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Chemicals from East Palestine derailment spread to 16 US states, data shows
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/19/east-palestine-toxic-derailment-chemicals-spreadChemicals from East Palestine derailment spread to 16 US states, data shows
Rain and snow samples from Wisconsin to Maine and North Carolina after crash show highest pH levels over last decade
Tom Perkins
Wed 19 Jun 2024 08.00 EDT
Chemicals released during the East Palestine train wreck fires in February 2023 in Ohio were carried across 16 US states, new research of federal precipitation and pollution data shows.
Analysis of rain and snow samples collected from northern Wisconsin to Maine to North Carolina in the weeks following the crash found the highest levels of pH and some compounds recorded over the last ten years. That includes chloride, which researchers say was largely released during a controversial controlled burn of highly toxic vinyl chloride carried by the train.
Researchers expected to find some evidence of the burn 50 miles from the site, and the high levels of contamination in the samples across the vast range that it was spread was “very surprising” said David Gay, a University of Wisconsin researcher and lead author.
“We saw the chemical signal from this fire at a lot of sites and far away,” he added. “There was more than we ever would have guessed.”
[...]
Rain and snow samples from Wisconsin to Maine and North Carolina after crash show highest pH levels over last decade
Tom Perkins
Wed 19 Jun 2024 08.00 EDT
Chemicals released during the East Palestine train wreck fires in February 2023 in Ohio were carried across 16 US states, new research of federal precipitation and pollution data shows.
Analysis of rain and snow samples collected from northern Wisconsin to Maine to North Carolina in the weeks following the crash found the highest levels of pH and some compounds recorded over the last ten years. That includes chloride, which researchers say was largely released during a controversial controlled burn of highly toxic vinyl chloride carried by the train.
Researchers expected to find some evidence of the burn 50 miles from the site, and the high levels of contamination in the samples across the vast range that it was spread was “very surprising” said David Gay, a University of Wisconsin researcher and lead author.
“We saw the chemical signal from this fire at a lot of sites and far away,” he added. “There was more than we ever would have guessed.”
[...]
============
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ad52ac
(full letter/article at link - pdf))
Widespread impacts to precipitation of the East Palestine Ohio train accident
David A Gay1,2, Katelan Blaydes1, James J Schauer1 and Martin Shafer1
Published 19 June 2024 • © 2024 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd
Environmental Research Letters, Volume 19, Number 7
Citation David A Gay et al 2024 Environ. Res. Lett. 19 074022
DOI 10.1088/1748-9326/ad52ac
Abstract
On 3 February 2023, a Norfolk Southern train derailment occurred in East Palestine, Ohio. The accident and subsequent fire resulted in the emissions of large amounts of hazardous compounds to the ambient atmosphere over many days. We used precipitation chemistry measurements routinely collected by the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP) to estimate the spatial extent and chemical compounds deposited as a result of the accident. Our measurements revealed a large areal impact from the Midwest through the Northeast and likely Canada, and perhaps as far south as North Carolina (portions of 16 states, 1.4 million km2). Observations showed the expected high chloride concentrations, but also unexpectedly high pH (basic) and exceptionally elevated levels of base cations exceeding 99th percentiles versus the historic record. These results were consistent with the meteorological conditions and atmospheric trajectories, and were not due to highly-concentrated low volume precipitation samples or wildfires. The robust measurements of the NADP network clearly show that the impacts of the fire were larger in scale and scope than the initial predictions, and likely due to the uplift from the fire itself entraining pollutants into the atmosphere. A more detailed evaluation of the accident and resulting fire could further refine the full impact of the atmospheric concentrations, dry and wet deposition, and the more specific extent of the spatial impact.
[...]
David A Gay1,2, Katelan Blaydes1, James J Schauer1 and Martin Shafer1
Published 19 June 2024 • © 2024 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd
Environmental Research Letters, Volume 19, Number 7
Citation David A Gay et al 2024 Environ. Res. Lett. 19 074022
DOI 10.1088/1748-9326/ad52ac
Abstract
On 3 February 2023, a Norfolk Southern train derailment occurred in East Palestine, Ohio. The accident and subsequent fire resulted in the emissions of large amounts of hazardous compounds to the ambient atmosphere over many days. We used precipitation chemistry measurements routinely collected by the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP) to estimate the spatial extent and chemical compounds deposited as a result of the accident. Our measurements revealed a large areal impact from the Midwest through the Northeast and likely Canada, and perhaps as far south as North Carolina (portions of 16 states, 1.4 million km2). Observations showed the expected high chloride concentrations, but also unexpectedly high pH (basic) and exceptionally elevated levels of base cations exceeding 99th percentiles versus the historic record. These results were consistent with the meteorological conditions and atmospheric trajectories, and were not due to highly-concentrated low volume precipitation samples or wildfires. The robust measurements of the NADP network clearly show that the impacts of the fire were larger in scale and scope than the initial predictions, and likely due to the uplift from the fire itself entraining pollutants into the atmosphere. A more detailed evaluation of the accident and resulting fire could further refine the full impact of the atmospheric concentrations, dry and wet deposition, and the more specific extent of the spatial impact.
[...]