🟢Back to the Area 🟢 to collect follow up samples in & around #EastPalestine#Ohio. This is our team's 4th trip to the area since mid-February. Updates will be posted below.
Also looking forward to the #science & community sharing event in the coming weeks (in the works).
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Visited a home today along Sulfur Run.
It’s still contaminated.
After moving rocks, the PID read 2.1 ppm (not ppb) coming off the creek.
Background in air was 0-3 ppb
Contractors (paid by someone) seem to have left garbage in Sulfur Run. They didn’t clean up. You can’t tell me the sorbent pad is going to be used again.
Contractors were using them for damming up thecontaminated creeks before.
When sampling Sulfur Run, Norfolk Southern contractors and EPA Region 5 EHS lead approached.
Said someone upstream was releasing water raising creek levels 1 foot quickly.
Said they warned everyone.
(Didn’t warn me, or photographer whose been in the area since the disaster)
Was told 2 city workers in the #EastPalestine#Ohio Municipal Building got ill while in their building. Headaches, sore throats, other issues. @OSHA_DOL what did you do for them?
Contaminated Sulfur Run flows directly under the building.
Contractors then flushed the culvert.
I do appreciate EPA R5 EHS person approaching me on-site.
The communication of worker safety risks (and with the public) clearly is not where it needs to be.
Walked by an aeration setup in downtown #EastPalestine and someone walked by shouted not to stand there because it’s poison.
The acrid chemical odor was in the air with a slight breeze.
Lots of contamination remains in the Sulfur Run banks.
When disturbed, you can see it. You can’t use visual observation to know if contamination isn’t there.
2.49 ppm PID signal above that water
0-0.020 ppm in ambient air nearby
It’s possible that the wastewater going into the tanks does not contain any VOCs, but the apparent sheen and lack of publicly available test results indicate otherwise.
Certainly cheaper not to install a cover on two 1 MG tanks.
Mr. Tsai has been an effective eyes and ears for the disaster response and recovery.
His Facebook group “Off the Rails” is where he helps others understand what he’s seeing and hearing.
This type of self-documentation of agency actions is critical during disaster response.
Thanks to Prof. @GuillermoRein@ImperialHazelab and everyone for organizing and participating in the seminar. I truly learned a lot. Some really brilliant and insightful researchers here in working on global building #fire and #wildfire challenges.
I even got to see aluminum composite burn, a material examined after the #GrenfellTowerFire.
I'm running on 4 hours sleep, but felt it was important to get this to OSHA ASAP.
FYI @smartunionworks, Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, @BMWEDIBT, @BLET, Brotherhood Railway Carmen, Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, @IBEW, @TCUnionHQ, National Conference of Firemen and Oilers, @transportworker