‘My children have been sick’: The toxic aftermath of a train derailment

Kristen Saloomey finds the US village of East Palestine grappling with health concerns following the 2023 disaster.

East Palestine, United States – The Norfolk Southern train line runs right through East Palestine, Ohio, stopping cars and pick-up trucks on their way into town at the railway crossing. It can be a long wait, as train car after train car, some carrying toxic chemicals, roll past the clanking railroad crossing sign. The village, home to fewer than 5,000 people, was decorated with American flags for the upcoming Independence Day celebrations when I arrived there in late June.

Morgan Parker laughed as I paused my interview to wait for the rumbling to pass. “I don’t even notice it any more,” the longtime resident said of the noise. But the lingering impact of a massive train derailment that happened nearby on the evening of February 3, 2023, is something she thinks about constantly.

I was there in June to cover a meeting of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) which was in town to present its final report on what caused the crash and what happened two days later when five of the 38 derailed cars were blown open and set on fire by local authorities on the advice of Norfolk Southern and some of its contractors.

The derailed cars were carrying 1.1 million pounds of toxic vinyl chloride, and the authorities were worried that not doing this would result in a more catastrophic, uncontrolled explosion.

This is a process known as “vent and burn” – a high-skill but very much last resort and potentially dangerous method of clearing chemical pollution from the environment. It is an option rarely taken.