The latest Ohio derailment poses no public risk, officials say

Authorities in Ohio say there is no indication of any risk to public health from the derailment of a Norfolk Southern freight train between Dayton and Columbus, the company’s second train derailment in the state in a month.

Norfolk Southern and Clark County officials say 28 of the southbound train’s 212 cars, including four empty tankers, derailed at about 4:45 p.m. Saturday in Springfield Township near the county fair and business park. . Springfield is approximately 46 miles (74 km) west of the state capital of Columbus.

As a precaution, residents living within 1,000 feet were asked to shelter in place and responding firefighters deployed the county’s hazmat team as a precaution, but officials said early Sunday that there was “no indication of any injuries or risk to health of the community at this time.”

A crew from Norfolk Southern, the hazmat team and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency “conducted an independent examination of the accident site and confirmed there was no evidence of a spill at the site,” officials said.

The officers confirmed on Sunday afternoon that no hazardous material was involved in the derailment.

However, Norfolk Southern general manager Kraig Barner said there were a few other cars on the train going from Bellevue, Ohio, to Birmingham, Alabama, carrying liquid propane, and a few more carrying ethanol. The rest of the train consisted of mixed cargo, such as steel and finished cars, he said.

“Many of the cars that were actually derailed were empty boxcars,” said Barner.

Officials said two of the four empty tanker cars that previously derailed were carrying diesel exhaust fluid and the other two had residual amounts of polyacrylamide water solution, which Barner said is an additive commonly used in wastewater treatment.

County officials say environmental officials have confirmed the derailment is not near a protected water source, meaning there is no risk to public water systems or private wells. The shelter-in-place order only applied to four or five homes, officials said.

No injuries were reported to the public or the two-person crew of the train, he said. The cause of the derailment is under investigation and the findings will be turned over to the Federal Railroad Administration, Barner said.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said late Saturday night that President Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called him “to offer assistance from the federal government.”

On February 3, 38 cars of a Norfolk Southern freight train in East Palestine, in northeastern Ohio near Pennsylvania, were derailed and some of the train’s cars carrying hazardous materials burned.

Although no one was injured, nearby neighborhoods in both states were at risk. The accident prompted the evacuation of about half of the town’s approximately 5,000 residents, an ongoing multi-governmental emergency response and ongoing concerns among townspeople about long-term health impacts.

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