happening, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said. But Oxy Vinyls was left out of the command center," Funk explains. While vinyl chloride is a flammable gas, it needs a specific combination of heat, air, light, and a contact catalyst to start a fire or explode. Homendy testified that the Oxy Vinyl's experts did not believe this combination or "polymerization" was occurring. "However, that information was never relayed to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and the first responders in charge, she said."

DeWine's spokesperson, Dan Tierney, said a lack of information made the burn seem like the only safe option. He told Funk: "The only two scenarios that were ever brought up were a catastrophic explosion occurring, where shrapnel would be thrust in all directions to a one-mile radius, or averting that through a controlled vent and burn. Nobody ever brought up a scenario where if you just did nothing, it wouldn't explode."

East Palestine is in Columbiana
County, Ohio. (Wikipedia)

Area residents now face the heartbreak of knowing the burn was not needed, and some suspect Norfolk Southern pushed for the burn versus waiting for the cars to cool so that more costly delays could be avoided. Funk reports, "Misti Allison, who lives with her family about a mile away from the derailment site, said the findings reaffirm what she believed to be true all along: that the vent and burn did not need to happen." She told Funk, "Norfolk Southern was putting profits over people to get the train tracks up and running as fast as possible and to destroy whatever evidence was left."

Vinyl chloride does not occur naturally and is a category 1A carcinogen. The National Cancer Institute notes that "vinyl chloride exposure is associated with an increased risk of a rare form of liver cancer (hepatic angiosarcoma), as well as primary liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma), brain and lung cancers, lymphoma, and leukemia." 

A year after the East Palestine derailment, some residents have not returned home, and others report health problems

The site of the East Palestine train derailment.
(Photo by Cara Owsley, The Enquirer via USA Today)

More than a year has passed since the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, left the unsuspecting community of 5,000 living in the aftermath of a hazardous chemical explosion and its mitigating "controlled chemical burn." Many residents believe their lives are forever changed because of toxic exposure during and after the disaster.

Five days after the accident, Ohio officials announced that it was safe for residents to return home. "But five families who spoke to The Cincinnati Enquirer . . . just before the one-year anniversary say they're still dealing with health problems," reports Elizabeth B. Kim of The USA Today Network. Despite the lack of scientific studies tying the derailment's toxic spill to long-term health problems, "relocated families are still experiencing symptoms and foot many of their medical bills without help from the railroad or the government. They don't consider their East Palestine homes to be safe, and they're worried that moving back will worsen their symptoms."

Financial help from Norfolk Southern ends on Feb. 9 for families who relocated to other areas. "Some of the symptoms families say they face are chronic, and others are acute, appearing suddenly after a short period of time spent in one's home," Kim writes. "Christa Graves, 49, has had migraines before, but they increased in frequency from weekly to daily starting last February. . . . While Norfolk Southern offered to relocate people living within a mile of the derailment site, Graves lives 1.2 miles away. The railroad denied her request for relocation assistance, and her family has been unable to move out ever since."

Despite residents' reported health problems, the town's air and water have repeatedly passed quality testing. Anne Vogel, director of the Ohio EPA, said, "The agency is not planning to offer more residential air testing following those initial results," Kim reports. Ohio EPA "has also continued weekly sampling of the municipal water system since February 2023 and reported that no contaminants from the derailment have been detected."

Beyond ongoing health issues and expenses, families who have been unable to go home "described the crushing blow of losing their homes, sometimes passed down for generations," Kim reports. "Candy Kiehl still feels a strong connection to her East Palestine house despite feeling unconvinced that it's free of contamination." Kiehl told her: "That was my grandparents' house. That's where my mom passed away. That's where my dad passed away. But is it safe? I don't know."

Rail employees who flag safety concerns are often penalized or even fired, according to a new report

Train cars at a Denver facility.
(Photo by Eli Imadali, special to ProPublica)

Rail workers who report problems such as load defects, faulty brakes, malfunctioning valves or other dangers often face retaliation, including furloughs and terminations, report Topher Sanders, Jessica Lussenhop, Dan Schwartz, Danelle Morton and Gabriel Sandoval of ProPublica. "Railroad companies have penalized workers for taking the time to make needed repairs and created a culture in which supervisors threaten and fire the very people hired to keep trains running safely," according to the report. "Regulators say they can't stop this intimidation."

While train derailment may be the most dramatic breach of train safety, other dangerous close calls, including escaped train cars carrying flammable materials, are on a long list of problems train corporations don't report. "The government trusts the rail companies to fix the underlying problems on their own, to heed workers' warnings," according to the report. "But as railroads strive to move their cargo faster, that honor system, ProPublica found, is being exploited. To squeeze the most money out of every minute, the companies are going to dangerous lengths to avoid disruptions — even those for safety repairs."

To substantiate its story, ProPublica "examined 15 years’ worth of federal lawsuits against rail companies, interviewed hundreds of workers including managers, listened to hours of audio recorded by workers and pored over decades of regulatory, judicial, legislative and industry records," according to the report. "We identified 111 court cases where workers alleged they had been disciplined or fired after reporting safety concerns; nearly 60% ended in settlements with the companies. Three in recent years resulted in jury verdicts of over $1 million for fired workers."

Rail inspectors who flag safety concerns are dubbed "complainers" who slow everything down and decrease profits. Supervisors that let issues slide are rewarded, ProPublica reports. "[Rail companies] use performance-pay systems that effectively penalize supervisors for taking the time to fix hazards and that pressure them to quash dissent," according to the report. "As a result, trains with known problems are rolling from yard to yard like ticking time bombs, getting passed down the line for the next crew to defuse — or defer."

Rail employees punished or fired for reporting safety problems can turn to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for whistleblower protection, but the agency takes "so long to conclude investigations that many workers, tired of waiting months for rulings, remove their complaints and sue the companies instead," ProPublica reports. "Once that happens, OSHA has no legal authority to continue its investigation, barring the agency from exposing repeat bad actors or patterns in the industry’s abuse of whistleblowers."

Read the full investigation, including the lengths many rail employees have gone to keep trains safe and how the rail companies have responded.