EAST LIVERPOOL, Ohio — Bonnie English had been praying for weeks for the people who live in and around East Palestine after the train derailment that put this region on edge. Then she and her husband Eddie found out that the toxic soil from that wreck had come here to be disposed of. She was stunned.
“I have been praying for them," she said. "I guess I need to start praying for myself and my family."
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The English family, originally from East Liverpool, lives in nearby Beaver County, Pennsylvania, along the Ohio River. Their home overlooks the river and is just upriver from the Heritage Industry plant where the toxic waste was shipped on Tuesday.
Exactly one month after the Feb. 3 train derailment caused a disastrous chemical spill, toxic waste from the crash site was moved here to Heritage Thermal Services facilities. The move was approved by the federal EPA. Norfolk Southern transported the contaminated soil as part of the remediation process.
Bonnie and her husband Eddie had just sat down for lunch at Bricker’s Cafeteria, with Bonnie dressed in a long sugary-pink leather jacket. The couple were about to enjoy some minestrone — he had a bowl, she had a cup — when they heard the news.
“It is bad enough for the things that they already have done to people," she said. "Now they are just bringing their mistakes here. They just don’t care, you know? If you don't have power, they don't care whether you're poor or middle class, black or white. Our lives are expendable; it is the saddest thing ever, but I'm a strong believer in God, and He's going to get justice for all, be back here in a blink of an eye.”
Her husband Eddie, who was born in Georgia, echoed her concerns.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s (R) office sent out a release saying that approximately 1.8 million gallons of liquid waste and 4,832 cubic yards of solid waste have been collected from the East Palestine derailment site as of this week. There is also both liquid and solid waste staged every day during the cleanup process.
Last week, when news emerged that the hazardous waste from the East Palestine derailment had been traveling to Houston, officials issued statements that the public should have been warned in advance. The Environmental Protection Agency has “paused” those toxic waste shipments to there and to other states, such as Michigan, but resumed the transfer on Monday to two approved sites in Ohio, including the incinerator here in East Liverpool.
The incinerator at Heritage Thermal Services — formerly known as WTI — has been located along the banks of the Ohio River for 30 years and has been controversial since its inception. In October of 1991, actor Martin Sheen was arrested at the WTI site when he was climbing the fence of the property to draw national attention to the incinerator.
He and other protesters recited the Lord's Prayer with arms linked. They sang "Amazing Grace" before climbing over the fence that surrounded the incinerator under construction at the time.
It was the second time he had been arrested at the WTI site — environmental groups including Greenpeace staged a march there as well.
On Wednesday, no Hollywood superstar showed up in the town to draw attention to the shipment and subsequent burning of the toxic waste. Greenpeace did not show up, either.
In 2007 WTI agreed to pay over $700,000 to settle emissions claims stemming from chemicals in storage. In 2015, the federal EPA said that the incinerator released toxins into the air since 2009 that had the potential to cause miscarriages and cancer.
East Liverpool Mayor Gregory Bricker can see Heritage from his backyard, which sits on a ridge on the slopes of the Columbiana County city. He wishes he had the power to halt the process, but he knows he does not.
“The federal EPA is in charge here," he said. "I can't supersede them. They're the ones that are directing the disposal of the material. They've assured me that this is the best option, and I'm just relying on their experts and what they're telling us."
As for worries about new local pollution, he said that the EPA told this is the safest way to dispose of it. “It's incinerated," he said. "By the time it's done, it will be removed. The bad stuff will be removed, for lack of a better word. But again, these facilities have to be inspected and maintained. There are regulations and they're in compliance. This is where it's safe to ship it to.”
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The EPA said it was the safest way, but does that mean it is safe? That is the question everyone is asking.
“I'm not a chemical engineer," said Bricker. "I'm not a Ph.D. I'm a financial adviser, so I rely on them to tell us the best route to go. And of all people or any agencies telling us what to do, who else other than the federal EPA and the Ohio EPA on telling us the best route.”