WASHINGTON — The controversial controlled burn that took place shortly after the toxic train derailment in East Palestine last year was not necessary, according to the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
During a hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation on Wednesday, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy told U.S. Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) that because the chemical tank cars had cooled and stabilized, there was not a risk of an uncontrolled explosion.
Homendy added that during the important few minutes leading to the decision to have a controlled release of chemicals inside five vinyl chloride tank cars, experts from chemical shipper Oxy Vinyls were not present.
"The factual information in our docket shows that Oxy Vinyls was on scene providing information to Norfolk Southern’s contractor who was in the room when the decision was made, and when advice was given to the governor of Ohio, to the incident commander, they were not given full information because no one was told Oxy Vinyls was on scene," Homendy told Vance. "They were left out of the room. The incident commander didn’t even know they existed. Neither did the governor. So they were provided incomplete information to make a decision."
The release came on Feb. 6, 2023, three days after the derailment in Columbiana County. The controlled burn came hours after Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced that the contents of five rail cars were "currently unstable and could potentially explode, causing deadly disbursement of shrapnel and toxic fumes."
Here is an excerpt from Homendy's testimony with Vance. You can watch the entire exchange below:
Vance: Is it true that the chemical shipper, Oxy Vinyls, concluded that the reported and stabilized tank car temperatures were too low for a runaway chemical reaction, meaning, the sort of thing that would lead to an uncontrolled explosion?
Homendy: That’s correct. They had testified that polymerization was not occurring. In order for polymerization to occur, which was Norfolk Southern and their contractors’ justification for the vent and burn, you would have to have rapidly increasing temperatures and some sort of infusion of oxygen, neither of which occurred.
Vance: Right, and just to be clear, you would need both of those things? It’s not an either or, you need both of them to precipitate polymerization, which would lead to an uncontrolled situation?
Homendy: Correct.
Vance: Is it true that Norfolk Southern’s contractors testified to the NTSB that they were not certain that chemical reaction was occurring in the derailed vinyl chloride tank car?
Homendy: They testified to that, yes, sir.
Vance: Is it correct that the chemical shippers testified that there was no free radical agent or sufficient heat trajectory to justify Norfolk Southern contractors’ assessment that a chemical reaction was occurring?
Homendy: That’s correct.
Vance: So, from this assessment, is it your understanding Norfolk Southern’s contractors lacked scientific basis to support their conclusion that polymerization was occurring in the derailed VCM tank cars?
Homendy: Yes. In fact, they were informed by Oxy Vinyls of the information that should have been taken by the contractors in their decision making. But yes, they did not have that. They lacked the scientific background to address that.
Vance: So let me just go to one final question here. We combine all these facts together, your reporting thus far concludes that Norfolk Southern’s contractors’ recommendation to conduct a controlled burn lacks sufficient scientific basis, disregarded available temperature data and contradicted expert feedback from the shipping firm on site.
Now, this was all told to the decision makers on the ground that they had to make a decision in less than 13 minutes to blow up all five of these toxic chemical cars without any other voices being included to offer a contrary opinion, is that right?
Homendy: That’s correct.
"This is an extraordinary finding," Vance told Homendy. "We were told, effectively, that there were two bad options, the controlled burn or the uncontrolled explosion. And it seems, based on the data that we have, that there was not a ton of reason to do the [controlled] burn. And that, of course, is what spread toxic chemicals all over this community and the surrounding region. It’s really an extraordinary finding."
Following the derailment and controlled burn, questions about environmental impacts and potential health problems have taken center stage throughout the East Palestine area as cleanup efforts continue.
Vance's U.S. Senate colleague from Ohio, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), provided the below statement following Wednesday's testimony by Homendy:
"This is outrageous. This explosion — which devastated so many — was unnecessary. The people of East Palestine are still living with the consequences of this toxic burn. This is more proof that Norfolk Southern put profits over safety & cannot be trusted."