Ohio train derailment: 16 states impacted by burned toxins, research says

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (NewsNation) — Three days after the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 3, 2023, officials — with the EPA’s blessing — burned 116,000 gallons of vinyl chloride into the region.

Now, for the first time since the incident, new data reveals just how far those toxins spread.

Within minutes, a mushroom-like cloud of toxins billowed into the atmosphere and smothered the area.

New research on federal precipitation and pollution data shows 16 states from Wisconsin to North Carolina to Maine were impacted by the hazardous emissions that burned in East Palestine.

NewsNation has been committed to covering the fallout of the East Palestine train derailment over the last year. Here are the most recent updates:

Highest chloride levels in 12 years: Researcher

David Gay, a University of Wisconsin researcher and lead study author, said his research team detected some of the highest chloride levels they’ve ever recorded the week after the burn.

Gay and other researchers with the National Atmospheric Deposition Program, which has about 260 sites across the U.S. collecting rain and snow samples, analyzed the data and were shocked by the results.

“These were some of the highest, if not the highest, we had seen in the last 12 years,” Gay said. “That fire touched a lot of points in the Midwest and the Northeast. We’re all breathing the same atmosphere. That’s a take-home story.”

Gay confirmed it was because officials decided to burn 116,000 gallons of the vinyl chloride that researchers are detecting such high chloride levels in the atmosphere. Chloride levels were the highest in northern Pennsylvania and along the Canadian border there; however, Gay said research on how it impacted Canada was not available.

“When you combust vinyl chloride, the primary admission you get is chloride ion and hydrogen ion, which we measure as chloride ion and in our pH measurement. So yes, that chloride came from that combustion,” Gay told NewsNation.

What happened in East Palestine?

FILE – Debris from a Norfolk Southern freight train lies scattered and burning along the tracks on Feb. 4, 2023, the day after it derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. A federal judge has signed off Tuesday, May 21, 2024, on the $600 million class action settlement over last year’s disastrous Norfolk Southern derailment in eastern Ohio, but many people who live near East Palestine are still wondering how much they will end up with out of the deal. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
In this photo provided by Melissa Smith, a train fire is seen from her farm in East Palestine, Ohio, Friday, Feb. 3, 2023. A train derailment and resulting large fire prompted an evacuation order in the Ohio village near the Pennsylvania state line on Friday night, covering the area in billows of smoke lit orange by the flames below. (Melissa Smith via AP)
(WKBN)
Photo of the Norfolk Southern train derailment aftermath in East Palestine, Ohio, provided by Ashley McCullom.
FILE – A view of the scene Friday, Feb. 24, 2023, as the cleanup continues at the site of a Norfolk Southern freight train derailment that happened on Feb. 3 in East Palestine, Ohio. Norfolk Southern alone will be responsible for paying for the cleanup after last year’s fiery train derailment in eastern Ohio, a federal judge ruled, Wednesday, March 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Freed, File)
Katie Smith – NewsNation A shovel lays on the ground after being used to collect a soil sample from an East Palestine home on May 16, 2023.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, center, meets with Ohio EPA officials in East Palestine, Ohio. (NewsNation)
Katie Smith – NewsNation Community members raise their hands at a town hall meeting Tuesday, May 16, 2023, near East Palestine Ohio. The show of hands indicated who was uncomfortable remaining in their home after a train derailment released toxic chemicals in the area.
File – A view of the scene Friday, Feb. 24, 2023, as the cleanup continues at the site of of a Norfolk Southern freight train derailment that happened on Feb. 3 in East Palestine, Ohio.
Some of the railcars that derailed Friday night when a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed are in the process of being cleaned up on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023 in East Palestine, Ohio.(AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Workers observe a stream in East Palestine, Ohio, Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023 as the cleanup continues after the derailment of a Norfolk Southern freight train Friday. Officials are estimating that thousands of fish and other species are dead as a result of the incident. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
An Ohio state trooper goes door to door telling residents to leave downtown East Palestine, Ohio, on Sunday, Feb. 5, 2023. A smoldering tangle of dozens of derailed freight cars, some carrying hazardous materials, has kept an evacuation order in effect in Ohio near the Pennsylvania state line as environmental authorities warily watch air quality monitors. (Lucy Schaly/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP)
Equipment and gravel pile up along the railroad tracks in downtown East Palestine, Ohio, on Sunday, Feb. 5, 2023. A smoldering tangle of dozens of derailed freight cars, some carrying hazardous materials, has kept an evacuation order in effect in Ohio near the Pennsylvania state line as environmental authorities warily watch air quality monitors. (Lucy Schaly/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP)
East Palestine police block roads in downtown East Palestine, Ohio, on Sunday, Feb. 5, 2023. A smoldering tangle of dozens of derailed freight cars, some carrying hazardous materials, has kept an evacuation order in effect in Ohio near the Pennsylvania state line as environmental authorities warily watch air quality monitors. (Lucy Schaly/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP)

On Feb. 3, 2023, a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in the small Ohio community.

Some 1,500 residents were told to evacuate following the crash. Fearing an explosion, officials decided to vent and burn five tank cars, releasing 116,000 gallons of the carcinogen vinyl chloride into the air. Later, a toxic plume of smoke smothered the region.

However, three days later, the EPA said it had not detected contaminants at “levels of concern” and gave the all-clear for residents to return.

Since then, residents of East Palestine have complained of multiple health problems, including rashes and sickness. They’ve also criticized the government for downplaying their concerns that their community is no longer safe to live in.

Controlled burn was unnecessary: NTSB

FILE – This image taken with a drone shows portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023, that still burns after it derailed the night before in East Palestine, Ohio. The lawyers who negotiated a $600 million settlement with Norfolk Southern over that railroad’s disastrous 2023 derailment in eastern Ohio want residents to talk with them before deciding the historic deal isn’t enough. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
FILE – A black plume rises over East Palestine, Ohio, as a result of a controlled detonation of a portion of the derailed Norfolk Southern trains Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
Portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed the night before burn in East Palestine, Ohio, Feb. 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
EAST PALESTINE, OH – FEBRUARY 25: A Norfolk Southern train passes underneath a bridge on February 25, 2023 in East Palestine, Ohio. On February 3rd, a Norfolk Southern Railways train carrying toxic chemicals derailed causing an environmental disaster. Thousands of residents were ordered to evacuate after the area was placed under a state of emergency and temporary evacuation orders. (Photo by Michael Swensen/Getty Images)

In March, National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy testified before the Senate that the controlled burn and explosion set off in the wake of the derailment could have been avoided.

Several pieces of necessary information were not shared with state and local leaders who decided to vent and burn five tank cars after being advised by Norfolk Southern contractors at the scene of the crash that it was their only option.

“They were provided incomplete information to make a decision,” Homendy said.

An investigation by the NTSB found that Gov. Mike DeWine, East Palestine Fire Chief Keith Drabick and several other officials were told they had minutes to decide whether to vent the train cars or wait and risk an uncontrolled explosion.

“There was another option: Let it cool down,” she said.

The NTSB later showed the threat of explosion was diminished and that the tank cars were cooling when they decided to burn them.

Residents plagued with health issues

When East Palestine resident Katlyn Schwarzwaelder and her boyfriend Chris went back home, she broke out in a rash all over her face, neck and chest almost instantly, and also got what she called a “really low-grade, constant headache.” Chris had a rash on his left side. They lived nearly a mile away from the train derailment site. In March 2023, a team of independent testers from Purdue University tested the environment in East Palestine and found it contained “acute health risks.” That same month, fellow residents Chris and Jamie Wallace told NewsNation that members of their family were diagnosed with upper respiratory infections. Another resident, Jon Kent, said he started having seizures a few months after the derailment.
Katie Smith – NewsNation Scott Smith, chief sustainability officer at ECO Integrated Technologies, Inc., tests a furnace filter outside an East Palestine, Ohio home Tuesday, May 16, 2023.
People listen during a National Transportation Safety Board investigative hearing at the East Palestine High School in East Palestine, Ohio, Thursday, June 22, 2023. The hearing is being held to investigate the Feb. 3, 2023, Norfolk Southern Railway train derailment and subsequent hazardous material release and fires. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Scott Smith tested soil and water dioxins two weeks after tanker cars tipped over and chemicals in the damaged railcars were deliberately burned for safety reasons in East Palestine, Ohio. Photo courtesy: Scott Smith
Rainbow colored sheen at Leslie Run near East Palestine, Ohio
woman hospitalized after east palestine, ohio train derailment

Initial Environmental Protection Agency and Norfolk Southern testing done at the derailment site showed the presence of dioxins, the most carcinogenic compounds on the planet, but officials did not test any of the residents’ health.

Independent testers who visited East Palestine examined the environment and people. Some tested the soil, others the water in local creeks and air filters in homes around the derailment site. The independent testing has shown evidence of toxins in the soil, air and water.

Residents have been diagnosed with presence of vinyl chloride in their blood and complained of respiratory issues.

The NTSB is expected to hold its final hearing on the derailment next week.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.