The decision to blow up five tanker cars loaded with toxic chemicals following the fiery derailment of a train in East Palestine, Ohio, last year was unjustified, federal investigators concluded Tuesday.
“Norfolk Southern and its contractors continued to assert the necessity of a vent and burn, even though available evidence should have led them to re-evaluate their initial conclusions,” Paul Stancil, a hazardous materials investigator at the NTSB, said Tuesday.A black plume rises over East Palestine, Ohio, after responders set fire to rail tanker cars full of vinyl chloride on Feb. 6, 2023.
“Although a vent and burn action was not necessary in East Palestine to prevent a polymerization-induced catastrophic tank rupture, such action could be appropriate under different circumstances,” Stancil said. “The significant impact of a vent and burn action to a community demonstrates the need for widely available federal guidance on what circumstances and what products are warranted for the procedure.