EPA orders more cleanup, investigation near East Palestine

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week ordered Norfolk Southern Railway to conduct additional cleanup and sheen investigations focused on oily sheens and sediments in Sulphur Run and Leslie Run creeks in East Palestine, Ohio, and surrounding areas.

Under the EPA’s Clean Water Act authority, the order will build on the assessment and cleanup work already conducted in the nearby creeks over the past several months, EPA officials said in a news release. Work done under the order will determine if more cleanup is necessary to ensure any potential long-term impacts are addressed, they added.

"Since the start of the cleanup, we’ve made tremendous progress, but we know there is more work to be done," said EPA Regional Administrator Debra Shore. "In addition to the sampling and clean-up work over the last eight months, the EPA will require that contamination from the derailment is identified along the impacted length of the creeks. Through this order, Norfolk Southern will take a thorough look at the waterways to ensure there are no lasting impacts from the derailment."

After the NS hazmat train derailment occurred Feb. 3, the EPA issued a superfund unilateral administrative order requiring the Class I to remove spilled substances and impacted soils from the site. The new order will require a similarly comprehensive investigation of oil-contaminated sediments in the creeks, EPA officials said.