Controlled burn after East Palestine toxic train derailment found to be ‘unnecessary’

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — New information regarding the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio reveals that the controlled burn that spewed chemicals into the air may have been unnecessary.

Ohio Senator JD Vance asked National Transportation Safety Board, Chair Jennifer Homendy about the NTSB’s investigation into the train derailment during a Congressional hearing before the Senate today.

On Feb. 5 into the afternoon of Feb. 6 Norfolk Southern’s contractors monitored temperatures on one of the chemical tank cars. They then communicated their initial readings to Oxy Vinyls, who were the shippers in charge of the vinyl chloride cars.

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The readings indicated that the initial temperature of the cars was 135 degrees Fahrenheit at 4 p.m. on February 5th. The temperature eventually declined to 126 degrees Fahrenheit at 9:30 a.m. on Feb. 6.

According to Homendy, the temperatures were stabilized well before the vent and burn. Oxy Vinyls concluded that the reported and stabilized tank car temperatures were too low to lead to an uncontrolled explosion.

“They had testified that polymerization was not occurring. In order for polymerization to occur, which was Norfolk Southern and their contractors’ justification for the vent and burn, you would have to have rapidly increasing temperatures and some sort of infusion of oxygen, neither of which occurred,” Homendy said.

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Norfolk Southern’s contractors testified to the NTSB that they were not certain that the chemical reaction was occurring in the derailed vinyl chloride tank car and Oxy Vinyls testified that there was no evidence to justify Norfolk Southern contractors’ assessment that a chemical reaction was occurring, according to Homendy.

“In fact, they were informed by Oxy Vinyls of the information that should have been taken by the contractors in their decision-making. But yes, they did not have that. They lacked the scientific background to address that,” Homendy said.

Decision makers on the ground were told to decide in less than 13 minutes to blow up all five of the toxic chemical cars.

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“We were told, effectively, that there were two bad options, the controlled burn or the uncontrolled explosion. And it seems, based on the data that we have, that there was not a ton of reason to do the [controlled] burn. And that, of course, is what spread toxic chemicals all over this community and the surrounding region,” Sen. Vance said.

According to people in the East Palestine area, immediately after the controlled burn, the tank cars were moved and train traffic resumed in the area.

“When you have an unnecessary, [controlled] burn that poisoned a lot of people, that then led to rapid transit of train traffic, a lot of people, including me, are wondering, did they do this not because it was necessary, but because it allowed them to move traffic and freight more quickly?” Sen. Vance said.

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Homendy confirmed that Oxy Vinyls was on scene providing information to Norfolk Southern and their Contractors on Feb. 4, 5, and 6 and informed them that there was no justification to do a vent and burn.

“Rightfully, Norfolk Southern’s contractors had ruled out hot tapping and transloading because it would have been a potential safety issue for their employees, but there was another option: let it cool down,” Homendy said. “It was cooling down. We know for a fact that when that pressure relief device went off, that it had to have been above 185 degrees. Later, much later, over the course of 22 hours, that tank car was cooling.”

The other four tank cars were only between 64 and 69 degrees, according to Homendy. She also said that Gov. DeWine and the Incident Commander were not given full information because they were not told Oxy Vinyls was on scene.

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“They were left out of the room. The incident commander didn’t even know they existed. Neither did the governor. So they were provided incomplete information to make a decision,” Homendy said.

Vance clarified that his questioning was not a criticism of the incident commander or the governor, but a criticism of the people on the ground who provided inadequate information that has had a lasting effect on the community.

“This town very well may have been poisoned to facilitate the rapid movement of freight, or at the very least, it was poisoned for reasons that we can’t identify. That should really concern every single person on this committee,” Sen. Vance said.

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