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Concerns Grow Over Environmental Impact and Health Risks After US Train Derailment

Concerns Grow Over Environmental Impact and Health Risks After US Train Derailment
photo: Gene J Puskar/AP/Concerns Grow Over Environmental Impact and Health Risks After US Train Derailment
06 / 03 / 2023

A report has been published on the accident with a train carrying chemicals that occurred in early February in the United States near the city of East Palestine in Ohio. Safety regulators say the accident could have been avoided.

The Guardian published an interim report on the causes of the accident. The chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Jennifer Homendy, noted that it was a sharp overheating of one of the wheel bearings and the fact that the sensors on the track did not pick up this overheating until it was too late. At the same time, she said that the crew responded correctly to the alarm, but the train still derailed.

"Those temperature thresholds are not set by regulation. They are not set by guidance. They vary by railroad and it’s their decision,” Jennifer Homendy, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board.

The NTSB reported that 38 cars derailed, and the fire damaged another 12. Of those that derailed, 11 were carrying hazardous materials. Safety regulators claim that this accident could have been avoided.

At the same time, local officials and residents of the region are worried that the accident of a train carrying dangerous cargo will have consequences for the environment and human health.

Police officers, who were at the scene of the incident, complain that they were not warned about the danger of the cargo carried by train. People affected by the spill are already noticing negative impacts on their health.

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