Newsletter: East Palestine Train Derailment Response, 4-18-2023
Newsletter serving Serving East Palestine, Negley, Darlington, and surrounding communities
- Progress Made
- By the Numbers
- The Week Ahead
- Community Corner
- Did You Know?
- Top 3 Questions of the Week
- Key Community Resources
Progress Made
Stream Assessments are Ongoing
Teams are checking nearby streams daily, including Sulphur Run, Leslie Run, and Little Beaver Creek. The assessment work includes documenting the absence or presence of sheen, odors, and wildlife. Dissolved oxygen meters are also used to take water quality readings in the waterways. These measures look at the level of dissolved oxygen, which provides a snapshot of water quality conditions at that moment to see if the waterway is suitable for fish and other animals.
Sediment Cleaning Continues in Sulphur Run
Air knifing teams are making progress along Sulphur Run. This process involves poking a pressurized wand into the stream bank to see if there are any pockets of contamination. If any contaminants are released, they are then taken up by a vacuum truck immediately downstream. This process will continue all the way down Sulphur Run until all contamination is released and removed and the stream is cleaned.
The Portable High-throughput Integrated Laboratory Identification System (PHILIS)
PHILIS is one of EPA’s mobile laboratories used for on-site analysis of samples. PHILIS involves three mobile units using stateof-the-art analytical equipment and is sometimes deployed after accidental chemical releases or natural disasters. The labs can analyze soil, water, and air samples for volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds, including vinyl chloride that were released during the derailment. PHILIS can process and analyze these samples within 24 hours.
The Week Ahead
At the Derailment Site
- South track rail restoration is expected to be completed, and train traffic will be restored on the south track.
- Excavation work will begin along the north track.
- Expect increased truck traffic along East Martin Street. Designated truck routes may change occasionally due to temporary closures of Pleasant Street during excavation work.
- Taggart Street remains closed to the public.
- Excavated soil and collected wastewater will continue to be shipped off-site.
In the Greater Community
- EPA’s Community Welcome Center remains open to the public at 25 North Market Street in East Palestine. EPA staff are available to discuss your concerns.
- Air monitoring will continue at 23 locations around the community.
- Sediment cleaning operations will continue along the banks of Sulphur Run.
- Stream assessment will continue all the way down to Little Beaver Creek.
Community Corner
April is Earth Month! Did you know that the Earth Day movement in 1970 helped lead to the creation of the EPA? Legislation on clean air, clean water, toxic substances, and endangered species were passed too. Earth Day falls on April 22 each year. According to EarthDay.org, the theme for Earth Day 2023 is Invest in our Planet. The East Palestine High School Science Club is planting a tree in honor of Earth Day. Here are some other ways to invest in your community and help better our planet:
- Support your local farmers – Supporting producers in your area will help add dollars back into your local economy. And buying local cuts back on emissions from long-distance transport by air, land, and sea.
- Bee-friend your local pollinators – Support your local environment by planting native, pollinator-friendly flowers and herbs. The birds and bees will love it!
- Switch to reusable bags – The average plastic bag is only used for 10-20 minutes. Unfortunately, that plastic bag lives on much longer — even as much as 1,000 years in a landfill. Reusable bags can help lower the amount of litter on land and in the ocean.
Some nearby Earth Day events include a hike at Hellbender Bluff in Lisbon, Ohio, a creek cleanup at Bears Den Run in Mill Creek MetroParks, and an extravaganza at Hopewell Township Community Park.
Did You Know?
SAFETY MINUTE
This past week has been very hot and dry, increasing the amount of dust at the derailment site. Control measures are in place around the site to suppress dust. Large water trucks are used to spray roads, material stockpiles, and areas with active equipment. Street sweepers are also used to suppress dust by wet-sweeping fine dirt and materials from paved roads around the community.
What’s underneath your soil?
Columbiana and Beaver Counties lie within the Allegheny Plateau, which is a large, eroded area of the Appalachian Mountains. The local bedrock, or the hard, solid rock beneath surface materials like soil and gravel, is mostly composed of sedimentary rocks. These bedrock types include layers of sandstone, shale and limestone. Sandstone is a sedimentary rock made of grains of sand that have been cemented together over millions of years. Shale is a brittle, fine-grained rock formed from mineral-rich silt that was deposited in a watery environment, buried by other sediment, and compacted into hard rock. Limestone is a stone created when minerals such as lime precipitate out of water and accumulate with mud and many shell fragments from ancient sea beds and compacted over millions of years.
