East Palestine 'controlled burn' could have been avoided, NTSB chair says

Source: Washington Post

East Palestine 'controlled burn' could have been avoided, NTSB chair says
The Norfolk Southern trail derailment again came under scrutiny at a Senate hearing

By Liz Goodwin
March 6, 2024 at 1:23 p.m. EST



Smoke billows over East Palestine, Ohio, after a controlled detonation of a portion of a derailed Norfolk Southern train on Feb. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

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The decision to conduct a controlled burn of five derailed tank cars that unleashed a plume of toxic chemicals last year in East Palestine, Ohio, was based on flawed and incomplete information, National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy testified at a Senate hearing Wednesday.

Homendy, facing questioning from Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), testified that contractors employed by the Norfolk Southern railway company "lacked the scientific background" to support the decision that a vent and burn was necessary to head off a chemical reaction that could cause the cars to spontaneously explode. She testified that a better option would have been to allow the tank cars time to continue to cool down.

The testimony follows the NTSB's release of a trove of documents over the past year that have called into question the decision to conduct the vent and burn, which has spurred an extensive cleanup operation and health concerns among residents of the small Ohio town.

The NTSB has disclosed as part of its ongoing investigation into the incident that Gov. Mike DeWine (R), Fire Chief Keith Drabick and other officials were told they had just 13 minutes to decide whether to vent the vinyl chloride-carrying cars in February 2023 or wait and risk a likely uncontrolled and catastrophic explosion. ... Drabick, the East Palestine incident commander who later testified he was "blindsided" by the rushed timeline, gave his go-ahead for the company to conduct the vent and burn. ... "They were provided incomplete information to make a decision," Homendy said Wednesday. "There was another option: Let it cool down."

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By Liz Goodwin
Liz Goodwin covers Congress for The Washington Post. Before joining The Post in 2022, Goodwin covered national politics and served as Washington bureau chief for the Boston Globe. Twitter https://twitter.com/lizcgoodwin

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/06/east-palestine-controlled-burn-avoided/

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Hindsight is 20/20.

It does not appear that C-Span covered the hearing. There was a hearing this morning on the Alaska Air incident. C-Span did cover that.