Latest Ohio derailment poses no public risk, officials say
Posted March 5, 2023 11:45 am ET
SPRINGFIELD, OHIO — Authorities in Ohio say there is no evidence of a public health risk from the derailment of a Norfolk Southern freight train between Dayton and Columbus, the second corporate train derailment in the state in a month.
Clark County officials say about 20 of the 212 cars on the southbound train, including four tank trucks, derailed around 4:45 p.m. Saturday in the Springfield community near an industrial park and the county fairgrounds. 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 protect themselves on the spot and responding firefighters deployed the county hazmat team as a precaution, but officials said early Sunday the train had no hazardous materials carried and there is “no evidence of injury or danger to public health at this time.”
A crew from Norfolk Southern, the hazmat team and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency “each independently surveyed the crash site and found that there was no evidence of burial at the site,” officials said. Norfolk Southern said no hazardous materials were involved, county officials previously said.
According to county officials, 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.
Officials said two of the tankers had residues of diesel exhaust fluid and the other two residues of polyacrylamide-water solution, which they called “common industrial products transported by railroad”.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said late Saturday night that President Biden and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg called him “to offer help from the federal government.”
On February 3, 38 cars on a Norfolk-Southern freight train derailed in eastern Palestine in northeastern Ohio near Pennsylvania, and several cars on the train carrying hazardous materials caught fire. Although no one was injured, nearby neighborhoods in both states were at risk. The crash prompted the evacuation of about half of the town’s roughly 5,000 residents, ongoing emergency relief from multiple governments, and ongoing concerns among villagers about long-term health effects.