In an exclusive interview with The Ohio Star on Friday morning, Governor Mike DeWine‘s spokesman Dan Tierney said he was unaware that legal authority was required to execute the February 6 controlled burn of vinyl chloride from five carriages of the Norfolk Southern train that derailed in East Palestine, Ohio on February 3rd. He added that Norfolk Southern executed the controlled burn after consultation with representatives from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and that DeWine agreed with the decision to execute a controlled burn – but was not the person who gave the order to execute the controlled burn.
When asked if he was familiar with the statement made on Stephen K. Bannon’s WarRoom by former acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffery Clark that the legal authority to execute the controlled burn was with the EPA on-site coordinator (OSC), Tierney said, “That is not inconsistent with what I understand happened.”
A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) spokesperson did not directly comment early Friday to The Star if such an officer may have recommended or authorized the controlled burn.
According to the EPA website, OSC’s are the federal officials responsible for monitoring or directing responses to all oil spills, and hazardous substance releases reported to the federal government. They would generally be present in a catastrophe such as the Norfolk Southern train derailment. OSCs coordinate all federal efforts and provide support and information to local, state, and regional response communities. In general, an OSC is responsible for the assessment, monitoring, response assistance, and evaluation of a hazardous substance release.
However, U.S. EPA Region 5 public information officer Allison Lippert told The Star on Friday morning that “EPA personnel” were dispatched to the scene immediately upon hearing of the incident.
“As soon as EPA was notified of the Norfolk Southern train derailment on Friday, February 3, EPA personnel were on-site by 2 a.m. Saturday morning to assist state and local authorities with response efforts. By the end of Saturday, February 4, EPA had mobilized 8 on-scene coordinators and 9 support contractors to work around the clock, leading robust air-quality testing in and around East Palestine. EPA also deployed its state-of-the-art ASPECT plane and brought in a mobile analytical laboratory to perform sample analysis on-site. As of Thursday, February 16, there are 6 EPA on-scene coordinators, and 16 EPA contractors in East Palestine, supported by dozens of agency scientists and other staff in EPA’s Region 3 and 5 offices and at EPA headquarters,” Lippert told The Star in an e-mail. ASPECT stands for Airborne Spectral Photometric Environmental Collection Technology.
The Star is also awaiting a reply from the governor’s office, local and regional EPA offices, state environmental agencies, and Norfolk Southern with additional information about the analysis undertaken that resulted in the decision to “vent and burn” the train carriages containing vinyl chloride – as well as the legal authority under which that decision was made.
On February 3rd, 50 train carriages, 10 of which were carrying hazardous materials, derailed as a result of a technical problem with a rail car axle, according to federal authorities. There was vinyl chloride in five of the vehicles.
Exposure to vinyl chloride may cause an elevated risk of lung, brain, and a rare type of liver cancer. When burned, it releases hydrogen chloride and the poisonous gas phosgene, which Germans used as a weapon in World War I.
Five train carriages were at risk of exploding due to the unstable vinyl chloride composition, which could have sent fatal shards into the air. Around 3:30 p.m. on February 6th, Norfolk Southern Railroad carried out a controlled discharge of the vinyl chloride to avert an explosion.
In a press conference on Tuesday, DeWine said that he and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro spoke with representatives from the railroad who recommended that the controlled release was the best option for the safety of the residents.
DeWine also noted that the Ohio National Guard did a modeling exercise of how the release would work in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Defense. Then, the modeling was produced into a map to give some additional information and understand the full ramifications of the controlled burn.
But according to a letter from Shapiro to Norfolk Southern on Tuesday, the Pennsylvania governor is seriously concerned with their handling of the train derailment that occurred just a quarter mile from the Pennsylvania state line.
Shapiro claimed Norfolk Southern caused confusion by failing to put in place a unified command. He asserted that it disseminated false and contradictory information. Finally, he alleged that the failure to consider alternatives to the vent and burn strategy was what resulted in the plume.
Ohio’s U.S. Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) arrived in East Palestine on Thursday for a first-hand look at the ecological ramifications of the accident.
“There are dead worms and dead fish all throughout this water. This is disgusting. And the fact that we have not cleaned up the train crash, the fact that these chemicals are still seeping into the ground is an insult to the people who live in East Palestine,” Vance said in a video as he stood next to Leslie Run Creek.
Visited a local creek in East Palestine today. These waterways are still very polluted. It’s time for Norfolk Southern to finish the cleanup. Check this video out: pic.twitter.com/4lsHBmrMJj
— J.D. Vance (@JDVance1) February 16, 2023
The head of the Environmental Protection Agency Michael Regan traveled to East Palestine for a press conference on Thursday with promises of aid but faced skepticism from residents outraged over what they saw as a delayed response to the toxic spill unleashed by the recent train derailment.
Regan did not address if the EPA gave the order to execute the controlled burn during the conference. He also did not reply to inquiries from The Star before press time.
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Hannah Poling is a lead reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Hannah on Twitter @HannahPoling1. Email tips to [email protected]
Photo “Mike DeWine” by Mike DeWine. Backround Photo “Ohio National Guard Members” by Ohio National Guard. CC BY 2.0.
Talk about trying to split hairs. Agreeing with the order to burn includes the responsibility for allowing it to happen uncontested. Sounds like something the Biden White House would say.