Major Environmental Disaster as Chemical-Bearing Train Derails in Ohio 

February 3rd, 2023

East Palestine, Ohio

2054 hours

A Norfolk Southern freight train tumbles through the thick darkness. The cool winter air breezes across the conductor's face. It’s an uneventful night in Ohio, apart from the occasional hoot of an owl or a drunk person in a noisy nightclub. Nothing seems out of the ordinary, except for maybe the peculiar name of the town: “East Palestine.” Horn blaring, the freight train rockets through the dark landscape. Everything is going fine. 8:55 pm. A little longer, and then their shift is over. Suddenly, with a cacophony of screeches and grinding, the train’s wheel bearing fails and slides off the tracks, dragging its highly hazardous freight with it, bursting into a fiery explosion of chemicals and contaminants meant for places far away.

Not to be confused with the region bordering Jordan, the town of East Palestine woke up the next morning (or maybe abruptly in the middle of the night) to some very toxic water. However, even in a state that’s earned an online reputation for infamy, this severe level of contamination was shocking. After the chemicals spilled out of the ruptured tanks of the train, the surface water became slick with compounds like vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate, ethylene glycol, and other names that sound like they came from your high school chemistry teacher or the MCU. Over one million gallons of water and eight tons of soil were extracted from the vicinity to be transported to a cleansing facility. However, far more was left in the environment, killing organisms and spreading disease. Residents reported headaches, nausea, sore throats, and irritated eyes and noses, along with psychological issues and dying livestock.

To prevent another explosion, the government lit barrels of toxic chemicals on fire in a controlled burn, spreading a plume of toxic phosgene gas around the oddly named town with a population of 5,000. This still did not prevent the flow of deadly chemicals. 3,500 fish were killed in waterways, including Sulphur Run, a tragically named river whose water had been flushed with contaminants and nasty bits of death. To prevent the further spreading of these pollutants, the river has been temporarily dammed with carbon filters. While the NTSB is investigating, the 131 freight cars have been decontaminated. Those will soon be destroyed once the investigation terminates.

This situation, sadly, isn’t new. And it might not be the last time this happens. Derailments are surprisingly common, and after this recent event, public outrage erupted regarding the safety of shipping. If the train had derailed a few more miles to the east, it would’ve been in a major municipality–Pittsburgh–and affected millions of people. Zero fatalities occurred. Pollution didn’t affect any major cities. But a decade prior, Quebec wasn’t that lucky. The town of Lac-Megantic experienced a runaway train and explosion with 47 deaths. Pittsburgh itself experienced 8 derailments in the past 5 years, and 1,700 occur annually nationwide. Many of these accidents have been attributed to poor safety requirements and lackluster management, with cracks in tracks leading to fatal explosions and collisions with vehicles. These incidents could have been avoided with better maintenance; if the broken axle on this train had been spotted, we could’ve avoided this Springfieldlike incident. Rail Pollution Protection Pittsburgh, an advocacy group, estimated that 176,000 residents are in immediate danger of a blast from another incident near the tracks whose trains carry Bakken crude oil.

Shockingly, The Department of Transportation in 2020 allowed liquified natural gas to be brought across the country without any safety requirements by removing a rule. Trains with hundreds of cars could run across America holding highly unsafe materials capable of producing massive explosions. Many activists are pushing for tighter regulations, to not only protect civilians but goods and the environment. These disasters can happen anytime with devastating consequences if we don’t enforce security measures regarding rail.

To think we are immune to these incidents is imprudent. Last April in Tacoma, we experienced the third derailment of the year, with a Sound Transit rail cart busting tracks and machinery. Similar to this “average Ohian event,” the cause was a faulty track switch. With less lax regulations and more comprehensive and routine checks, these potentially life-ending and environment-polluting incidents could be avoided. Until then, we could all still be at risk of having Seattle be turned into the next Ohio. Or worse…