NE Ohio Train Derailment: Removal of contaminated soil and liquid resumes Monday

EAST PALESTINE — The Environmental Protection Agency has announced the removal of contaminated soil and liquid will resume Monday from the train derailment site in Northeast Ohio.

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The EPA has approved Norfolk Southern to transport contaminated soil to a site in East Liverpool in a news conference Sunday, according to CBS affiliate WKBN.

Contaminated liquid will be moved to a site in Vickery and both the EPA and Department of Transportation will oversee the transport of waste disposal locations.

The EPA is continuing to work with Norfolk Southern to identify additional waste disposal locations.

All rail cars, except the 11 cars being held as part of the NTSB’s ongoing investigation, have also been removed from the derailment site, the EPA announced Sunday.

“This is so critically important to moving on to next steps,” said Anne Vogel, Ohio EPA Director. “We can now excavate additional contaminated soil and begin installing monitoring wells. These are monitoring wells at the site of the derailment that will tell us whether there is contamination to ground water.”

126 private water wells have been test, according to Vogel.

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The federal government has conduct nearly 600 home re-entry screenings and continue air monitoring, according to Debra Shore of the EPA.

“I continue to be pleased that there have been no exceedances for residential air quality standards and outdoor air quality remains normal,” she said.

Shore said the EPA has been testing “for the most toxic chemicals that we knew of on the train and we have seen no exceedances inside the homes or local air.”

The EPA announced Tuesday it would take control of the cleanup.

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