NTSB investigator Paul L. Stancil said the railroad and its contractors were concerned about the tank cars’ cooling temperatures but ignored that drop in temperature should have been a sign that the danger was abating.
Investigators also found that the local fire chief and other authorities were not provided with a key report from a chemical manufacturer that had inspected the train cars and determined the worst-case scenario was unlikely.
Additionally, investigators found that Norfolk Southern did not share information about hazardous materials on the train until an hour after firefighters arrived, causing firefighters and emergency responders to remain at the scene of the fire longer than necessary immediately after the incident.
“This resulted in increased exposure of emergency responders and the public to hazards following the derailment,” NTSB investigator Troy Lloyd said.
The commission’s meeting in East Palestine on Tuesday unveiled the findings of federal investigators in a 17-month investigation that looked into the circumstances of the accident, the emergency response and the actions of the train’s operator, Norfolk Southern.
After hearing from investigators, board members will vote on their final findings and recommendations on Tuesday, including the possible causes of the derailment. The NTSB’s full final report will be released in the coming weeks. Board members are scheduled to meet with residents on Monday and meet again Tuesday night.
Investigators also uncovered several other factors that contributed to the derailment and its effects, including the use of a type of tank car that was prone to punctures to carry the flammable butyl acrylate that caused the initial fire.
Investigators said this type of vehicle will be phased out and will no longer be able to carry butyl acrylate after May 2029. A malfunction in this vehicle is likely the cause of the fire, which raised concerns that vehicles carrying polyvinyl chloride may have become hot.
“If this train had not had DOT-111 tank cars loaded with flammable and combustible liquids, the incident that ultimately led to the gas leak and fire could have been avoided,” Stancil said.
The Feb. 3, 2023 derailment threw the small town of East Palestine near the Pennsylvania state line and surrounding areas into chaos, drew national attention to freight rail safety and left residents fearful of contamination. The decision to “vent and burn” the five-car train sent toxic smoke plumes high into the sky.
A year and a half later, the cleanup by the Environmental Protection Agency is still ongoing. The fallout from the derailment is still felt. It has prompted lawsuits, industry changes, and legislative and regulatory efforts. The Department of Transportation announced new requirements Monday that will require railroads to provide local emergency agencies with information about all hazardous materials that pass through their jurisdictions.
The NTSB’s recommendations will likely prompt further changes in how railroads and other transportation companies prevent and respond to chemical releases.
Former NTSB Chairman Robert L. Sumwalt said he expected the NTSB to make a series of recommendations aimed at “improving railroad safety in the transportation of hazardous materials.”
“This derailment will be another landmark accident that really changes the way the industry does business,” said Sumwalt, executive director of the Boeing Aerospace Safety Center at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
The NTSB investigation centers around a decision by Norfolk Southern Railroad contractors and officials to release vinyl chloride, an odorless, carcinogenic chemical, from five railcars. On Tuesday, investigators revealed new details about the decision, saying the railroad and its contractors demonstrated “confirmation bias” in assessing the likelihood that vinyl chloride could polymerize and cause a railcar explosion.
At a Senate hearing in March, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy testified that the incineration could have been avoided and that the decision was based on incorrect information. Norfolk Southern maintains that the release and incineration of PVC protected local residents from the possibility of a train car explosion.
Ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, Norfolk Southern Railway announced it would lead an industry working group to study the vent-and-burn approach and released a report outlining the company’s efforts to improve safety, including new equipment, a system to communicate train loads to emergency responders and reducing accidents and employee injuries.
The company has also pledged to donate millions of dollars to community and environmental causes in eastern Palestine, and will pay millions more in lawsuit settlements with the federal government and residents.
“There is no finish line when it comes to improving safety,” John Freps, Norfolk Southern’s chief safety officer, said in a statement Monday. “We continue to look for improvements in every effort.”
The train derailed on the night of February 3, 2023, when a bearing in the train’s wheels overheated. According to a preliminary NTSB report, a device called a hot bearing detector on the track detected the overheating, but crew members were unable to stop the train in time. 38 cars, including 11 carrying hazardous materials, derailed and caught fire.
One tank car loaded with PVC continued to heat up after the accident, leading workers to fear it might explode. On February 6, after residents had been evacuated, authorities gave permission for five tank cars to be dumped and incinerated to avoid a possible “major explosion.”
In the days that followed, residents of eastern Palestine questioned how badly the decision had contaminated their area. The derailment made national news and became a political issue, with residents (some of whom reported health symptoms) demanding explanations and critics rushing to politicize the situation.
Homendy testified before the Senate in March that the tank cars could have been allowed to cool without a controlled burn. He said contractors hired by Norfolk Southern lacked the scientific knowledge to assess the situation and provided incomplete information to officials, including Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R), who had to decide whether to issue a permit in just 13 minutes. The governor told The Washington Post that officials were unaware there were other options to prevent the explosion.
Since then, the EPA and state regulators have said tests have found no harmful levels of the chemical in drinking water, air or soil, but the potential impacts remain a matter of debate, as watchdog groups and residents call for more research into the contamination and people’s exposure to it.
Last week, researchers found that toxic chemicals released from the incineration had spread across 16 states, reaching as far as South Carolina and New England, with one of the study’s authors saying that while the contamination levels were not toxic, they were “highly abnormal in many places.”
In addition to hazardous materials reporting requirements announced by the Biden administration on Monday, the incident has led to new federal rules requiring at least two people to operate long-distance freight trains and prompted the railroad industry to implement new safety measures., This also includes expanding the use of an app that allows rail companies to report dangerous goods they are transporting.
Still, as The Washington Post reports, the industry has used its lobbying power to block efforts in Congress to pass stricter safety standards.
Last month, Norfolk Southern Railway agreed to a $310 million settlement with the federal government that requires the company to pay the costs of the Environmental Protection Agency’s cleanup efforts and penalties for alleged violations of the Clean Water Act.
The agreement also includes facilitating the industry’s “Bent and Burn Working Group,” Norfolk Southern announced Friday. The railroad also reached a $600 million settlement in April to resolve a class-action lawsuit brought by residents and businesses.
Other measures by Norfolk Southern include paying for water quality monitoring in the area for the next 10 years, implementing a “Waterways Restoration Plan” and providing a $25 million medical and mental health services program.
This story will be updated.
Staff writers Ian Duncan, Liz Goodwin, Maxine Jossereau and Kasha Patel contributed to this report.
