Ohio Governor Responds to Farmers’ Concerns About Soil After Toxic Train Derailment
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine responded Friday to ongoing concerns expressed by local farmers in and around East Palestine about their soil, crops, and livestock, following the train derailment on Feb. 3 and subsequent spill of toxic chemicals into the air, ground, and water.
DeWine, after being presented with farmers’ concerns, told CBS affiliate WHIO: “There’s going to be soil testing. Anybody want soil testing, that’s going to be provided. So it’s very important, the testing of the water continues, the testing of air continues.”
He stated that farmers may have noticed changes in the growth and health of their livestock. The state’s agriculture department can help them. “can become involved” His administration “can get the state veterinary involved in that.”
“The soil at the farm: Can we plant? Can we not plant? Will anybody buy it, if we do plant?” Eloise Harmon of East Palestine was asked by the outlet who is in possession of part of the farm.
DeWine responded to her concerns regarding planting in spring when he stated that the state government could bring in experts in agriculture. “hear that concern.”
“It’s an understandable concern. I’m not the expert. We’re going to bring in the experts. We’ll put them together with the farmers,” He told the WHIO that experts would be coming from different universities throughout the state, he said.
Concerns of ‘Highly Toxic’ Dioxins
Since a train in East Palestine, Ohio was towed off-track on February 3, at 9:59 p.m., concern has been growing about the pollution of soil, water and air. There were no injuries or fatalities. The Norfolk Southern train was traveling from Madison, Illinois, to Conway, Pennsylvania.
The preliminary report is available herepdf(NTSB), 38 of the 151 train cars were derail. The 11 cars with hazardous materials were among the derailments, and this caused a fire which damaged 12 other cars. The fire was put out by responders on February 5.
In five cars, the train carried 115 580 gallons vinyl chloride. It is known to be a carcinogen, and it is extremely flammable. This substance is used in the manufacture of PVC pipes, and other products. It has been associated with cancers in the liver, brain, blood, lymphatic system and lung, according to The National Cancer Institute.
Crews used controlled combustion to burn the chemicals, fearing that the vinyl chloride could explode. A preliminary NTSB report states that the temperatures inside the vinyl chloride-carrying tank cars reached 105 degrees Celsius. “was still rising,” These concerns authorities.
“This increase in temperature suggested that the vinyl chloride was undergoing a polymerization reaction, which could pose an explosion hazard,” The report is as follows. “Responders scheduled a controlled venting of the five vinyl chloride tank cars to release and burn the vinyl chloride … and dug ditches to contain released vinyl chloride liquid while it vaporized and burned. The controlled venting began about 4:40 p.m. on February 6 and continued for several hours.”
This caused a cloud of toxic smoke to spread throughout the city. The derailment caused a tsunami of dark smoke in East Palestine, which was then expelled from the area. Residents were told that they would be able to return by February 8.
On Feb. 10, the Environmental Protection Agency told Norfolk Southern that at least four other potentially hazardous chemicals The chemicals were located in the water, soil or air surrounding the accident site. They included ethylene glycol monobutylether and ethylhexylacrylate.
Murray McBride, a soil and crop scientist at Cornell University, said that vinyl chloride would have broken down and dissipated in the air over a day or two, but may persist in soil and water. An
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