East Palestine Derailment Cleanup Slogs Along

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio—Rick Tsai suits up in chest waders and a full-face respirator to track the iridescent sheen in a creek that snakes through downtown.

Tsai, a chiropractor who has acquired the nickname “Creek Ranger,” regularly posts videos online of himself in the creek to remind the world that things still aren’t right in East Palestine. He takes a pole and scrapes the bottom of Sulphur Run. A swirl of chemicals rises to the surface.

“There’s something in that water that will make you ill, if you’re there too long,” says Tsai, who believes he has gotten rashes and vertigo from visiting the creek. He and his wife, Tammy Tsai, now plan to move from their home, tucked away in a peaceful spot with a garden and koi pond 2 miles from downtown, to another property 10 miles away.

Nearly six months since a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed Feb. 3 along a stretch of homes and businesses here, the cleanup effort goes on with no end in sight, casting a lingering cloud over the town’s future.

Trucks still pass through town day and night hauling away contaminated water and soil from the derailment site. Contractors have removed about 25 million gallons of wastewater and 80,000 tons of contaminated soil. Norfolk Southern has spent $63 million to support the community, including about $18 million to reimburse families for housing, food and other expenses. But the railroad and federal officials haven’t yet charted a course for cleaning up Sulphur Run, showing much is left to be done.

The derailment dealt a major blow to this village of nearly 5,000 on the border with Pennsylvania. Cars that were flung from the tracks caught fire. Three days later, the intentional burning of vinyl chloride from five tanker cars sent a plume of black smoke and more chemicals into the sky.

“From the beginning, we’ve been clear that we would be in town for the long haul,” said Connor Spielmaker, a Norfolk Southern spokesman. “We don’t have a timeline to provide as far as when it’ll be ‘job done,’ but we will be there until it is.”

Earlier this month, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine asked President Biden to issue a major disaster declaration order, allowing the federal government to continue to pay for the cleanup in case Norfolk Southern ceases to do so. No decision has been made, according to a spokesman for the governor. 

In an April financial filing, the company estimated legal and cleanup costs from the accident would be at least $387 million. Earlier this month, Norfolk Southern sued seven other companies that owned railcars carrying hazardous chemicals that were involved in the accident, to share in those costs.

The Environmental Protection Agency, which since the derailment set up an office in downtown East Palestine near a dog groomer, said the local air and drinking water continue to show no concerning levels of chemicals in the area. The EPA has 15 air monitoring stations in town and two vans operated by a private company take samples at more locations.

Mark Durno, the EPA’s response coordinator, said it is safe for residents to return home but that he understands some people still have concerns. The EPA and railroad will announce a plan soon to clean homes where residents have complained about odors, he said. The agency will release a separate plan for cleaning Sulphur Run and another creek in town. A majority of waste disposal from the derailment should be completed by the end of September.

Many residents are frustrated by that pace amid ongoing worries about potential health risks. At least two dozen people continue to stay in hotels or rental properties because they say they get sore throats, rashes or bloody noses when they return to homes that haven’t yet been professionally cleaned.

On a recent evening, Durno spoke to about two dozen residents who showed up at a briefing in the basement of the First United Presbyterian Church. Among other things, he said he believes the sheen in the creeks is a “cocktail” mostly made of petroleum products and containing some other chemicals from the derailment.

Jami Wallace, president of a community group called the Unity Council for East Palestine Train Derailment, lamented that the EPA has yet to release its plan to clean the creeks.

“Dr. Tsai is going down there poking this stuff up and still seeing the rainbow,” she said. “It’s been six months. These are our children’s lives.”

Durno said he was frustrated himself and that various state and federal agencies are given the opportunity to review plans, slowing the process. “The whole country is still watching this response—we need to make sure that those plans are right,” he said. “Your frustration is our frustration.”

Ashley McCollum, 33, left her East Palestine home after the derailment and, of late, is staying at the Best Western in Columbiana, Ohio, about 10 miles away, with her 6-year-old son, Zayne, her boyfriend, Matt McAnlis, 35, and two dogs. On a recent day, Zayne played Roblox on one double bed while McAnlis, a steelworker whose shift ended at 7 a.m., was fast asleep on the other. The room’s clock radio was balanced on two cans of Play-Doh near four apples and a box of toys.

A hotel official said seven of the 52 rooms in the hotel were occupied by displaced people from East Palestine. Candy Kiehl, two rooms down from McCollum, said residents meet every evening in the lobby. Both women said Norfolk Southern is paying for their food and hotel bills.

McCollum said she wants to return home, but that after about 5 minutes inside she starts to get a rash, itchy eyes and a tingling sensation in her mouth. Like other residents, she has a phone full of photos from online posts showing necks, arms and torsos with rashes that residents attribute to chemicals from the derailment.

“I feel like I’m a prisoner to the situation,” she said. “You wake up wanting to go home, and you go to bed wanting to go home.”

Last week, Kristina Ferguson, 49, who works at a nearby convenience store and is staying with her family at a house rented by Norfolk Southern, showed a reporter the drain in her basement that she says connects directly to Sulphur Run beneath her house. The chemical smell inside has faded but she said she doubts that her carpets and furniture can be effectively cleaned.

“I don’t think it will ever be safe,” she said. “It got into everything. I know it did.”

Nate Velez, 31, said he has been getting nosebleeds every afternoon while working at his engine shop, a few yards from Sulphur Run. He said his business rebuilding motorcycles and lawn mowers is down 70% from last year, a drop he mostly attributes to people staying away from East Palestine and a main road into town that is still closed near the derailment.

“I have to move this shop, I think it’s inevitable,” he said. “I’m surprised I lasted this long.”

Write to Kris Maher at [email protected]