Ohio Train Disaster Killed 43,700 Animals (and Counting)

Last week, officials said they believed that the chemicals let loose in the Ohio train derailment had killed 3,500 aquatic animals. This week, they say the number of dead was more than 43,700 animals, all within a 5-mile area of the disaster.

A total of 38 cars derailed in the East Palestine crash, 11 of them hauling hazardous materials, including five carrying 115,000 gallons of vinyl chloride, a known carcinogen. That and other nasty chemicals found its way to local waterways, killing tens of thousands of aquatic animals. On February 6, three days after the crash, cleanup crews released the toxic stew into a trench and burned it off.

Mary Mertz, director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, said on Thursday that the dead animals – small fish, frogs, and other amphibians – are believed to have died immediately after the derailment.

“We haven't seen any signs of fish in distress since that time,” Mertz said. “So because the chemicals were contained, we haven't seen any additional signs of aquatic life suffering.”

She also said officials couldn’t say if there would be long-term impacts. As CBS News reports it, Mertz and “a few other officials seemed to deflect questions” about how the massive loss of small fish would impact the food chain higher up.

“That's a difficult question to answer with any precision," Mertz said, but in any case, the recovery would not be quick. “I'm sure it's something we're going to watch for a long time,” she said. “I'm confident we're going to bring it back. ... We do expect a full recovery eventually.” 

Well that’s a relief.

Photo credit: Getty Images via BBC News