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dioxins
'Bombshell' Memo Shows Open Chemical Burn in East Palestine Violated EPA Rules
"It's inconceivable that there wouldn't have been someone from the enforcement office, or general counsel, saying, 'Oh, Norfolk Southern wants to do an uncontrolled burn—that's illegal, you cannot do that," said a former EPA official.
Mar 07, 2024
A day after the head of the National Transportation Safety Board told Congress that the deliberate burning of toxic chemicals in five crashed train cars in East Palestine, Ohio last year was unnecessary, a former Environmental Protection Agency official said the so-called "controlled burn" also likely went against EPA regulations.
Kevin Garrahan, who worked for the agency for 40 years and focused on environmental risk assessment and hazardous waste cleanup, told HuffPost that soon after a Norfolk Southern train derailed in the town of 4,700 people, he alerted a former EPA colleague to a 2022 memo on the open burning and open detonation of waste explosives.
The memo described when local EPA officials can issue permits for the pre-planned combustion of waste explosives, and said the open burning of hazardous waste should be a last resort.
Because the EPA determined in 1987 that "open burning of nonexplosive waste could not be conducted in a manner that was protective of human health and the environment," the memo says, the method "is generally the least environmentally preferred treatment technology and, consistent with existing requirements, should only be available where there are no safe modes of treatment."
Considering laws banning the open burning of chemicals and the EPA's knowledge of the danger that was spelled out in the memo, the decision to allow emergency crews to blast holes in five train cars, drain the toxic vinyl chloride they were carrying into pits, and set the chemicals on fire seemed "incredibly stupid and reckless," Garrahan wrote to his colleague.
"Am I missing something?" he asked.
"The big question is if there is another train derailment involving toxic chemicals—and there will be—would EPA sit idly by and allow a state and a polluter to decide to do an open burn again?"
Garrahan's former colleague agreed that there were concerns about "OB/OD," or open burning and open detonation, but did not reply to Garrahan's later emails about the safety of the operation.
In a case of a private company directing a public official regarding their response to a potential public safety threat, East Palestine fire chief Keith Drabick told the NTSB that Norfolk Southern and its contractors pushed him to approve the deliberate burning of the vinyl chloride, a known carcinogen that has been linked to liver, brain, lung, and blood cancers as well as neurological damage. Drabick said railroad officials gave him just 13 minutes to make the decision.
Garrahan told HuffPost that the EPA, which deployed state and federal officials to the crash site, should have stepped in and cited the 2022 memo as proof that the so-called "controlled burn" that Norfolk Southern was suggesting actually fit the definition of open detonation.
"It's inconceivable that there wouldn't have been someone from the enforcement office, or general counsel, saying, 'Oh, Norfolk Southern wants to do an uncontrolled burn—that's illegal, you cannot do that," Garrahan said, calling the memo a "bombshell."
Instead, the EPA to this day has referred to the operation, which sent huge plumes of black smoke into the surrounding area and forced an evacuation of East Palestine, as a "controlled burn," suggesting any damage would have been contained.
The incineration of the vinyl chloride raised concerns about the release of dioxins, another class of toxic compounds that are linked to reproductive and developmental harms and are also carcinogenic. HuffPost reported that an EPA dioxin expert was not consulted about the Norfolk Southern derailment and its aftermath until a month after the accident.
Judith Enck, a former EPA regional administrator, told the outlet that the EPA went against their previous protocols, which were in place in 2012 when a train carrying vinyl chloride derailed in Paulsboro, New Jersey.
Officials in that case sealed off the affected cars and vacuumed the hazardous materials before taking it to a facility for safe disposal.
As Jennifer Homendy, chair of the NTSB, testified at a congressional hearing on Wednesday, Drabick and other officials tasked with approving the deliberate burn were not given all the relevant information they needed from Norfolk Southern about a potential spontaneous explosion.
The maker of the vinyl chloride in the cars, Oxy Vinyls, told the rail company that there was no hazardous chemical reaction happening in the crashed train.
"They believed polymerization was not occurring, and there was no justification to do a vent and burn," Homendy said. "There was another option: let it cool down."
Oxy Vinyls' input was not passed along to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, Drabick, or other local authorities who proceeded with the incineration that allowed Norfolk Southern to reopen the railroad the following day.
"Meanwhile," said Plain Dealer reporter Jake Zuckerman, "some of the locals are still stuck in hotels, that Norfolk Southern is no longer paying for. And they say they're suffering symptoms of chemical exposure, which the EPA and Norfolk Southern deny."
The EPA's decision-making in the case of East Palestine raises questions about the future safety of other American communities if a similar accident happens.
"EPA sat idly by when a major bad decision was made," Enck told HuffPost. "The big question is if there is another train derailment involving toxic chemicals—and there will be—would EPA sit idly by and allow a state and a polluter to decide to do an open burn again?"
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'It Doesn't Have to Be This Way': Major Plastics Fire Triggers Toxic Fears in Indiana
"There is a host of different chemicals that plastics give off when they're on fire, and it's concerning," said the state fire marshal.
Apr 12, 2023
Officials in the city of Richmond, Indiana said Wednesday that a fire that broke out at a plastics facility Tuesday is expected to continue burning for several days, sending huge plumes of black smoke—that doubtlessly contain toxins—into the environment there.
Authorities have not released the name of the business owner or company, but The New York Times reported that the complex was formerly owned by Hoffco/Comet Industries, which produced garden and lawn motors before closing in 2009. The facility is now used to store large amounts of plastic for resale and recycling.
"The smoke is definitely toxic," said Indiana State Fire Marshal Steve Jones in a news briefing on Tuesday. "There is a host of different chemicals that plastics give off when they're on fire, and it's concerning."
\u201cWATCH \ud83d\udea8 This footage show large and intense fire in the recycling processing facility in Richmond, Indiana. Winds reportedly began carrying the smoke into Ohio, according to FOX19\n\n\u201d— Insider Paper (@Insider Paper) 1681252215
About 2,000 people in a half-mile radius of the blaze were ordered to evacuate the area Tuesday, and officials don't know when the order will be lifted. The Richmond Community School District cancelled classes for the entire town on Wednesday.
The smoke was drifting toward the east and northeast on Tuesday, and Richmond residents whose homes are in the path of the smoke were advised to "shelter in place, turn off HVAC units, keep windows and doors closed, and bring pets inside."
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Indiana Department of Environmental Management began taking air samples in the area on Tuesday to help determine what toxins have been released from the fire.
Chemicals that can be released from plastic when it burns include dioxins, furans, mercury, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Dioxins, furans, and PCBs have similar toxicity levels, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which says that "people who have been unintentionally exposed to large amounts of these chemicals have developed a skin condition called chloracne, liver problems, and elevated blood lipids."
Animals exposed to the chemicals in lab studies have developed cancers and reproductive problems.
Exposure to high amounts of mercury can rapidly cause serious lung damage, and low concentrations can cause "neurological disturbances, memory problems, skin rash, and kidney abnormalities," according to the CDC.
Richmond Fire Chief Tim Brown told CNN that firefighters who arrived at the scene Tuesday afternoon found a semitrailer behind the facility engulfed in flames that spread to piles of plastic on the property and to several buildings in the 14-acre complex.
"There's plastics inside buildings, there's plastics outside buildings, there's plastics in semitrailers that are throughout the grounds here at the complex, so we're dealing with many type of plastics," Brown told reporters. "It's very much a mess."
The fire chief added that the facility had been a known fire hazard and that the owner had been warned of the danger posed by their storage methods.
"We knew it wasn't a matter of if, it was a matter of when this was going to happen," he said at the press briefing.
\u201c\u201cThe battalion chief was very frustrated when he pulled up because we knew it wasn\u2019t a matter of if, it was a matter of when this was going to happen.\u201d\n\nThis is true of so many factories that produce hazardous materials, and it has GOT to change. https://t.co/QZEUZ5yL91\u201d— Food & Water Watch (@Food & Water Watch) 1681318968
Richmond Mayor Dave Snow told the Associated Press that the owner had been "under a city order to clean up and remediate that site," but had not obeyed the order.
Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch argued that the disaster would not have happened without the fossil fuel industry "foisting plastics on the world as its 'Plan B' to sustain its profitability."
\u201cA massive toxic fire is raging at a plastics plant in Indiana. It doesn't have to be this way -- Big Oil and Gas is foisting plastics on the world as its "Plan B" to sustain its profitability. Here's my recent column about that https://t.co/6BAkmM9byv\u201d— Will Bunch (@Will Bunch) 1681312115
"Worldwide production of plastic has nearly doubled since the start of the 21st century, as oil and gas giants look for profitable uses of their fossil fuels while a climate-change-weary world looks increasingly to transition toward wind or solar power or electric cars," Bunch wrote late last month after several environmental disasters threatened drinking water and the environment in communities across Pennsylvania.
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100+ Groups Detail Demands for Dioxin Testing After Toxic Train Derailment
"It's important for the residents of East Palestine that accurate and transparent testing for dioxin be done at the lowest levels possible, so that the residents can begin to understand the risks they face and can make informed decisions to protect their health," said one expert.
Mar 13, 2023
While welcoming a federal order that Norfolk Southern test for dioxins near a derailed train that was carrying hazardous materials through East Palestine, Ohio, over 100 groups on Monday shared "recommendations on how this testing should be conducted to improve transparency, rebuild public trust, and comprehensively address possible releases."
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) told the rail company to develop a plan to test for dioxins—carcinogenic chemical compounds that persist in the environment and human body and are tied to developmental, reproductive, and immune system problems—only after nearly a month of pressure from residents across Ohio and Pennsylvania.
River Valley Organizing (RVO), Toxic-Free Future, and other organizations signed the letter sent on Monday to agency leaders including EPA Administrator Michael Regan—which states that "to date, Norfolk Southern has done an extremely poor job of building trust with the community of East Palestine and other communities impacted by the disaster."
"We strongly recommend the U.S. EPA itself conduct the dioxin sampling or hire its own consultants to conduct the testing."
"To ensure this testing is adequately conducted, and to rebuild public trust, we strongly recommend the U.S. EPA itself conduct the dioxin sampling or hire its own consultants to conduct the testing," the letter continues. "Norfolk Southern should not be in charge of the dioxin sampling. This testing must be paid for by the responsible parties, not taxpayers."
Along with laying out what the groups believe should be detailed in the dioxin sampling plan—including goals, locations, detection limits, procedures, and laboratories used—the letter calls for allowing residents to weigh in before testing begins.
"All sampling data and test results should be made available to the public for review in a transparent and easily accessible format," the organizations argued. "This information must be accessible for review, given the need for results to be meaningful to impacted communities as well as to build trust through transparent action."
While the EPA has said that its own "monitoring for indicator chemicals has suggested a low probability" that dioxins were released as a result of the February 3 derailment and subsequent "controlled burn" of vinyl chloride, as the letter says:
Responders reportedly punctured and burned more than 115,000 gallons of vinyl chloride in uncontrolled conditions for numerous days, making it likely that dioxins and related chlorinated substances were formed and released into the communities surrounding the disaster site. Four train cars of polyvinyl chloride plastic also burned, also likely forming dioxins. There have been elevated levels of dioxins released in other major accidents involving chlorinated chemicals—from the 2004 explosion at the PVC plant in Illiopolis, Illinois, to the 1997 Plastimet PVC recycling fire in Ontario, to the 2001 World Trade Center attacks.
The organizations also recommended that "the EPA work with other agencies to provide medical monitoring for impacted communities, especially East Palestine and those in the combustion plume, that desire it."
"Communities surrounding and downwind of the derailment have a right to know whether the fire resulted in elevated concentrations of dioxins. The testing must be transparent and comprehensive," the letter asserts. "This would help demonstrate EPA's commitment to comprehensively responding to this disaster, rebuilding trust with East Palestine and other impacted communities, and advancing environmental justice."
Leaders and experts at groups that signed the letter echoed its key messages in a statement Monday—including RVO co-executive director Amanda Kiger, who declared that "this community deserves to know what potential toxic chemicals they will have to live with for years to come due to Norfolk Southern's greed."
Just like per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), often called forever chemicals, "dioxins are toxic even at very low levels of exposure," noted Mike Schade, director of Mind the Store, a program of Toxic-Free Future.
Stephen Lester, science director of the Center for Health, Environment & Justice, highlighted that "exposure to dioxins can cause cancer, reproductive damage, developmental problems, immune effects, skin lesions, and other adverse effects."
"It's important for the residents of East Palestine that accurate and transparent testing for dioxin be done at the lowest levels possible, so that the residents can begin to understand the risks they face and can make informed decisions to protect their health," Lester said.
Others took aim at Norfolk Southern, which since the derailment has faced intense scrutiny for its safety culture and practices.
Given that "Norfolk Southern has obvious financial conflicts of interest in the outcomes of all environmental testing and public health evaluations," Dr. Ted Schettler, science director at the Science and Environmental Health Network, stressed the need for "rigorous oversight of the U.S. EPA, including strict quality control measures and split-sample testing."
Judith Enck, a former U.S. EPA regional administrator who is now president of Beyond Plastics, said that "it is unfortunate that the EPA took a month to decide to test for dioxins, and then rather than doing it itself, is having Norfolk Southern consultants to do the actual testing."
"The testing plan is too limited and should be revised to require some testing inside people's homes, at schools, and air filters in schools and buildings and cars should be tested, not just soil," she added. "Rain has likely driven contaminants toward groundwater and that water should be tested over a period of months and year[s]."
Enck's comments came after she wrote in a New York Times opinion piece last week that the EPA should have "ordered comprehensive testing the very day of the burn" and "told residents, especially pregnant women and families with young children, not to return home until it was safe to do so."
"Instead, it timidly stood back, leaving local authorities, corporate interests, and rumors to fill the void," she charged. "In lieu of a comprehensive plan, the EPA appears to be playing a game of crisis whack-a-mole, waiting and then responding to the news cycle. This is no way to safeguard our communities."
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