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Jun 03, 2023

Residents dispute claims fishkill not related to train derailment

Aug 11, 2023 Contamination glistens on the surface of Leslie Run after stirring up the sediment on Thursday. The EPA maintains the creek generally shows no indication of chemicals associated with the

Aug 11, 2023

Contamination glistens on the surface of Leslie Run after stirring up the sediment on Thursday. The EPA maintains the creek generally shows no indication of chemicals associated with the derailment. (Photo by Stephanie Elverd)

EAST PALESTINE — Despite no sediment or water samples taken at the site of a major fishkill in Leslie Run this week, both the state and federal Environmental Protection Agency remained confident that the event was likely caused by an accidental release of road material from the East Palestine Park bridge replacement and not the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern train derailment.

The Ohio EPA, U.S. EPA and Ohio Division of Wildlife all descended on Leslie Run on Tuesday to investigate the event after being provided with a link to a video that was posted to social media on Monday. The video, which was filmed and posted by East Palestine resident Randy Dehaven, shows a thick layer of contamination on the surface of Leslie Run and several dead fish in an area that was being contained by a silt fence – a temporary sediment control device often used on construction sites to protect water quality.

The Region 5 EPA spokesman Brian Brakeall noted that the bridge replacement project “is not part of the train derailment clean-up process” and the road material included concrete among other materials. The project was located approximately 30 feet upstream from where the dead fish were found.

When asked if the bridge replacement project could have disturbed a pocket of chemicals related to February’s Norfolk Southern train derailment or the current sampling process of the underground portions of Sulphur Run which began this week could have stirred up contamination, the EPA said that was improbable but stopped short of saying it was impossible.

“Ohio EPA believes it is more likely that this incident is isolated to the bridge demolition,” Ohio EPA spokesman Anthony Chenault said.

The Ohio EPA also reiterated that the “testing of the water in Leslie Run generally shows no indication of chemicals associated with the derailment.” On the surface, Leslie Run appears clear. However, a sheen became visible on Thursday after overturning a few rocks along the creek bed.

The federal EPA has also witnessed the sheen.

“When sediments are disturbed, particularly in the upper portion of Leslie Run near Sulphur Run, EPA has observed sheen,” the agency said on Thursday. “Those sediments will be sampled as part of the Leslie Run characterization work plan.”

The federal EPA also said on Thursday that since the bridge replacement project is not part of the train derailment cleanup process, the EPA did not take any samples from “the accidental release from the park bridge replacement that is not part of the East Palestine train derailment response.”

Instead of samples, the agencies appeared to have relied solely on an olfactory assessment. According to the Ohio EPA, which stated via an email on Wednesday, “no chemical or petroleum-related smells, other than typical creek odors, were detected in the portion of the creek.”

The condition of the creeks – particularly in Leslie and Sulphur Runs — have been an increasing concern for both residents and the EPA since the Feb. 3 derailment. Remediation work on the waterways has included air knifing ( injecting air into the sediment to liberate anything underneath and bring it to the surface to be collected by a booming system downstream) and sediment washing (disturbing the sediment to bring contaminants to the surface to be removed by vacuum trucks), but work plans detailing a full characterization of the surface water in and around East Palestine were recently approved, nearly a half a year after the derailment. The delay raised fear in residents and frustration in the EPA, with Region 5 response coordinators Mark Durno and Tricia Edwards conceding during a public informational session that the plans should have been approved sooner. The plans call for additional testing of the sediment from Leslie Run to Little Beaver Creek. That sampling will begin this week.

However, Durno and Edwards also expressed confidence that conditions were improving in both contaminated streams. The EPA has repeatedly held up the return of aquatic life to the waterways and the thriving of those species as evidence of that improvement, making the recent fishkill all the more alarming to residents already concerned by the creek contamination.

One of those concerned residents is Dr. Rick Tsai. Tsai, who lives in Unity and owns a chiropractic practice in Darlinton, Pa., has spent the majority of his free time recording and tracking the impact of the rail disaster on the area waterways. Tsai was under the bridge entrance the day before it was torn down and recorded video of what he called “chemicals oozing up from the sediment.” He was also with Dehaven at the site of the fishkill.

“Nobody can say what killed the fish. Was it a lack of oxygen? I don’t think so. I think it was the chemicals,” Tsai said. “I was up there that day and the chemicals were horrible. But nobody can say for sure unless the fish are analyzed.”

Tsai also said that a chemical smell was very much present, an opinion shared by Dehaven, and questioned why what he insists is a visible presence of chemicals at the fishkill site wasn’t concerning.

“There was biological matter in the creek that day and debris from the bridge demolition,” Tsai said. “I agree with that, but there were also chemicals. They say “well, there’s two other things so that negates this other thing’. They don’t want to see the chemicals.”

Tsai also disputed the EPA’s claim that Leslie Run “generally shows no indication of chemicals.”

“For them to say that there is no contamination below Leslie Run either means they have hired the most inept imbeciles or they are lying to us,” he said. “It can only be one or the other because I can give a 7-year-old a stick and he can find this stuff in a few minutes.”

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