Third-Party Testing Completed on East Palestine Materials Transported to Indiana

Thursday, March 9, 2023 at 10:30 AM

Gov. Holcomb released the results of testing on Wednesday.

INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb has released third-party testing results on East Palestine waste that was transported to Indiana.

On February 27, the U.S. EPA announced that Norfolk Southern had contracted with Heritage Environmental Services (HES) to dispose of contaminated soil containing low levels of butyl acrylate and vinyl chloride at a hazardous waste landfill in Roachdale, Indiana.

The facility began receiving soil from East Palestine on March 1. The following day, Governor Eric Holcomb directed the State of Indiana to contract with a nationally recognized laboratory to begin rigorous third-party testing for dioxins on the material transported from East Palestine.

Dioxins form when chlorine-based chemicals like vinyl chloride are burned and can settle into soil.

Results from the testing indicated that the material transported to Indiana does not contain any harmful levels of dioxins compared to acceptable levels as established by the U.S. EPA.

The results demonstrate that the site operator is lawfully permitted to dispose of the material at its site in accordance with U.S. Code of Federal Regulations.

Moving forward, the U.S. EPA says any further materials scheduled for shipment from East Palestine will undergo dioxin testing before leaving the site in Ohio.

Third-party testing will continue in Indiana for any subsequent loads of soil coming from East Palestine.

For more information, visit https://www.in.gov/idem/featured-topics/east-palestine,-ohio-soil-sampling-results/.

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