Newsletter: East Palestine Train Derailment Response, 7-8-2024
Newsletter serving Serving East Palestine, Negley, Darlington, and surrounding communities
Key Project Updates
Stream Cleaning Completed and Assessment Ongoing
Cleaning in Sulphur and Leslie Runs was completed in June. No moderate or heavy sheens were seen after multiple visual assessments, which included disturbing the streambed and sediments. Several locations in Sulphur Run had to be cleaned multiple times. Crews are now working on a full reassessment of both streams by collecting sediment samples at locations that were sampled in November and December 2023. Six additional locations were added to expand the evaluation of creek cleanup. Sampling will help determine if more cleaning is needed. Additional full stream reassessments, including sheen scoring, are expected in the early fall and winter. Refer to the May 2024 newsletter for details on the stream assessment and cleanup process.
Confirmation Sampling and Additional Soil Cleanup
Final confirmation sampling is more than 70% complete and crews are currently sampling in the tank farm areas. The blue frac tanks and the mats that were underneath them are cleaned and shipped off-site. Then, crews sample the soil beneath the mats. As site-wide sampling results are received and validated, some sampled locations (less than 1%) have shown low-level exceedances of some volatile organic chemicals. Although these levels are well below human healthbased cleanup standards, they do exceed incident-specific screening levels established for groundwater and drinking water protectiveness. Any exceedance, including semi-volatile and other organic compounds, is evaluated to determine next steps, such as if further assessment and/or cleanup is needed or not. Community members may see some additional soil being removed based on these detections. At industrial sites in general, some chemicals are usually present in the soil. This is why all results and potential actions are evaluated carefully.
Vinyl Chloride Detections in Soil
During confirmation sampling conducted to-date, low levels of vinyl chloride have been detected in three areas – four samples out of over fifteen hundred. The sample results ranged from 5.4 to 14.0 ug/kg (micrograms per kilogram). At other sites, the agency’s standard human-health risk-based removal management action level for vinyl chloride on residential properties, where people live and play, is 5,900 ug/kg and the most conservative health-based soil screening value is 60 ug/kg. The four detections of vinyl chloride were well below residential screening levels (EPA’s acceptable risk range) and were found on industrial properties where screening levels are typically higher. However, for this cleanup, incident-specific requirements are that any soil with vinyl chloride detected above 3.4 ug/kg must be removed. All impacted soil was removed, and air sampling did not find vinyl chloride in or around the work zone. There was no risk to the community from these detections and targeted cleanups.
| Soil Sample Results (three areas at derailment site) |
Screening Level | RML (health/risk-based for residential soil) |
Lowest health-based screening value |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.4 to 14 ug/kg | 3.4 ug/kg | 5,900 ug/kg | 60 ug/kg |
