Ohio derailment shipment to resume

FILE – Workers clean up several cars of a Norfolk Southern train that derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (AP) — Shipping contaminated waste from the site of a burning train derailment earlier this month in eastern Ohio near the Pennsylvania state line is set to resume. on Monday to two approved sites in Ohio, according to federal environmental authorities.

The announcement came a day after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ordered Norfolk Southern to “pause” shipments from the site of the February 3 derailment in East Palestine in order to allow take additional monitoring measures on where the waste was sent. Some liquid and solid waste had already been moved to sites in Michigan and Texas.

EPA-certified facilities capable of accepting some of the waste have been identified, meaning shipments will be able to restart Monday, Region 5 Administrator Debra Shore of the Environmental Protection Agency said Sunday.

Some of the liquid waste will be sent to a facility in Vickery, Ohio, for disposal in an underground injection well, Shore said. Norfolk Southern will also begin sending solid waste to an incinerator in East Liverpool, Ohio, and additional solid waste disposal sites are being sought, she added.

“This is all great news for the people of East Palestine and the surrounding community, because it means that the cleanup can continue at a rapid pace,” he said.

The Ohio governor’s office reported Saturday night that five of the 20 trucks (approximately 280 tons) of hazardous solid waste had been returned to East Palestine after 15 trucks were turned away at an Ohio hazardous waste treatment and disposal facility. Michigan. Shore said material sent to sites in other states but later returned to East Palestine will now be sent to the two Ohio sites.

All but 11 train cars held by the National Transportation Safety Board have been removed from the derailment site, allowing for the excavation of additional contaminated soil and the installation of monitoring wells to check for water contamination. underground, according to Anne Vogel, director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

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