Health and safety officials are tentatively describing yesterday's decision to vent dangerous chemicals from burning train cars in eastern Ohio as a success. Federal investigators suggest a problem with an axle caused the 50-car train to derail near East Palestine Friday night. Five of the cars were carrying hazardous vinyl chloride, making it dangerous for firefighters to approach. Speaking to NPR's Steve Inskeep on Morning Edition, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said the situation began to deteriorate Sunday night.
"They talked about the measurements the railroad was doing with one particular car, where the temperatures was going up. They described the chemicals in there as unstable. And the concern was what they described as a catastrophic blowup."
Ohio National Guard and local law enforcement made three passes through the evacuation area, which includes 20 households on the Pennsylvania side of the border. Crews from Norfolk Southern railroad drilled holes in the affected car, which vented hydrogen chloride and phosgene - a deadly gas used as a weapon in World War I. Venting the gases allowed them to burn off, and prevented the car from exploding, spraying shrapnel and debris throughout the area.
Officials from the Ohio emergency Management Agency say the release was succesful, and the U.S. and Ohio Envirnmental Protection Agency are continuting to monitor air and groundwater. In 2020 Ohio had the third largest number of rail miles in the country, followed by Pennsylvania. DeWine says this weekend's accident raises questions about safety and what trains are transporting.
"It brings up many many questions. And I think after you see a catastrophic wreck like that, with all the ramifications - and knowing what they were carrying - I think you.. we have to go back and rexamine the whole situation. "
