The Ohio derailment and the risk of a long-term environmental disaster

On 3 February, after a train accident involving a train carrying chemicals near the town of East Palestine, the apocalyptic images of what appeared to be a giant toxic cloud in the skies of Ohio have been around the world. At first the US authorities denied possible impacts on public health and the environment but, between frightened citizens and constant requests for clarity and transparency on what the 150 carriages of the train contained, new details are now emerging in America that lead us to think of a possible environmental disaster in progress.

What is known on social media as the story of the “Ohio train”, with outlines that incredibly resemble the plot of the film “White Noise”, a film recently available on Netflix, begins with the derailment of a freight train of the Norfolk Southern in the suburb of East Palestine, on the border between Ohio and Pennsylvania. To be involved, for a technical problem, are about 50 wagons.

Some of these contain vinyl chloride, used to produce PVC plastic and vinyl products: after the accident, during the reclamation operations, the workers vented and burned part of those compounds contained in the wagons. Hundreds of residents of the area were thus evacuated as a precaution but a few days later – in agreement with the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) of the USA which declared that it had not detected any “level of concern” relating to the substances released – citizens been told that they could return to their homes. And it is here that in part the strong doubts about what happened begin.

According to what was stated in the Washington Post several residents of East Palestine have in fact complained of strong odors, headaches, nausea and other health ailments. At the same time some citizens noticed that the fish in rivers near the accident area had died. The EPA said it has opened an investigation into the possible contamination of soil and surface water, starting to collect samples.

Initial estimates, although it is not clear what caused their deaths, speak of 3500 dead fish along 7.5 miles of waterways south of East Palestine. Other citizens, such as a resident of North Lima near East Palestine, also reported that the farm hens they suddenly died shortly after the explosion.

In the meantime, several lawsuits and class action lawsuits have been filed against Norfolk Southern. The finger is pointed in particular against the move of having burned vinyl chloride in a controlled manner – after the accident: this, according to the suing party, could lead residents to excessive exposure to various toxic and carcinogenic substancesas well as a strong impact on the environment, especially on waters. Furthermore, citizens have pressed for the lists of other substances transported by the different wagons involved, of which, for example, they are known ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate And isobutylene.

Although confirming the presence of some toxic compounds, Norfolk has for now limited itself in a statement dated February 13 to explaining that it has followed the protocol and donated 1 million dollars to more than 700 families to cover the costs incurred by their evacuations, but also that it has completed more than 340 air tests in homes together with the EPA, checks that “showed no detection of substances related to the accident and do not indicate a health risk”.

However, a large part of the residents do not believe the company’s words and there is strong concern that the pollutants have spread in the basin of Ohio Riverthreatening the water resources they least count on 30 million US citizens.

For example, the governor of West Virginia was among the first to go overboard in this sense, Jim Justicewho admitted that the substances probably contaminated the aquifers.

Even the health authorities of Ohio have recently admitted that new data would show a greater number and quantity of chemicals released. The problem, as he recalled Andrew Wheltonprofessor of environmental and ecological engineering at Purdue University, is the possibility that the have burned vinyl chloride leads to other substances (such as hydrochloric acid or phosgene) that can have a strong impact on the population and animals, compounds that according to the professor the EPA may not yet have tested. “When they burned materials they created other chemicals. The question is, what did they create?” Whelton said.

In this great confusion, between worries and alarms, meanwhile from Greenpeace to other environmental associations, appeals were born to consult the president directly Joe Biden in an attempt to have more clarity. Among the accusations there is above all the fact that there is not enough talk about what happened: as said by the young and popular activist Sophia Kianni, of Friday for Future, in fact there seems to be a “total lack of interest” in what could be one of the “most harmful environmental emergencies” of recent years.