This article is a good starting point for the East Palestine derailment. (Gift link, anyone can read.)
The info circulating on social media has been suboptimal, to say the least. Grab a cup of coffee and let's go over everything from vinyl chloride to electronic brake regulations.
/1
20 miles *before* it derailed, the 150-car train was already sparking/burning. A "hotbox" detector in Salem, OH, should've picked that up and alerted the crew. It's unknown if it did, but seems unlikely or they would've hit the emergency brake then.
Upon derailment, a bunch of stuff was burning. Some was in the normal range of "stuff on fire," like the semolina and frozen vegetables, and some was nasty but not unusual (polyethylene & polyvinyl), but some of it was uniquely hazardous.
/2
Butyl acrylate, ethylhexyl acrylate, and ethylene glycol monobutyl ether are hazardous cargo. Note the "DOT111" next to them: they're in standard (read: cheap) tanks that don't fare as well in accidents. Big surprise, the cheap tanks were compromised.
/3
The liquified vinyl chloride was in superior DOT105 tanks. They didn't break open, but their PRD activated and vented some vinyl chloride, a carcinogen. And because they're near a fire, they're also potential giant fuel-air bombs (a/k/a BLEVE). Burning it was the only option.
There is some good news here. Vinyl chloride isn't, say, plutonium. It fares poorly outdoors, as do its byproducts.
/4
Hydrogen chloride and phosgene are rightly terrifying. EPA has been testing; they're already gone.
Here's the latest EPA continuous air monitoring results. No hydrogen chloride since Feb 8. No phosgene since Feb 6. No volatile organic chemicals above screening levels. Good news!
Alas, we're not done.
/5
It's unknown the extent to which water and soil are contaminated. Three cheap DOT111 cars contained diethylene glycol, famous for being (a) brake fluid and (b) the poison that prompted the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. They broke open.
FWIW, substantial efforts have been made to identify and mitigate water and soil contamination. But we just don't know the extent of it, and likely won't for some time.
/6
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/diethylene-glycol
https://response.epa.gov/sites/15933/files/East%20Palestine%20RAWP%20Feb%2010%202023.pdf
"Electronically Controlled Pneumatic Brake System Requirements for High Hazard Flammable Unit Trains" is a galling example of how captured regulatory agencies are, and how industries won't do the minimum.
Most trains use the same braking tech used by steam locomotives. The original Obama-era electric brake proposal was already narrow in scope, then hindered more by Congress, then was ruined by the Trump admin outright lying about the numbers.
/7
https://www.levernews.com/rail-companies-blocked-safety-rules-before-ohio-derailment/
https://www.sightline.org/2019/03/28/oil-trains-trump-administration-faulty-logic-ecp-brakes/
Even after Trump admin number fudging, the annualized cost of electronic brakes on highly hazardous trains was $27.0-$46.4 million.
Every day, BNSF, Union Pacific, CSX, and Norfolk Southern make over $50 million in profit.
/8
Would the electric braking regulation have stopped/limited this? No—because it wouldn't have even applied to this train, it wasn't carrying enough hazardous cargo. Sure, it had carcinogenic fuel-air bombs and literal poisons, but not enough of them. Need 35 tanks for that.
Which is infuriating. None of this hazardous cargo should ever be transported in cheap DOT111 tanks or on trains with air brakes—much less both, as here. We don't need the old regulation; we need something far more strict.
/9
As for what chemicals might have been produced, the derailment was effectively an open waste burn: plastics, food, and steel all burned together at uncontrolled temperatures. That can produce lots of dioxins, but it's impossible to predict how much. No way to know what catalysts were created or how much material was incompletely burned. Just have to keep testing.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10163-022-01430-9
/10
Open burning is a waste management practice performed by many people worldwide, especially in developing countries. Lack of detailed data of open burning practices may lead to a misinterpretation during data analysis, especially when estimating global/local emissions and assessing risks. This study presents a comprehensive review of current research trends, methodological assessments, and factors behind open waste burning practices from published literature. This review used systematic methods such as PRISMA 2020 methodology, a bibliometric approach, and qualitative content analysis to determine and assess 84 articles related to open burning. The results show that environmental risks and emission factors related to open burning incidents at the landfill or residential level are preferable topics that will be rising in the years to come. Coupling methods such as a transect-based approach with a questionnaire survey and mobile-static plume sampling to determine the activities and incidents as baseline data for risk assessment will help researchers gain a robust dataset of open burning emission inventory. In addition, it was found that environmental knowledge and awareness levels influence open burning practices, thereby opening up opportunities for future research.
As mentioned above, it appears a hot box detector failed to alert the crew of problems 20 miles before the derailment.
Over the past few years, Norfolk Southern increased their profits by simply not having employees to maintain the hot box detectors.
"As recently as three years ago, Norfolk Southern employed five electronic leaders in the area of its rail network that includes East Palestine. Today, it employs zero..."
@maxkennerly Why does the recent rail strike seem like a warning ignored? Something a little too little a little too late? Is now the time to ask if caring for the employees who support you, and the communities you serve might be more important to increasing margins year-over-year and getting that bonus at the end of the year?
@sfwrtr @maxkennerly The doctrine of Shareholder Supremacy precludes consideration of the interests of employees or communities, or even national security.
Which, IMO, is a strong argument for ending Shareholder Supremacy and bring back charter reviews.
@browneyedgirl @maxkennerly *adds it to the list*
*sigh*
@maxkennerly only five? That’s not a huge salary cost, even for specialists. Guarantee that this one accident eliminated the profits from eliminating those roles a dozen times over.
Penny wise, pound foolish.
One thing to note is that the railroads don't own tank cars.
@maxkennerly It is hard to imagine the handling of it to this point will hold up to the scrutiny of history.
Where "history" is like ... later this week.
Max Kennerly
Jarvis Slacks
RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist
OpenDNA⚙️
tippenring
Resuna
Jim Rea
browneyedgirl
Phil Landmeier
Ashton
JD
Kkind
MamaBodes
GlenG🌻 - Support Ukraine
Orc
YnoT
Martha Howell
Andrew Leahey
David Carroll