East Palestine

March 26, 2024

Toxic vinyl chloride accidents happen once every five days, report finds

By Dana Drugmand

Accidental releases of toxic vinyl chloride have occurred in the United States once every five days, on average, since 2010, according to a new report that highlights the extent to which communities and chemical plant workers are exposed to the known carcinogen.

The findings add to a growing body of evidence on the frequency of hazardous chemical accidents, including a 2023 report that found such incidents occur in the US almost daily.

Environmental, public health and community advocates have been calling on the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ban vinyl chloride following a February 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, which resulted in a “controlled” combustion of vinyl chloride in several rail cars that exposed residents to the chemical.

The report, produced by Material Research L3C on behalf of the environmental groups Beyond Plastics and Earthjustice, is intended to help inform the EPA as it takes steps towards conducting a risk assessment of vinyl chloride, along with four other toxic chemicals, a move the agency announced in December. The review, conducted under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), would be the first step towards considering a potential ban on vinyl chloride or additional restrictions to help protect public health and the environment from exposure to the chemical.

In public comments to the EPA, the groups Beyond Plastics, Earthjustice, and Toxic-Free Future urged the agency to quickly move to designate vinyl chloride as a “high priority substance” so that it can begin the risk evaluation.

Screen Shot_Beyond Plastics FB_news conference

July 27, 2023

Petition urges ban on vinyl chloride, citing East Palestine incident

By Shannon Kelleher
Environmental leaders gathered at the steps of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) headquarters in Washington, DC, on Thursday to call for a ban on toxic vinyl chloride, a cancer-causing chemical that gained scrutiny after a massive plume spread through East Palestine, Ohio after a train derailment in February.

The groups unveiled a petition signed by more than 27,000 people that calls on the EPA to protect vulnerable communities by banning vinyl chloride, which is used to make polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic for drinking water pipes, packaging, and children’s toys.

The incident in East Palestine led to the spread of more than 100,000 gallons of vinyl chloride after officials instigated a “controlled burn” as a strategy to try to prevent a dangerous explosion following the train derailment, a move that may have been unnecessary. The incident offered a “chilling warning” that the public must act now to keep communities safe from “petrochemical” products made from petroleum or natural gas, Heather McTeer Toney, executive director of the Beyond Petrochemicals campaign, said outside the EPA building.

While the EPA banned vinyl chloride in refrigerants, aerosol propellants, drugs, and cosmetics in 1974, for decades the chemicals have remained in other household plastic items. Short-term exposure to vinyl chloride can cause dizziness, drowsiness, and headaches, according to the EPA’s website– symptoms residents of East Palestine reported.

Breathing in vinyl chloride over long periods of time has been shown to increase the risk of a rare form of liver cancer, the agency reports. Research also suggests infants and young children might be especially susceptible to cancer caused by vinyl chloride exposure

May 2, 2023

Outrage over fresh chemical leak at Shell plastics plant

By Dana Drugmand

When Shell Chemical Appalachia announced the start of a massive plastics manufacturing facility last November in western Pennsylvania, the subsidiary of oil major Shell described it as “world-class,” and touted the company’s “strong and innovative safety focus.”

But now, just six months later, the plant has been the site of multiple malfunctions, including the leakage of benzene, a known carcinogen, along with other pollutants last month. The events come with putrid chemical odors and have area resident fearing for their health and calling on state officials to shut the plant down.

“We’re being told everything is ok, everything is safe, and it’s not,” said Hilary Flint, a cancer survivor who said she worries daily about how the malfunctions at the Shell plant may be affecting her health. Though she lives several miles away, she often spends time visiting her partner in Monaca, the community neighboring the Shell plant. Flint said both she and her partner contracted respiratory illnesses the week of the Shell plant’s chemical leak.

April 18, 2023

Beyond East Palestine, report finds widespread toxic vinyl chloride pollution

By Dana Drugmand

When the Norfolk Southern train transporting hazardous material derailed in East Palestine, Ohio on February 3, the subsequent release and explosion of chemicals fouled the air and exposed the community to a toxic cocktail of contaminants, including a substance known to cause cancer called vinyl chloride. More than two months later, air sampling data continues to show elevated levels of vinyl chloride in the area, and residents fear for their health.

A new report released last week shows that what happened in East Palestine was far from an isolated incident, and that many other communities are regularly exposed to vinyl chloride pollution, particularly those living in low-income areas and communities of color.

“It is outrageous that so many communities are being exposed day-in and day-out to the same dangerous chemical and plastic that burned in the Ohio train derailment,” Mike Schade, director of Mind the Store, a program of Toxic-Free Future, said in a statement accompanying the report.

Vinyl chloride is a colorless gas used to make polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastics used for such things as pipes, vehicle upholstery, and plastic kitchen ware.

Vinyl chloride contamination is primarily emanating from petrochemical production and waste disposal facilities, according to an investigation by the nonprofit Toxic-Free Future.

The group said it analyzed data collected by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), finding that in 2021, US vinyl chloride and PVC plastic producers released more than 400,000 pounds of vinyl chloride into the air, and that just five companies collectively are the source for more than 97% of the nation’s vinyl chloride air pollution.

Those five – Westlake Chemical, Formosa Plastics, Occidental Chemical, Shintech, and Orbia – collectively manufacture more than 10 billion pounds of vinyl chloride per year, according to Toxic-Free Future.

February 25, 2023

A near-daily disaster; hazardous chemical accidents common across US

By Carey Gillam

Amid fears about the toxic chemicals released in the East Palestine train derailment, public officials have clamored to reassure community members that the resulting contaminated air, water and soil is being cleaned up, and their tiny Ohio town made safe.

In a recent press conference, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine lamented the toll taken on the residents there, saying “no other community should have to go through this.”

But an analysis of a combination of data collected by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and by nonprofit groups that track chemical accidents in the US shows that accidental releases – be they through train derailments, truck crashes, pipeline ruptures or industrial plant leaks and spills – are happening regularly across the country. One data set shows incidents occurring, on average, every two days.

“These kinds of hidden disasters happen far too frequently,” said Mathy Stanislaus, who served as assistant administrator of the EPA’s Office of Land and Emergency Management during the Obama administration. Stanislaus led programs focused on the cleanup of contaminated hazardous waste sites, chemical plant safety, oil spill prevention, and emergency response.

In the first seven weeks of 2023 alone, there were more than 30 incidents recorded by the Coalition to Prevent Chemical Disasters, roughly one every day and a half. Last year, the coalition recorded 188, up from 177 in 2021. The group has tallied more than 470 incidents since it started counting in April 2020.

The incidents logged by the coalition range widely in severity but each involves the accidental release of chemicals that pose potential threats to human and environmental health.

In September, nine people were hospitalized and 300 evacuated in California after a spill of caustic materials at a recycling facility. In October, officials ordered residents to shelter in place after an explosion and fire at a petrochemical plant in Louisiana.

In November, more than 1,100 gallons of firefighting foam containing toxic chemicals spilled out of a US Navy storage facility in Hawaii where a prior fuel leak had already contaminated drinking water and made some people ill. Also in November, more than 100 residents of Atchinson, Kansas were treated for respiratory problems and schools were evacuated after an accident at a beverage manufacturing facility created a chemical cloud over the town.

Among multiple incidents in December, an explosion at a biodiesel plant in Iowa injured 10 people and forced the evacuation of many others, and a large pipeline ruptured in rural northern Kansas, smothering the surrounding land and waterways in 588,000 gallons of diluted bitumen crude oil. Hundreds of workers are still trying to clean up the pipeline mess at a cost pegged around $488 million.