(The following story by Sammy Fretwell appeared on The State website on May 2.)
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The hazardous cargo that comes through Columbia by rail ranges from scalding-hot solutions to chemicals that can destroy a person’s lungs.
According to Norfolk Southern, one of the city’s two major rail carriers, Columbia regularly sees about 20 of the 25 hazardous materials most commonly transported nationally by rail.
Mike Stiner, a Norfolk Southern safety training specialist, said he could not provide a list of Columbia’s top shipments because of post-9/11 security precautions.
But he said commonly shipped through town are:
o Mixed hazardous cargo. This is the top class of hazardous material carried through Columbia. It is composed of various widely used toxic materials, such as turpentine and paint.
o Anhydrous ammonia. Used in fertilizer, this potentially explosive material can be fatal if inhaled or absorbed through the skin.
o Hazardous waste. This is an array of toxic garbage produced by industry. It is usually destined for the Lowcountry, where it is burned in incinerators. It can have a variety of health effects, depending on the type of waste.
o Chlorine. This is a common, highly toxic chemical often used for water purification and in sewer plants, among other uses. Chlorine is the gas that killed nine people in Graniteville on Jan. 6 when a train wrecked and a tanker car cracked open.
South Carolina receives more than 5 million tons of hazardous chemicals each year, an amount second only to coal in tonnage brought into the state, according to the Association of American Railroads.
Columbia is a crossroads for hazardous materials carried by Norfolk Southern, Stiner told firefighters at a recent training conference at USC. That’s in part because of its proximity to ports in Charleston and Savannah.
Each year, Norfolk Southern trains carry more than 10,000 shipments of hazardous materials through Columbia, Stiner said.
That caught the ear of Capt. Steve Curry, a hazardous-materials expert with the Columbia Fire Department.
“We see trains run through here every day, but I did not put two and two together that it was that much,” Curry said.
Industry officials say chemicals are vital to the economy, helping to make everything from plastic to pharmaceuticals.
“We realize that there are chemicals that, if they were to explode or whatever, could be very dangerous,” said Dan Cronin, a spokesman for the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association. “But the products they make are very essential.”
Columbia is second only to the Greenville-Spartanburg area in the number of hazardous-material shipments.
Stiner declined to say how many shipments the Upstate area handles, but he said much of the traffic travels through the area on its way to Atlanta.
Molten sulfur, which is superheated to make it easier to carry, is a major commodity in the Greenville area. It is used to make sulfuric acid, a key component of battery acid. Sulfuric acid then travels back through South Carolina from a factory in Florida to markets on the East Coast.
Stiner said tough U.S. environmental laws have shifted production of chemicals overseas. But chemicals are imported back to the United States.
A fertilizer plant in North Carolina, for instance, is a major user of anhydrous ammonia imported through Savannah from Russia and Trinidad, where it is made, Stiner said. The ammonia must travel through Columbia to get to North Carolina, he said.
Anhydrous ammonia is one of the 25 most common hazardous materials shipped nationally. It can take a liquid or gas form and can explode when heated.
Like the chlorine that leaked in Graniteville, anhydrous ammonia is heavier than air and would hug the ground if it leaked. That would threaten people in low-lying areas near railroad tracks.