Chemicals from East Palestine derailment spread to 16 US states, data shows

Debris from a Norfolk Southern freight train lies scattered and burning along the tracks in East Palestine, Ohio, on 4 February 2023. Photograph: Gene J Puskar/AP

Chemicals released during the East Palestine train wreck fires in February 2023 in Ohio were carried across 16 US states, new research of federal precipitation and pollution data shows.

Analysis of rain and snow samples collected from northern Wisconsin to Maine and North Carolina in the weeks following the crash found the highest levels of pH and some compounds recorded over the last 10 years. That includes chloride, which researchers say was largely released during a controversial controlled burn of highly toxic vinyl chloride carried by the train.