The fiery Feb. 3, 2023, train derailment in northeast Ohio included 38 of the 149 railcars of a Norfolk Southern freight train carrying hazardous materials. More than 2,000 residents within a 1-mile radius of the site were evacuated.

On the outskirts of East Palestine — a town of almost 5,000 residents near the Pennsylvania state line — 11 tank cars carrying hazardous materials subsequently ignited.

With the fire still burning two days later, monitoring indicated the temperature in one of the railcars containing vinyl chloride was rising, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. To prevent an explosion, Norfolk Southern vented and burned five railcars containing vinyl chloride in a flare trench the following day, resulting in additional releases.

Cleanup

More than a year later, the cleanup continues, as reported in an ongoing EPA newsletter. The amount of waste removed includes:

The number of samples taken includes:

In October, environmental remediation efforts in East Palestine — supervised and approved by the U.S. and Ohio Environmental Protection Agencies and Unified Command — reached a milestone as crews hauled out the final truckload of the more than 176,000 tons of soil affected by the incident. East Taggart Street was also opened to full two-way traffic.

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The next phase of site remediation will include backfilling excavated areas and continued assessment of soil and creek sheens and sediments.

EPA has said cleanup in East Palestine is expected to be completed this year.

Compensation

To date, Norfolk Southern has committed more than $103 million to East Palestine and the surrounding areas in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

The railroad has also agreed to pay $600 million in a class-action lawsuit settlement for claims within a 20-mile radius of the derailment, and personal injury claims within a 10-mile radius, according to the Associated Press.

The settlement is expected to be submitted for preliminary approval to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. Payments could begin to arrive by the end of the year, subject to final court approval.

The railroad has promised to create a fund to help pay for the long-term health needs of the community, but that is yet to be finalized.

The National Transportation Safety Board’s full investigation into the cause of the derailment won’t be complete until June, but the agency has said that an overheating wheel bearing on one of the railcars, which wasn’t detected in time by a trackside sensor, likely caused the crash, according to NTSB.

The National Institutes of Health has awarded researchers at Case Western Reserve University a $280.000 grant — one of six — to study possible long-term health effects of the train derailment. The university is collecting blood samples, saliva, nails and hair from 200 people to check for DNA damage. The study is still accepting study volunteers.

Interested in participating? Take the Healthy Futures Research Participant Screener to check your eligibility. For more information, email the study team at [email protected].