Photo by Stephanie Elverd The Environmental Protection Agency recently reported that water captured on the site of last year’s train derailment that has been collected in the blue holding tanks (pictured) on North Pleasant is no longer considered hazardous but will still continue to be disposed of off site.

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently reported that cleanup efforts in Sulphur Run to address contamination from last year’s Norfolk Southern derailment resumed last week after new sheen collection methods were implemented.

Operations were suspended March 25, the day work began, when tactics meant to collect sheen failed to prevent the oily contaminants from traveling downstream. High water from flooding events also complicated the process.

“Cleanup will continue as long as water flow in the creeks remains low,” the agency said via its post on the EPA’s derailment website. “On March 25, Norfolk Southern began sediment cleanup in Sulphur Run. EPA later directed Norfolk Southern to suspend cleanup operations to evaluate how to more effectively contain and recover oil sheen from sediments.”

The failure of the collection methods appeared to be caught on video and posted to social media by East Palestine resident Randy Dehaven. In the video, sheen can be seen passing the soft and hard booms meant to contain it as contractors worked upstream.

The sheen-collection efforts in Sulphur Run were part of a work plan written to address the findings of a sheen investigation the EPA ordered in October under the agency’s Clean Water Act authority.

The process involves stirring up sediment and capturing any visible contaminants that are brought to the surface.

While those efforts are ongoing, cleanup work on the last of five culverts within the village was completed on April 10. While the EPA pressed pause on sediment cleaning in Sulphur Run due to concerns about collection methods, the cleaning of the culverts continued, utilizing a different approach of collecting any sheen that was agitated by those activities. The final culvert runs under Liberty and Rebecca Streets.

“The cleaning targeted specific areas where oil sheen was observed during the assessment completed in December 2023,” the EPA reported. “A high-powered vacuum hose was used to remove sediment inside the metal pipe section of the culvert. A control point was installed at the downstream end of the work area to contain and capture any released oil sheen that was not captured by the vacuum operation. This was the final culvert to be addressed as four were previously cleaned last year.”

In other remediation updates, the EPA said that natural water flow back into Sulphur Run is underway with the flow from three of nine areas already reintroduced into the north and south ditches alongside the tracks and adjacent areas. Currently, water moves around the derailment site with a clean water bypass system that directs upstream water to a containment pond. The collected water is then pumped into pipes that bypass the derailment site and discharge the water downstream. The system was meant to prevent wetland water from coming into contact with contaminated soil and groundwater (storm and snowmelt) was collected on site and stored in one of two blue tanks constructed on North Pleasant Drive. Since both the EPA and Norfolk Southern agree that all contaminated soil was removed from the site in October, water flowing the site will no longer be an environmental issue.

The agency explained that “robust testing” will be conducted of the water flow and once testing confirms water is safe, flow will be redirected back into the stream that snakes through the village. Rainwater and snowmelt will continue to be collected on-site until water is fully restored to the ditches. The EPA previously stressed that no water that is currently contained in the blue tanks will be reintroduced to Sulphur Run but rather disposed off site even though that water is no longer considered hazardous.

The EPA reports in the “coming weeks” site-wide confirmation sampling, shipment of untreated non-hazardous water, cleanup activities in Sulphur Run and planning for cleanup activities in Leslie Run will continue.