At approximately 2045 hours, on Friday, October 20, 2006, a train derailed off a railroad trestle in New Brighton, Pennsylvania. EPA received notification via the National Response System of the incident. EPA coordinated with Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) and determined that EPA should respond to the incident. EPA OSC Easton notified START of the incident and requested their assistance. At approximately 0215 hours on Saturday, October 21, 2006, OSC Easton and START mobilized to the Site.
At 1015 hours on October 22, 2006, EPA and START arrived onscene. Met with unified command and Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) and received a status update. Many of the damaged rail cars have been removed from the immediate accident scene. They are being staged in nearby Big Rock Park which is on the banks of Beaver River. Two of the rail cars are still on fire. NTSB is on scene. Residents have been allowed to return to their homes with exception of those persons who live on 2nd and 3rd Avenues. These are the homes closest to the tracks.
At 1300 hours an environmental meeting was held at the New Brighton Borough Building. Environmental contractors working for Norfolk and Southern presented their data thus far. No ethanol vapors have been detected in the residential area. However some readings in the work area closest to the spill were detected at 400 ppm. The OSHA PEL for workers is 1,000 ppm. Therefore the workers are not at a high risk of exposure. The combustible LEL for ethanol is 30,000 ppm, with the onsite detected level of 400 ppm being significantly below that. Water samples have been collected near the source of the derailment. The high was 18 ppm. The LC50 for trout is 30,000 ppm. Samples have been taken at various downstream places along the Beaver River. Norfolk and Southern and PADEP are collecting samples. While not all data is in, it does not appear that a significant amount will be detected. Air monitoring will continue on both sides of the river. There are a number of weir dams on the Beaver River. These cause a high degree of mixing and aeration. As of 1 PM today, no fish kill has been noticed. Norfolk Southern environmental contractor will place data logging Dissolved Oxygen (DO) meters along the Beaver River. Hand held DO meters registered 11.3. A trout stream normally reads 9.0. Aquatic concern would be 3 or 4. There have been reports of a white sheen downstream in the River. It is suspected that the sheen is from the foam application and there are no environmental or health concerns.
Railroad cars are still in the river and it is unknown if they contain product. After the trestle bridge is repaired Norfolk and Southern will attempt to sample or determine if there is still product in the partially submerged cars. The NTSB is investigating to determine the cause of the accident but no findings have been released. The County, State, Norfolk and Southern, and Federal agencies are operating in a Unified Command System. PADEP is taking the lead on the environment enforcement. Currently, EPA's assistance is not needed in sampling or monitoring. It is not known when the derailment will be cleared. As of 1500 hours, the fire went out in one of the two remaining rail cars which had been on fire.
Norfolk and Southern will coordinate with PADEP on the remediation plan for impacted soils.
EPA will continue to coordinate with local, and state officials.
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