ENVIRONMENT – On Friday February 3, the derailment of a train carrying vinyl chloride caused a huge fire in East Palestine, in the State of Ohio in the United States. Authorities say the spill of the highly carcinogenic chemical is under control, but many residents report “a pungent smell in the air” and say to each other “very concerned about the entry of chemicals into the city’s water sources”.
On February 4, the American newspaper The New York Times reported the derailment of a train with five cars containing vinyl chloride. Local authorities have ordered 2,000 people, about half the city’s population, to evacuate their homes.
Vinyl chloride, a highly toxic gas
According to various officials on site, several explosions were still ringing the day after the accident. Thick black smoke billowed from the fires for several days.
In France, vinyl chloride is recognized as a proven carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Here transported in its liquid form, the chemical substance nevertheless distills in the form of an odorless, colorless and highly flammable gas on contact with an ambient temperature.
Keith A. Drabick, the region’s fire chief, assured Saturday February 4 that the air quality was under surveillance. He wanted to be reassuring: “So far so good”. He nevertheless added that the competent authorities did not yet know whether the combustion of the materials present in part of the wagons was dangerous.
On February 6, the Governor of Ohio, Mike DeWine, announced in a press release that the evacuation zone would be extended as well as “controlled release of vinyl chloride”. These maneuvers involve “the burning of chemicals from the railcars, which releases fumes into the air which can be fatal if inhaled (…) anyone who remains in the affected red zone faces grave danger of death”.
Water quality also in question
Since the accident, many residents of East Palestine have not only reported a pungent odor in the air, but also expressed serious concern about chemicals entering the city’s water sources, such as the reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The Columbiana County Emergency Management Agency, however, says it is “improbable” release of chemicals into water sources, given the location of the derailment.
Some contradict this statement, such as journalist Stew Peters, who is alarmed in a tweet from “fish and cattle found dead 160 km from the scene of the incident”.
Ohio: Dead fish and cattle being reported as far as 100 miles away from the site.
Journalists covering the story have been arrested.
What the HELL is going on? pic.twitter.com/IWfLutoaRo
— Stew Peters (@realstewpeters) February 12, 2023
The latter also wonders about the arrest of Evan Lambert on Wednesday February 8 during a press conference on the train accident. Pushed to the ground and then handcuffed, the journalist was taken to the Columbiana county jail for disturbing the public order. “Journalists covering the event are arrested, but what’s going on?”, wonders Stew Peters.
Sunday, February 12, West Virginia American Water, the public drinking water utility of West Virginia, a neighboring state of Ohio, announces that it will soon install another supply point from that of the Ohio River. “in case it is necessary to switch to another source of water”.