Residents evacuated from eastern Palestine, Ohio, are able to return to their homes after a train laden with toxic chemicals derailed. Even if the American authorities consider the air quality to be safe, Many residents are afraid to return there.
50 cars on a Norfolk Southern Railway freight train derailed on the evening of February 3 in East Palestine, a village in Ohio near the Pennsylvania border. According to the US National Transportation Safety Board, the accident was probably caused by a defective axle. He caused no immediate injuries.
The derailment caused a combustible chemical fire that firefighters were unable to approach for days. Fearing an explosion, authorities evacuated nearly half the residents of the village of 4,800.
Vinyl chloride posed the greatest explosion hazard. Three days after the accident, it was decided to dump the chloride contained in five of the cars into a ditch, which was set on fire. The operation eliminated the risk of the train exploding, but released a massive cloud of chemicals into the air.
On February 8, the evacuation order was lifted within a radius of about 3 km around the accident site. However, some residents refuse to return to East Palestine.
Carcinogenic and toxic products
A comprehensive list of goods carried on trains has not yet been compiled by the Norfolk Southern Railway. Currently only vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate and a lubricating oil classified as non-hazardous are known.
Vinyl chloride, used in the manufacture of PVC, can cause dizziness, headaches and drowsiness. It is associated with a high risk of liver, brain, blood and lung cancer. Exposure to high levels of the chemical compound can cause miscarriage.
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Vinyl chloride is a highly flammable substance which emits hydrogen chloride and phosgene when burned. Phosgene is a highly toxic gas that was used as a chemical weapon during World War I.
Butyl acrylate is a liquid used in the manufacture of plastics and paints that can cause lung damage with repeated exposure.
14 miles from my home in East Palestine Ohio.
Norfolk Southern assures us that the vinyl chloride leaking from the tanks of their derailed train burns and turns into hydrogen chloride as it rises into the atmosphere and mixes with water vapor to… pic.twitter.com/Rc8wbpXU8R
— 𝐑𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐭 𝐂 𝐀𝐭𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐉𝐫 🦺🌍🔥🌹 (@blckndgldfn) February 8, 2023
The Norfolk Southern Railway says the levels of vinyl chloride residents have been exposed to do not pose a long-term health risk. However, experts believe that measuring pollutants in the air has not been done with instruments sophisticated enough to reach such a conclusion, reports The Washington Post.
If vinyl chloride finds its way into soil and water bodies in large quantities, it could continue to evaporate in the coming months, increasing levels of pollutants in the air, fears Dana Barr, a professor of environmental health at Emory University, in an interview with CNN.
Dead animals and smells of chlorine
On their return, the residents of eastern Palestine found many dead fish and frogs in the waterways.
A farmer who kept domesticated foxes on his land outside the evacuation zone told the New York Post that his animals had developed terminal diseases since the incident.
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A resident of northern Lima, more than 17 km from eastern Palestine, saw footage from her surveillance camera of all her chickens dying. “If it can do that to chickens overnight, imagine what it’s going to do to us 20 years from now,” she said.
Evacuees who have returned home have reported strong smells of chlorine, charred tires and nail polish in the air, and “stinging eyes”.
More drama will follow
The East Palestine disaster is Ohio’s third rail disaster since October. 1,700 occur in the United States each year, according to Rail Pollution Protection Pittsburgh.
Guardian figures show more than 25,000 Americans are thought to live in the potential blast zone of a fuel-carrying train line.
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For the Railroad Workers United union, which denounces staff shortages, an inspection of the train could have revealed the poor condition of the axle, which might have been enough to prevent the tragedy.
Keep in mind that in Canada, the Lac-Mégantic tragedy in 2013, which killed 47 people, raised similar questions about the lack of maintenance and monitoring of freight trains.
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