(The News Journal posted the following article by Terri Sanginiti on its website on March 15.)
WILMINGTON, Del. — State environmental regulators were notified shortly after four railroad cars carrying potentially hazardous chlorine gas derailed at DuPont Co.’s Edge Moor plant Monday, but nearby residents and the agency that could have evacuated them did not find out until the next day.
DuPont spokesman Tim Ireland said Tuesday afternoon that a 36-car Norfolk Southern train partially derailed about 3:30 p.m. Monday inside the chemical plant on Hay Road.
Four of the six affected rail cars were each loaded with 90 tons of chlorine. The other two were carrying charcoal to the plant. The derailment posed no safety risk to the community, Ireland said. The cause of the incident remains under investigation.
Edge Moor makes titanium dioxide pigments used in thousands of products, including paper coatings, toothpaste and food.
The cars that derailed were in the middle of the train, Norfolk Southern spokesman Rudy Husbands said, referring all other questions to the DuPont Co., which he said owned the tracks and the property.
Emergency response teams from DuPont, Brandywine Hundred Fire Company and the state Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control were notified and sent to the plant to monitor the situation, Ireland said.
He said the cars were structurally sound, and no leaks were found.
“We always call out the local emergency response,” Ireland said. “It’s a way of bringing trained expert neighbors onto the property to communicate to the community what we’re doing.”
Brandywine Hundred Fire Company officials would not comment on the operation.
Federal and state security officials in Delaware and New Jersey were notified, Ireland said Tuesday afternoon.
DuPont hired Texas-based contractor Hulcher Services Inc. to right the derailed cars. Hulcher did not return calls Tuesday.
New Castle County spokeswoman Christy Gleason said the county’s Office of Emergency Management was not notified of Monday’s derailment until Tuesday morning.
‘They’re the ones we rely on’
Jonathan Husband, president of the Fox Point Civic Association, said it was troubling that the agency charged with evacuating county residents did not know of the incident until the following day.
“I would not expect to be notified, but I would be upset if the county’s Emergency Management Office did not know about it,” Husband said. “They’re the ones we rely on for notification and evacuation.”
County Councilman John Cartier said he was concerned about the incident, but he would not comment Tuesday night until he learned all the facts.
State Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Rosanne Pack said DEMA’s on-call duty officer was notified of the situation Monday night.
“At that point, there was no indication there was a potential for a hazardous release,” she said.
Pack said she did not know what time Tuesday county emergency officials were alerted.
She said the state has a protocol level that determines when emergency agencies should be notified to start clearing an area.
“Had there been any indication that there was going to be a release at the Edge Moor plant, the state’s emergency notification system would have been activated,” Polk said.