East Palestine Will See Fewer Hazardous Waste Trucks with New System

To reduce the number of trucks carrying hazardous waste through East Palestine, a new way to treat the problematic wastewater on-site has been developed.

Earlier this week, Norfolk Southern announced that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved a new work plan to treat hazardous waste on-site to remove vinyl chloride and other contaminants. After this process, the newly treated “non-hazardous waste” can be disposed of offsite.

East Palestine produces one million gallons of wastewater per week from excavation-related work and stormwater. The new process to treat the wastewater will reduce the number of trucks hauling the substance at any one time. This creates a smaller operational footprint and fewer hazardous waste shipments traveling through the area and other communities.

Norfolk said this system is temporary and only meant to be an on-site solution until soil contamination has been removed and the system is no longer needed.

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