KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The last of nearly 3,000 residents forced to evacuate because of sulfuric acid leaking from a derailed freight train were allowed to return home Tuesday morning, setting off a dispute between county officials and the federal Environmental Protection Agency, reports the Associated Press.
About half of the residents, who lived in eight of some 20 subdivisions farthest from the accident scene, went home Monday night. A county official allowed the rest to return at about 6 a.m. Tuesday.
The chemical was neutralized and the tank car was removed. “Everybody can go home,” said Holt Clark, spokesman for the Knox County Emergency Management Agency.
A 141-car Norfolk Southern train bound for Birmingham, Ala., derailed Sunday morning. Two locomotives and 22 cars left the tracks, and a tanker car carrying 10,600 gallons of sulfuric acid leaked noxious vapor.
County Executive Mike Ragsdale lifted the evacuation order Tuesday, apparently without informing EPA officials. EPA incident commander Barbara Caprita later threatened to take over the cleanup.
“You guys are supposed to call and consult EPA,” she told railroad and county representatives. “You didn’t even call one of the air (monitoring) people, and I want the public to know that.”
Caprita called the cleanup of the tanker a success, but expressed concern about spillage on the site.
“I don’t want people to leave their homes, but I do want a perimeter put up,” she said.
County officials attempted to pull Caprita away as she was talking to reporters.
After the confrontation, Clark said local officials were ` `100 percent confident this scene is safe for Knox County residents.”
About 20 subdivisions in the affluent Knoxville suburb of Farragut and neighboring Blount County were evacuated. No one was seriously injured but about 20 people were treated at hospitals for burning throats and skin exposure to the chemical.
The two derailed locomotives were hoisted back on the tracks Monday and 119 undamaged rail cars were removed. A flatcar with two military tanks was righted and workers neutralized the leaking acid with lime and soda ash.
Most of the sulfuric acid escaped into the air or collected in a hole dug by the pileup. The highly corrosive acid is used in manufacturing and was headed to a chemical plant in Alabama.
It was the only hazardous material on the train, said Susan Terpay, a spokeswoman for Virginia-based Norfolk Southern.
The cause of the accident remained under investigation.