Ohio Governor Mike DeWine‘s office said on Monday that a truck carrying toxic soil from the East Palestine train derailment overturned, spilling roughly half of its contents onto a roadway in Columbiana County.
The tractor-trailer had an open top and was hauling 40,000 pounds of contaminated soil away from the East Palestine derailment site.
According to a press release from DeWine, the northbound tractor-trailer traveled off of the roadway and overturned onto its right side on SR-165.
The driver of the car, Phillip Falck, age 74, allegedly drove off the right side of the road, crashed into a ditch and a utility pole, and then overturned. As soon as officers arrived, they saw the truck “on its side, off of the right side of the roadway.” The driver sustained minor injuries.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol estimated that the crash resulted in approximately 20,000 pounds of toxic soil spilling onto the roadway and berm, prompting responses from the Columbiana County Local Fire Department and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to the scene of the crash.
According to the Ohio EPA, the spilled contaminated soil was contained, and there was no threat to public health or the environment.
According to the highway patrol, Falck received a citation for operating a vehicle without reasonable control.
The soil onboard the trust was from the site in East Palestine, where a Norfolk Southern train derailed, negatively impacting the environment and the health of residents in the surrounding area. There was vinyl chloride in five of the vehicles. Hundreds of residents evacuated due to the controlled release of poisonous gasses that Norfolk Southern carried out on February 6th to stop an explosion.
Officials told East Palestine residents on February 8th that they could safely go home, despite the reports of hundreds of dead fish in the Ohio River near East Palestine and residents complaining of headaches and illness since the derailment.
There have also been a growing number of reports of health concerns from residents following the derailment. Some residents last month said medical professionals had diagnosed them with bronchitis, lung issues, and rashes that doctors and nurses suspect link to the chemical exposure.
By the end of the month, Norfolk Southern reported that it had removed “substantial contamination” in the site’s soil and water, though this procedure is still ongoing.
According to the Ohio EPA, approximately 11.4 million gallons of liquid wastewater have been hauled out of East Palestine. There is currently a pile of approximately 17,300 tons of excavated soil waiting for removal from East Palestine versus 19,900 tons that have been removed.
U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) said that the waste needs to be removed as quickly as possible and taken to the proper facilities, or it will continue to poison the community of East Palestine.
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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 “Truck Taking Contaminated Soil from East Palestine” by U.S. EPA Region 5 (Great Lakes Region).
