(The following story by Maggi Martin appeared on the Cleveland Plain Dealer website on October 17.)
PAINESVILLE, Ohio — Residents may be back in their homes, but chemical-laden bonfires blazed and sludge was still oozing at the site of the CSX derailment just west of Ohio 44 and near Ohio 2 on Tuesday.
Railroad and local firefighters burned chemical residue from a propane tank early Tuesday to eliminate sludge that could not be pumped out.
Residents were issued alerts by the Reverse 9-1-1 system on Monday and Tuesday. The system generated computer calls to residents within the designated half-mile hot zone. Residents were told the controlled fires would be big but harmless.
One local law firm that questions whether the chemicals really are harmless filed a lawsuit against CSX saying residents were harmed by smoke and chemical vapors that poured out of the 32-car derailment last week.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Jonathan Hirsch, who lives in one of the complexes evacuated after the derailment spilled ethanol and other chemicals.
Attorney Patrick Perotti, who is handling the lawsuit, said more than 1,200 residents were left without homes and food for several days and are worried about contamination. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages along with reimbursement for housing inspections and lost food and wages.
A CSX spokesman told the Associated Press that the company is aware of the disruption in the community and was still reviewing the lawsuit.
Reggie Brown, emergency-response coordinator for the Ohio EPA, said more than 500,000 gallons of contaminated water will be transported to either a hazardous waste site or a water treatment plant. Most of the water came from firefighting.
CSX contractors erected 26 holding tanks each with a capacity of 22,000 gallons of contaminated water. EPA inspectors tested water at 14 locations and did not find any contaminated samples outside the tanks.
CSX is seeking an EPA exemption to have the water taken to local water treatment plants instead of carting it to dump sites. But EPA officials are concerned that some of the water contains trace amounts of a phthalic anhydride, a chemical used in plastics.
The cleanup will continue for several more weeks or months as workers dig out thousands of truckloads of contaminated soil, Brown said.
Most of the derailed cars have been removed and CSX already has laid temporary prefab tracks to get trains rolling. More than 30 CSX trains pass through Lake County daily, train officials said.
Permanent tracks will be laid once cleanup is completed. Passing trains’ speed will be slowed as a precaution in the accident area.