'This is absurd': Train cars that derailed in Ohio were labeled non-hazardous

[douglas9]

Nearly two weeks after a train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in rural Ohio, questions still linger about the lasting effects of the incident and the speed at which residents were returned to their homes.

Around 9 p.m. on February 3, a train operated by Norfolk Southern Railway derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, located on the border of Pennsylvania and roughly an hour from Pittsburgh.

Among the chemicals the freight was carrying, five cars contained vinyl chloride, a colorless gas that is linked to various cancers and is used in a variety of plastic products and manufacturing. In the initial days after the derailment, temperatures rose in the cars holding the vinyl chloride and officials at both the railroad company and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, ordered that residents evacuate East Palestine.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Republican Governor Mike DeWine said he learned that the train cars were marked as non-hazardous, and thus officials weren’t notified that the train would be crossing through the state.

https://grist.org/accountability/derailed-train-cars-ohio-not-labeled-toxic-cargo/

[pandr32]

2. Holy sh*t!

If this is true we need the rules and regulations upgraded to something functional.

[LunaSea]

3. Something functional you say.....but you're on a budget..

[pandr32]

4. Holy Sh*t again!

[Duppers]

8. OMG! The company should go bankrupt. 🤬

Thanks for this info. Had not yet read that.

[quakerboy]

11. Id guess the rules are relatively adequate

But the staffing has been degraded and subverted under decades of "free market" policy, resulting in a lack of enforcing the rules and regulations that exist.

Kinda like in most industry.

If you ever want to get a wake up on the state of things.. go work in pretty much any food production facility. Read up on the relebant food safety regulations, and then the company's written policys.. and then compare to what actually happens on the production line.

[pandr32]

12. You are right about that.

[Gore1FL]

5. The STCC codes designates if it is hazardous or hazardous waste.

2821141 POLYVINYL CHLORIDE, OTHER THAN LIQUID
4905792 VINYL CHLORIDE (CHLOROETHENE OR CHLOROETHYLENE)

STCC codes beginning with 47 and 49 are Hazmat. Unless they were misbilled, there is no reason they should have been labeled that way.

[czarjak]

6. Deregulation meets consequences. Vote R though rubes.

[czarjak]

7. Deregulation meets consequences. Vote R though rubes.

[Evolve Dammit]

9. This is a huge deal for these residents. It will be months before the hazards are assessed. That

assumes Ohio EPA and U.S. EPA dedicate experienced personnel to conduct. I did hear it would get Superfund monies which is a good sign. In the meantime though, I would be staying elsewhere, but some folks can't do that I imagine. If the RR in fact buried some of the chemicals in the railbed as has been reported, that sounds criminal.

[NNadir]

10. Basically, this event, is going to end up being a lot like radiation releases at Fukushima.

The coal, oil, and gas burned to power computers to discuss it on the internet will have a far greater health and environmental impact than the event itself.

The amount of attention being paid is disturbing on a practical level, since there are far more serious issues deserving attention that are routinely ignored.

There is lots of information on the hazards, half-lives, etc. of all the components. It's been readily available like, forever, on the internet. When the accident happened I looked it all up, and was satisfied that it was not even close to being a major disaster.

Now it is?

Has a single fatality been recorded?

18,000 people will die today from air pollution from the combustion of dangerous fossil fuels but very little attention is being paid to that.

Global burden of 87 risk factors in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 (Lancet Volume 396, Issue 10258, 17–23 October 2020, Pages 1223-1249).

Diesel trains routinely release toxic chemicals because, well, they burn diesel fuel, which routinely releases carcinogenic PM2.5, PAHs benzofurans, etc...

Let me guess what the "solution" is.

We ship all PVC manufacture to poor countries so we can use PVC piping at the expense of poor people while declaring ourselves safe and clean.

Right?

[GGoss]

13. Thank You For This !!!