DARLINGTON, Pa. — Public water could be coming to a rural community in western Pennsylvania impacted by the train derailment in a neighboring Ohio community.
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, and U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Aspinwall, announced that Darlington Township received a $3.66 million Community Project Funding Grant to extend public water lines to the township where residents use private wells and springs for their drinking water.
“That’s a damn good win for the people of Darlington Township and Beaver County,” Casey said, during a press event to announce the funding July 12 at the Darlington Township Municipal Complex.
The need for access to public water came after the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, just a few hundred feet from the state line with Pennsylvania. Despite potential health effects, officials intentionally released and burned toxic vinyl chloride from several train cars three days after the crash, sending a cloud of smoke and smog downwind into Pennsylvania.
It’s more of a home run than an outright win, though, as the project will take at least $7.5 million to get off the ground, according to estimates from the township. Mike Carreon, chairman of the Darlington Township Board of Supervisors, wants Norfolk Southern to pitch in $5 million to make up the difference.
Carreon said Darlington Township sent a letter to Norfolk Southern requesting the money in April, but they haven’t heard anything back from the railroad company.
Norfolk Southern contributed more than $5 million to overhaul East Palestine’s municipal water system. Overall the company has given more than $109 million to East Palestine and surrounding communities, which includes $25 million to upgrade the East Palestine City Park.
Pennsylvania communities have received $9.2 million from Norfolk Southern, most of which has gone to reimburse local fire departments and state agencies for work done in responding to the derailment, according to the company.
“Norfolk Southern has continued to duck responsibility to western Pennsylvania,” Carreon said.
The plan
The access to public water would alleviate concerns from some Darlington residents that their groundwater could be contaminated from chemicals and toxins released during the burnoff.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection did not find any groundwater or soil contamination related to the derailment after testing private wells, soil and plant tissue miles of the site; the agency said it does not expect short or long-term impacts to ground or surface water in Pennsylvania, but monitoring will continue.
Darlington Township wants to extend a water line from the Beaver Falls Municipal Authority to an industrial park within the township and put in a water station, where residents can pay to fill up containers of water. The goal is to allow residents along the line to tap in at no cost, if they wanted to, but not require them to use public water. If there is groundwater contamination years later, the township would have the infrastructure in place to extend public water access as needed directly to people’s homes, Carreon said.
Rail safety
About 50 cars derailed and caught fire due to an overheated wheel bearing on Feb. 3, 2023. The flames could be seen from miles away and the wreckage smoldered for days afterward. Some of the train cars ruptured, spilling their harmful contents into a waterway that runs through the heart of East Palestine.
Three days later, working on incomplete information provided by Norfolk Southern, officials decided to vent and burn vinyl chloride from five of the derailed train cars that they believed was becoming unstable. NTSB investigators recently said that Norfolk Southern and its contractors compromised the integrity of the vent-and-burn decision by withholding information from Oxy Vinyls, the company that made the vinyl chloride, and evidence that the tank cars were cooling after the crash.
“I asked the question why,” Deluzio said. “It seems to me that they wanted to get their trains moving again at the expense of our health and safety, and that’s unacceptable to me.”
During their stop in Darlington, Deluzio and Casey also renewed calls for improved rail safety to prevent a situation like what happened in East Palestine from happening again. The Railway Safety Act is stalled in Congress, but Deluzio said a similar bill, the Railroad Safety Enhancement Act, was recently introduced in the House with bipartisan support and is gaining momentum.
“It’s not just enough to push this railroad to be held accountable,” Deluzio said. “We have to make freight rail safer. I know we can.”
(The Associated Press contributed information to this report.)
How about people n Palestine with well water????????????