Soil Incineration From Ohio Train Derailment Causes Concern

Contaminated soil from the site around the train wreck in Ohio is being sent to a nearby incinerator with a history of clean air violations, raising fears that the chemicals being removed from the ground will be redistributed across the region, The Guardian reported.

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The report came a month after a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, causing an environmental disaster of still unknown proportions.

The new plan is "horrifying," said Kyla Bennett, a former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official, who is now with the non-profit organization Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

Incinerating the soil is especially risky because some of the contaminants that residents and independent chemical experts fear are in the waste.

Chemicals like dioxins and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) haven't been tested for by the EPA, and they do not incinerate easily, or cannot be incinerated.

East Palestine's waste disposal has raised fresh questions about the disposal of toxic substances.

About 1.5 million gallons of wastewater is being injected into wells deep into the Earth's crust near Houston, adding that deep wells can leak waste into groundwater and are thought to cause earthquakes.