Clark County, Ohio Residents Asked to Shelter-in-Place After Train Derailment
Residents in Clark County, Ohio were asked to shelter in place Saturday night after a train derailment near the Prime Ohio Business Park, about 1,000 feet away from the site.[0]
The Clark County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) made the request “out of an abundance of caution” on their Facebook page. The request was later lifted.
The derailment occurred near State Route 41 just before 5 p.m. and involved a 212-car Norfolk Southern train, with 20 cars derailing.[1] According to the EMA, four of those cars contained “residual amounts of diesel exhaust fluid and polyacrylamide water solution,” but the agency verified there was no spillage or risk to public health.[2]
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said he was briefed by the Federal Railroad Administration on the latest derailment and offered assistance from the federal government.[3] He also noted that there was “no hazardous material release reported” at the scene.
The derailment is the second for Norfolk Southern in the state in five months, with the first occurring in East Palestine on Feb. 3. That derailment sent millions of pounds of toxic chemicals into the environment and forced thousands of people to evacuate.[4]
In response, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown proposed The Railway Safety Act, a bipartisan bill with Senator J.D. Vance, to improve safety protocols and increase fines for misconduct from rail carriers.[5]
According to the Springfield Post of Ohio State Patrol, OH-41 at I-70 and Bird Road are closed to traffic while crews conduct clean-up operations.[6]
0. “Norfolk Southern train derails in Springfield on Saturday, officials say” WTVG, 5 Mar. 2023, https://www.13abc.com/2023/03/05/train-derails-springfield-saturday-officials-say
1. “No injuries in Kansas train derailment, Union Pacific says” CBS News, 5 Mar. 2023, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kansas-train-derailment-no-injuries-union-pacific
2. “20 Norfolk Southern Train Cars Derail in Springfield, Ohio” The Daily Beast, 5 Mar. 2023, https://www.thedailybeast.com/20-norfolk-southern-train-cars-derail-in-springfield-ohio
3. “Norfolk Southern train derails in Springfield, Ohio; no hazardous materials aboard, railway company says” CBS News, 5 Mar. 2023, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/norfolk-southern-train-derails-springfield-ohio-no-hazardous-materials-aboard-railway-company-says-shelter-in-place/
4. “Another Norfolk Southern train derails in Ohio, railroad says no toxins aboard” CNBC, 5 Mar. 2023, https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/05/another-norfolk-southern-train-derails-in-ohio-railroad-says-no-toxins-aboard.html
5. “‘It’s unacceptable:’ US Senator critical of Norfolk Southern following Clark County train crash” WCPO 9 Cincinnati, 5 Mar. 2023, https://www.wcpo.com/news/state/state-ohio/its-unacceptable-us-senator-critical-of-norfolk-southern-following-clark-county-train-crash
6. “Residents told to shelter in place after Norfolk Southern train derails in Springfield” WDTN.com, 4 Mar. 2023, https://www.wdtn.com/news/train-derails-in-springfield-roads-close
