United States Environmental Protection Agency
Region VI
POLLUTION REPORT

Subject: 

The site is SW of San Antonio in Macdona, Bexar County, Texas.  Foul weather and physical conditions remain the same.

Incident Command Structure (ICS) with Unified Command (UC) remains in effect.  Morning briefing commenced at 0500.  UC reviewed plan for public notification, precautionary evacuation and relocation of rail car.  Atmospheric modeling began at 0500, with downwind identified as NW of the site.  CTEH (UP) and EPA-START monitoring teams were deployed in the area of concern by 0530.  The emergency notification to evacuate was issued by Bexar County at 0600, with evacuation completed by 0715.  20 residences evacuated and 90 sheltered in place.  Evacuated residents were hosted by Red Cross and UP at a nearby facility.  The rail car was safely moved by 0930.  Following a 30-minute stability check, residents were allowed to return to their homes.  There were no releases from the car during the operation, and no detections were recorded on deployed monitoring equipment.

Rail reconstruction was completed by 0600, as closer inspection following debris removal revealed that the car was not directly in the path of the rail line.  Following relocation of the Cl2 car, regular train traffic resumed by 1030, with all traffic subject to a "go slow" order.

UC briefing addressed plan to offload the rail car.  Proposal by RR has shifted to using a caustic scrubber system, estimated to take 6 days to complete.  They propose to use the rail car head puncture as a discharge point through a modification to the fabricated patch.  The 10-inch valve would allow suction of vapor into the scrubber.  Scrubber output will be sodium hypochlorite solution, which will be returned to OxyChem for processing.  The car will be heated with steam to prevent freezing during the operation.

The fabricated patch was installed at 2200 hours on 7/1/2004.

A joint CTEH and START team was requested to conduct clearance sampling on one residence in the exclusion zone.  The family (Hale) had requested to recover personal effects.  The Team reported no detectable levels of Cl2 in air and no residual acidity on interior surfaces as measured by pH.  The family was escorted to the residence by UP contractors, then returned to their vehicle.

TCEQ will follow-up on site closure activities.

UP contractors are developing a sampling plan for residential soils in affected areas.

UP will recover and dispose of dead animals that include emus, dogs, cats, armadillos and a variety of wildlife.

Begin chlorine offload to scrubber.

Air monitoring continues 24/7 with no detections.

UC will meet prior to installation of modified patch/valve to discuss any revisions.

UC will meet with NTSB and FRA inspectors at the rail car site at 0830 tomorrow to review the operation and examine the rail car.  NTSB has expressed interest in participating as appropriate in the emergency response effort.  FOSC Harris has requested technical review by that group of whether the Cl2 rail car could be safely relocated once the final patch is in place.

Clearance of remaining residences for eventual return to occupancy.

Final removal of diesel-impacted soils.

All offsite roads are reopened.

Rail line is back in service.

Joint press conference was held at 1030 to discuss operational issues and incident status.

No detectable releases have been noted from the car since Tuesday.