Earlier this month, a freight train carrying chemicals derailed in Ohio, and authorities decided the safest course of action was a controlled burn. The result was a massive plume of toxic smoke. (See this photo from an airplane.) Authorities have given the all-clear for evacuated residents of East Palestine, Ohio, to return home, but a week after the controlled burn, some still have not done so. And many of those who have are worried. Coverage:
- Chemicals: The Norfolk Southern train was carrying hundreds of thousands of gallons of vinyl chloride, a carcinogen used to make PVC. The EPA says butyl acrylate, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate, and isobutylene also were released, with samples detected in local waterways, reports WFMJ. The plume from the controlled burn released the byproducts of hydrogen chloride and the toxic gas phosgene into the air.