Canada _ (Commonwealth Union) _ Residents of East Palestine, Ohio, have been advised it is safe to return home after a train carrying dangerous chemicals derailed earlier this month. Many people, though, are still filled with fear, skepticism, and uncertainty.
Maura Todd and her husband returned to town briefly over the weekend for the first time since the catastrophic derailment on Feb. 3 and ensuing poisonous cloud from a controlled burn sent locals fleeing for safety.
“We were there maybe 15 minutes when we started to get kind of like a dry, tight feeling in our throats,” Todd explained to As It Happens presenter Nil Köksal. “We both started to feel nauseated, dizzy, almost car sick.”
She stayed at home for much of Saturday before leaving again that evening. She gave it another shot the next day to be sure it wasn’t all in her brain. When the same thing happened again, she turned around and returned to Kentucky, where she is residing with family.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it has been monitoring air quality in the impacted region 24 hours a day since the train disaster fire was put out on Feb. 8 and “has not discovered any levels of health risk in the community that are linked to the railway derailment.”
When asked for response, Norfolk Southern Railway linked to the EPA statement. Roughly 50 automobiles, including 10 carrying hazardous commodities, derailed on February 3 in the Ohio community of about 5,000 people near the Pennsylvania border.
There were no injuries in the incident, which was caused by a damaged axle, according to authorities. Three days later, officials carried out a controlled release of vinyl chloride, a carcinogenic chemical used in the production of plastic, inside five tanker vehicles, releasing hydrogen chloride and the hazardous gas phosgene into the atmosphere, resulting in a toxic plume.
The controlled discharge was carried out to avoid a possibly catastrophic explosion at the derailment site. People in and around the town were instructed to leave in advance of the surgery.
Since learning of the accident, the EPA has been “boots on the ground, leading comprehensive air-quality testing,” according to the agency.
“We are continuing to undertake 24/7 air monitoring to guarantee the health and safety of citizens,” EPA regional administrator Debra Shore told As It Happens in an emailed statement. Shore stated that the EPA had given optional home screenings to households. It had investigated 396 residences as of Tuesday, with “no detections of vinyl chloride or hydrogen chloride discovered.”
