Concerns about air quality issues stemming from the train derailment and subsequent chemical burn off in East Palestine last month remain in some communities near the disaster. However, local public health officials said they aren't concerned, at this moment, about airborne contamination from the burn-off reaching the Miami Valley.
Smoke from the East Palestine chemical burnoff was sent hundreds of miles by northeastern winds all the way into Canada last month, according to HYSPLIT modeling data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Air Resource Laboratory (see figure below).
The direction of the wind is what is significant for people here in southwest Ohio. Because wind mostly travels west to east through the state, smoke coming from East Palestine, a village that is two hundred miles east of Dayton, never really had a chance to reach the Miami Valley, health officials said.
RELATED: Here's why it's hard to clean up toxic waste from the East Palestine train derailment
A spokesperson for the Regional Air Pollution Control Agency told WYSO that because of Ohio's established west to east meteorological patterns, they weren't expecting air contamination from the burn-off. Their regular air quality monitoring since the burn-off backed up that approach–they said nothing unusual has shown up in test results since the derailment.
Chris Welter is a reporter and corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms.
