EAST PALESTINE — The final plans to clean up East Palestine waterways has been turned in to the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and awaits agency approval, as major remediation and restoration efforts related to the 2023 toxic train derailment nears competition, Norfolk Southern recently reported.

“A final stream mitigation work plan to address certain segments of the streams where sheens were identified during the March/April 2025 reassessment has been submitted to the agencies for their review,” the railroad reported on NSmakingitright.com. “Once approved, the implementation of final stream mitigation activities and a stream reassessment will occur.”

Data collected during the latest stream assessment to investigate the sheen and visible contamination left in Sulphur and Leslie Runs in the wake of the rail disasters and subsequent chemical release, was reported to the EPA last week with “no human health risks related to the derailment identified in surface water in the two previous assessments performed in 2024.”

Remediation work in the creeks ramped up in October of 2023 when the the EPA, under the agency’s Clean Water Act authority, issued an order to Norfolk Southern that instructed the railroad to conduct additional cleanup and sheen investigations focused on apparent chemical rainbow sheens and sediments in both creeks.

Following the order from the EPA, a qualitative assessment to look for sheen in Sulphur and Leslie Runs began at the end of 2023. The process involved agitating the stream sediment and turning over rocks and then grading sheen uncovered on a scale of 0-3 — 0 being no sheen visible and 3 being heavy sheen. Early sheen-scoring within Sulphur Run reflected heavy sheen with no areas of the creek scoring a zero and all areas graded 2 or 3 and heavy sheen was still observed in April in segments of Sulphur Run with Leslie Run still having areas of medium sheen in the upper portion (where Sulphur feeds into it near the East Palestine City Park entrance).

The railroad also reported “ongoing monitoring of surface water, groundwater, and drinking water wells continues per the schedules defined in the associated work plans.”

That includes the east end wetland water and sediment sampling. That area is where the last “pockets of contamination” or “con clusters” as Norfolk Southern’s Regional Manager of Environmental Operations called them were found during a double check process also known as “Appendix E.” Low levels of 2-butoxyethanol and other chemicals were detected in the East End as was toluene, semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs), per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and dioxin.

The railroad said that particulate air monitoring is ongoing in the “areas of active operations” but as site activities continue to diminish, associated particulate air monitoring will be reduced accordingly.”

In other emidation updates, the railroad reported that “site restoration activities continue as weather allows” and “restoration is anticipated to be substantially complete within the coming weeks.” The tracks along East Taggart Street and behind CeramFab where the train derailed show little to no signs of the derailment today.

According to Norfolk Southern data to date, 74 million gallons of water and 237,628 tons of contaminated soil has been disposed of, 5,200 feet of impacted waterways flushed and 1,923 drinking water wells sampled.

selverd@mojonews.com