EPA Orders Temporary Halt to Shipping of Ohio Toxic Train Crash Contaminated Waste

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg (L) and Tristan Brown, deputy administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, crouch down to look at part of a burned train-car at the site of a Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 23, 2023. Allie Vugrincic/The Vindicator via AP, Pool

Amid objections from Michigan authorities who said they weren’t aware that hazardous materials were headed into their state, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has ordered a temporary pause on shipments of contaminated waste from the site of Norfolk Southern Railway’s Feb. 3 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

“Everyone wants this contamination gone from the community,” EPA Region 5 Administrator Debra Shore said. “They don’t want the worry, and they don’t want the smell, and we owe it to the people of East Palestine to move it out of the community as quickly as possible.”