Officials in Texas and Michigan say they were unaware the toxic waste cleanup from the Ohio derailment was being sent to their communities
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- The train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, earlier this month released toxic chemicals.
- Those hazardous materials were being sent to waste facilities in Michigan and Texas.
- Officials in the two states said they were only made aware of the plan after it was already set.
Officials in Michigan and Texas said they were only informed about the plan to send contaminated soil and water from the Ohio train derailment would be sent to them after the plan was already set.
"We were not given a heads up on this reported action. Our priority is to always keep the people we represent safe," Michigan Rep. Debbie Dingell said in a statement on Friday.
Dingell was responding to an announcement from Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine that said waste from the February 3 Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, would be sent to the US Ecology Wayne Disposal, a hazardous waste disposal facility in Michigan.
The congresswoman said her office would be making inquiries to the waste company, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Transportation, Norfolk Southern, and the state of Ohio to "understand what is being shipped, whether these are approved storage facilities, the implications of this decision, and how we ensure the safety of all Michigan residents."
During a press conference on Friday, Wayne County Executive Warren Evans said some of the shipments had already been delivered, The Hill reported.
"The fact that it's here, and we haven't been informed of the volume, we haven't been informed of how it actually got here — Did it come by truck? Did it come by train? Did those transport vehicles, were they well-equipped to be able to deal with this?" he said.
Gene J. Puskar/AP
A Texas official also said she was kept in the dark about waste disposal heading to her state. In a press conference on Thursday, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said a journalist was the one who told her that water used to fight fires at the site in East Palestine would be sent a city in her county.
On Saturday, DeWine's office announced that the EPA has paused the removal of hazardous waste from the derailment site.
"The US EPA ordered the transport be stopped so that additional oversight measures could be put in place to supervise where Norfolk Southern disposes of the contaminated materials," the announcement said.
Since the derailment, residents who live nearby have reported getting sick, and an estimated 43,000 aquatic animals have died as a result of the toxic spill.