WHITEWATER TOWNSHIP, Ohio — The Federal Railroad Administration is investigating a styrene leak that forced evacuations in the southwest corner of Hamilton County, but an outcome could take months.
County officials have said a failed stabilizer is the likely cause of the Sept. 24 styrene leak from a rail car on U.S. 50 near Kilby Road. The leak forced evacuations within a half-mile radius and closed schools and businesses for more than 24 hours.
While the leak coming from the train car appeared to be a gas, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences listed styrene as a colorless, flammable liquid used to make plastics and rubber that is highly volatile.
Public records obtained by the WCPO 9 I-Team show how potentially dangerous the leak could have been. On the day of the mishap, the Federal Emergency Management Agency told Hamilton County officials that an explosion could kill 227 people and seriously injure 281 more.
Four weeks later, residents still question why toxic cargo could be left on railroad tracks within a mile of a school and busy grocery store for seven to eight days.
“It’s not a railyard,” Cleves councilman Gary Walters said. “So, in other words, it shouldn’t have been there for storage.”
Walters was “right in the middle of it” on Sept. 24, when a roadblock at U.S. 50 and Cooper Road forced him to find a different way to his dog’s veterinarian appointment.
“You could smell something, and you knew something was going on,” Walter recalled. “We thought it was an automobile accident.”
Walters lives within two miles of the incident, where residents were advised to stay in place to avoid the toxic fumes. When he returned to his home, he could still smell the gas but suffered no health problems.
A Central Railroad of Indiana official said it allowed several styrene tankers to stay on its tracks because its customer, the INEOS ABS plant in Addyston, did not have the capacity to receive them. But he assured Whitewater Township residents at an Oct. 1 meeting that it wouldn't happen again.
“We’ve informed INEOS immediately, you will no longer park cars on our railroad. When they arrive, they will come to your facility immediately,” said Brian Stussie, vice president of operations for the railroad.
Walters was among 28 people who submitted questions about the styrene leak, ranging from health concerns to liability, during the Oct. 1 public meeting. He wasn’t satisfied with the answers.
“The fact that they let it stay there without even notifying any of the municipalities, I think, makes them culpable,” he said.
The railroad isn’t required to notify municipalities when hazardous cargo comes to their town, said Raymond Kasey, a retired railroad inspector who spent 27 years with the Federal Railroad Administration.
Kasey said Central Railroad could be cited for violating 49 CFR 174.14, commonly known as the 48-hour rule. It says carriers “must forward each shipment of hazardous materials promptly” and the cargo “may not be received and held at any point” in the journey. But there’s an exception to the rule for cargo that is “constructively placed,” meaning it reached its destination and a customer declined to accept it.
Central Railroad spokesman Tom Ciumba said federal rail inspectors “took no exception to CIND’s transportation of the car.”
The FRA’s Hazardous Materials Division told county officials that its investigation is “focused on the actions of the shipper and receiver,” according to an Oct. 3 email obtained in an I-Team records request.
That likely means investigators are pressing INEOS for answers on why it didn’t accept the cargo and what it used to stabilize the styrene, Kasey said.
Officials have blamed the leak on a failed stabilizer, which is a chemical that prevents styrene from polymerizing — and heating up to the point of explosion — during transit.
“The railroad is a transportation company, and they did their job, basically,” Kasey said. “I’d go to the shipper to check on the inhibitor content and I’d go to the consignee and say, ‘What’s the matter with you? You’re leaving 10 cars sitting out there. And you need to take these cars in. Don’t order them if you can’t take them.’”
The I-Team made several attempts to reach INEOS, which didn’t respond. The company also declined an invitation to attend the Oct. 1 public meeting.
So far, the only public statement made by INEOS on the incident is in a federal court filing, where it successfully argued to combine five pending lawsuits into one proposed class-action case. The consolidated complaint seeks more than $5 million on behalf of thousands of Ohio residents, including people who lived outside of the evacuation zone but were still impacted by the styrene leak.
“INEOS makes no admission of any fact or the existence of any class, injury, or liability for any defendant. INEOS states the allegations asserted in the state court actions for purposes of removal only,” wrote attorneys from Taft Stettinius & Hollister law firm, in a recent court filing.
Even if rail investigators get definitive answers from INEOS, Kasey said it may not lead to sanctions against the Addyston plant. However, it could improve how both companies handle hazardous materials in the future.
“Under the Federal Railroad Administration, early on we were told, ‘We’re safety people. We don’t want money. We don’t want fines. We want safety.’ And that’s what we always promoted,” Kasey said.
Central Railroad of Indiana has established two phone numbers for people and businesses affected by the leak. Individuals should call 1-800-757-7387, while businesses can call 203-202-8920 to claim lost wages or other damages.
