East Palestine, Ohio Train Derailment
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EPA is committed to protecting the health and safety of the East Palestine, Ohio community.
EPA personnel have been on site since the onset of the train derailment, supporting local and state partners as they lead on-the-ground response efforts.
EPA Approves Workplan to Cleanup Sediment in Sulphur and Leslie Runs
EPA Approves Workplan to Cleanup Sediment in Sulphur and Leslie Runs On March 1, EPA approved the Norfolk Southern workplan to complete sediment cleanup in Sulphur and Leslie Runs. While ecological conditions in the streams are improving, assessments of the streams identified areas of oil sheening.
- Read the workplan: Sediment Mitigation Measures Work Plan -Modified (pdf) (443.2 KB) .
- Review more information on Workplan to Cleanup Sediment in Sulphur and Leslie Runs.
Latest Update: March 22, 2024
- Next week, Norfolk Southern will begin sediment cleanup work in Sulphur Run, in accordance with the workplan approved by EPA on March 1. Planning for cleanup operations in Leslie Run is ongoing. While ecological conditions in the streams are improving, assessments of the streams identified areas of oil sheening. With EPA and Ohio EPA oversight, Norfolk Southern will remove residual oil discharged during the derailment by conducting stream/sediment washing and physical removal of sediments, as appropriate.
- Site runoff, including rainwater and snowmelt, has been collected in the two one-million-gallon big blue tanks. Previously, this wastewater was sampled, treated, and sampled again to ensure it could be shipped off-site as non-hazardous. Now, the contaminated soil has been removed from the site and testing of the runoff shows no presence of vinyl chloride or other hazardous materials. Because of these ongoing sampling results, this water can now be shipped off-site as non-hazardous wastewater without additional treatment. This represents great progress and shows how successful the removal of contamination has been.
- In the coming weeks, the process to return the natural flow of water back into Sulphur Run will start and is expected to take several months. To prepare for rainwater and water from the upstream wetlands to flow naturally on-site, the north and south ditches alongside the tracks will be evaluated in areas, starting at the western-most end of the derailment site. Robust testing under EPA and Ohio EPA guidance, oversight, and approval will ensure the soils around and within the ditches have no remaining contamination.
- Once testing in one area of the ditch shows naturally flowing water is safe to enter Sulphur Run, flow will be restored for that area. The testing process will repeat area-byarea (nine areas in total) until the full natural flow of water is restored. Surface water testing in Sulphur and Leslie Runs will continue during this process. None of this water flow will come from currently contained site wastewater.
- Rainwater and snowmelt will continue to be collected on-site until water is fully restored to the ditches. If any areas need additional work, they will not be part of the process to restore water flow.
- Confirmatory sampling and investigation, known as Appendix E work, is ongoing and approximately 55% complete.
- EPA’s Welcome Center is open by appointment only. To make an appointment, please call EPA’s information line at 330-775-6517. Questions can also be sent to r5_eastpalestine@epa.gov.
- Recently, EPA mailed a water management update fact sheet. The fact sheet webpage can be found here.
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Background
At about 8:55 PM ET on February 3, 2023, a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, about a quarter-mile west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania state line.
Twenty of the affected cars contained hazardous materials, including vinyl chloride, ethylene glycol, ethylhexyl acrylate, butyl acrylate and isobutylene.
More Background InformationUnified Command:
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Columbiana County Emergency Management Agency
- Village of East Palestine
- Ohio Environmental Protection Agency
- Norfolk Southern Corporation
Cooperating and Assisting Agencies include:
- Federal Emergency Management Agency
- U.S. Department of Agriculture
- Ohio Emergency Management Agency
- Ohio Department of Health
- Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission
- Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
- Beaver County Emergency Management Agency
- Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency
- Pennsylvania Department of Health
- Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture
- Ohio Department of Agriculture
- West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection
Resources for Residents
Learn more about all resources available for East Palestine area residents
- EPA Information Line: 330-775-6517
- EPA Community Welcome Center in East Palestine: 25 North Market St.,
- By appointment only
- Information Repository: East Palestine Memorial Public Library, 309 N. Market Street, East Palestine, Ohio 44413.
M-Th. 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Fri-Sat. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.