From staff and wire reports
EAST PALESTINE (AP) — Federal officials say contaminated waste from the site of a fiery train derailment in northeast Ohio have started moving out.
The shipments started Monday and comes after concerns were raised during the weekend about oversight of where the waste was being shipped.
The Environmental Protection Agency also announced that two new hazardous waste sites will receive some of the shipments.
Those two sites are at an incinerator in Grafton, near Cleveland, and a landfill in Roachdale, Indiana.
The EPA now is getting close to having enough certified facilities to take all of the waste from the site of the Feb. 3 derailment in East Palestine, said Debra Shore, a regional administrator with the agency.
Officials on Saturday had ordered Norfolk Southern to “pause” shipments to allow additional oversight measures. Some liquid and solid waste had already been taken to sites in Michigan and Texas.
About 1.8 million gallons of liquid waste have been collected from the derailment site, according to the Ohio EPA.
Some of the remaining liquid waste is going to a facility in Vickery, Ohio, for disposal in an underground injection well. Norfolk Southern is also shipping solid waste to an incinerator in East Liverpool, Ohio.
No one was injured when 38 rail cars derailed more than three weeks ago. After fears grew about a potential explosion, officials opted to release and burn toxic vinyl chloride from five tanker cars, sending black smoke billowing into the sky.
Brown, Vance call for continued vigilance
Ohio’s U.S. Senators have sent letters to the heads of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, urging them to keep a watchful eye on the health of residents affected by the train derailment.
The two sent letters to the directors of the Ohio and federal Environmental Protection Agencies, requesting additional information on plans to monitor East Palestine and the surrounding area for dioxins, a pollutant resulting from combustion of vinyl chloride that tends to stay in the environment and can be toxic to humans and animals.
“The residents of East Palestine and the surrounding community deserve to know if their health has been compromised by this disaster now and for years to come. Therefore, we urge you to work with your colleagues across the federal government to allocate the resources and expertise needed to begin the surveys and assessment needed to establish a medical baseline for the community,” letter from U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) to EPA administrator Michael Regan and CDC director Rochelle Walensky, urging them to ensure individuals affected by the Norfolk Southern train derailment have access to baseline medical testing.
Regan will return to East Palestine Tuesday.
Despite assurances, many residents are worried about what they were exposed to and how it will impact the area.
Federal and state officials have repeatedly said air testing in the village and inside hundreds of homes hasn’t detected any concerning levels of contaminants. The state also has said the local municipal drinking water system is safe.
The results of necropsies performed by the Ohio Department of Agriculture’s Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory on February 21, four dead wild animals from the East Palestine area show no findings to support chemical toxicity as a cause of death, according to a regular daily update from the office of Gov. Mike DeWine.