Two weeks after toxic chemicals burned on a derailed train, Ohio residents fear for their safety. Here's what we know about the crash.

The derailed train belonged to Norfolk Southern Railway, and held about 150 cars.

Only a fraction of the train — just 20 of its 150 cars — carried hazardous materials like vinyl chloride and butyl acrylate. Of about 40 of the cars derailed, 11 contained the chemicals, according to NPR. 

The remainder of the train carried provisions like cement, steel, and vegetables, per an inventory cited by NPR. 

Nobody was hurt in the crash, NPR reported. 

 

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine in a press conference this week said the locomotive was not flagged as a high hazardous materials train, according to CNN.

"If this is true – and I'm told it's true – this is absurd," DeWine said. "We should know when we have trains carrying hazardous material that are going through the state of Ohio."

Toxic chemicals were burned and released into the air, water, and soil.

The initial crash on Feb. 3 led to a fire that burned chemicals in derailed train cars, but further chemicals from one car were later burned into the air on purpose after authorities began to worry an explosion might occur, NPR reported. 

The car in question contained vinyl chloride, which produced a large plume of smoke that towered over East Palestine. 

"The risk of the car exploding was described to me as high," Gov. DeWine said at a press conference Tuesday.

 

 

The Environmental Protection Agency has since said the air in East Palestine is safe to breathe, according to the Post.

 

 

But the agency was still conducting tests of water, soil, and air as of Wednesday, according to CNN.

Gov. DeWine, however, tweeted Wednesday that the water in East Palestine is now safe to drink.

"East Palestine: New water testing results show no detection of contaminants in East Palestine's municipal water system," he wrote. "With these test results, @OhioEPA is confident that the municipal water is safe to drink."

—Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) February 15, 2023

 

Norfolk Southern has promised to clean up.

Norfolk Southern promised Gov. DeWine the company would pay "for everything," according to the Washington Post. Gov. DeWine said he will hold the company accountable for the disaster, the Post reported. 

 

Since the crash and resulting fires, Norfolk Southern has offered financial support to East Palestine, setting up a $1 million charitable fund for the town, the Post reported.

Additionally, Norfolk Southern said it paid more than $1.5 million to about 1,000 families who were displaced following the derailment, according to the Post.

"I returned to East Palestine today to meet with local leaders, first responders, and a group of Norfolk Southern employees who live in the area," CEO Alan Shaw said in a statement. "I started the morning walking the derailment site to see our clean-up progress first-hand."

He continued: "We are working closely with Ohio environmental and health agencies on the long-term plan to protect the environment and the community. We are going to do the work thoroughly, completely, and safely."

Still, residents are worried about the future.

For many residents in East Palestine, corporate promises and encouraging words from governors don't necessarily quell health and safety fears. 

At a town hall meeting this week held in a high school gym, those fears bubbled to the surface. 

"Why are people getting sick if there's nothing in the air or in the water?," one resident shouted, according to Ideastream Public Media, receiving raucous applause. 

 

 

According to CNN, the EPA found that chemicals were spilled into waterways leading to the Ohio river, but were contained and low in concentration.

"Now that we are entering into a longer-term phase of this, people are going to be concerned about the long-term chronic exposure that comes at lower levels," Karen Dannemiller, a professor who studies air quality at Ohio State University, told NPR.

For some in East Palestine, the disaster hits a little too close to home.

In 2021, some residents of the town signed up to participate in production of the movie "White Noise," according to CNN. One of those residents, Ben Ratner, participated in a scene where toxins were released into the air after a train and tanker truck crashed. 

"The first half of the movie is all almost exactly what's going on here," Ratner told CNN.