- The Environmental Protection Agency ordered the pause, but vowed that removal of the material would resume ‘very soon’
- Norfolk Southern, the rail company, had been solely responsible for the disposal of the waste of the derailed train in East Palestine, Ohio
Federal environmental authorities have ordered a temporary halt in the shipment of contaminated waste from the site of a fiery train derailment earlier this month in eastern Ohio near the Pennsylvania state line.
Region 5 administrator Debra Shore of the Environmental Protection Agency said Saturday the agency ordered Norfolk Southern to ‘pause’ shipments from the site of the February 3 derailment in East Palestine but vowed that removal of the material would resume ‘very soon.’
‘Everyone wants this contamination gone from the community. They don’t want the worry, and they don’t want the smell, and we owe it to the people of East Palestine to move it out of the community as quickly as possible,’ Shore said.
Until Friday, Shore said, the rail company had been solely responsible for the disposal of the waste and supplied Ohio environmental officials with a list of selected and utilized disposal sites.
Going forward, disposal plans including locations and transportation routes for contaminated waste will be subject to EPA review and approval, she said.
‘EPA will ensure that all waste is disposed of in a safe and lawful manner at EPA-certified facilities to prevent further release of hazardous substances and impacts to communities,’ Shore said.
She said officials had heard concerns from residents and others in a number of states and were reviewing ‘the transport of some of this waste over long distances and finding the appropriate permitted and certified sites to take the waste.’
The Ohio governor’s office said Saturday night that of the twenty truckloads (approximately 280 tons) of hazardous solid waste hauled away, 15 truckloads of contaminated soil was disposed of at a Michigan hazardous waste treatment and disposal facility while five truckloads had been returned to East Palestine.
Liquid waste already trucked out of East Palestine would be disposed of at a licensed hazardous waste treatment and disposal facility in Texas, but that facility would not accept more liquid waste, the Ohio governor’s office said.
‘Currently, about 102,000 gallons of liquid waste and 4,500 cubic yards of solid waste remain in storage on site in East Palestine, not including the five truckloads returned to the village,’ the governor’s office said. ‘Additional solid and liquid wastes are being generated as the cleanup progresses.’