After 17 days, Alberton is 'open for business', but many residents remain wary of returning to a home they fear is contaminated and threatens their health.
Pictured: Tank Car 3, battered and finally empty.
GASSED: The True Story of a Toxic Train Derailment
Part 1 Chapter 28 "Going Home" part 2
[music] Welcome to GAS, the true story of a toxic train derailment. I'm Ron Scholl. Last time on GAS, even as the tech still struggled with the leaking chlorine tank, officials moved forward with reopening Alberton. We now conclude part one, the spill, with the conclusion of chapter 28, going home. Sunday, April 28. Chlorine transfer continued throughout the night, as did spikes. Then at 5.20am, the pressure in car 3 dropped to 0. MRL declared car 3 empty 10 minutes later. Today would be sunny and mild, the best day in a long time for responders to the Alberton spill. 10 car 3 is sucking air while done announced at the morning IC briefing. They will continue to purge the vapors from the car, he said. This should be completed by 1.00pm today. I-90 is scheduled for a temporary opening today from 9.00am to 2.00pm. It most likely will be able to remain open, he said. Watts, MRL is planning a barbecue at the Natural Peer Bridge today at 5.00pm for all participants of this incident. A 9.00am meeting was planned for residents who had not returned home yet. Waldron, plateau residents are the only ones not returning home. McMeekin, I advise that we have people available to monitor. Waldron, no. Weiss, any complaints of smell we will deal with on a one-on-one contact. Systematic house monitoring, once promised, had been dismissed. McMeekin, just a reminder, during the soil removal after car 3 might cause elevators needed readings. There is a possibility that the Ford command operations will have to pull back, which also meant a possibility of evacuations of residents, at least near the bridge. As the meeting transpired, transfer of the remainder of car 2 was underway. At 7.16am, the boiler was shut down. Two minutes later, the tech said, "It appears the car is truly empty." Tank car 3, ruptured, battered, ripped, bandaged, and a constant deadly threat, was now a harmless cracked shell. It had killed one person and acutely injured at least hundreds. Weiss recalled the emptying of car 3 came as a surprise and was accomplished in spite of efforts to conduct a controlled transfer. The patch didn't work, obviously, he said, so the pumping occurred to the extent that we could make it happen, but it was never really very effective. For all practical purposes, the chlorine just evaporated, went into the air. I'm sure some of it was pumped, but not very much. Weiss believed that whatever chlorine was left in a tank after the first day of the spill, the bulk of it simply boiled and evaporated. "I think that's safe to say," he said. Wei didn't agree. I think the large majority of it was recovered. Wei admitted it was difficult to gauge how much was transferred. The EPA team later characterized approximately 64.8 tons of chlorine gas leaked from the punctured tanker from the time of the derailment on April 11, 1996, until containment was achieved on April 28, 1996. The EPA believed 25 tons successfully transferred, based on the amount of sodium chloride and hypochlorous acid, salt, and bleach, formed from the chlorine and caustic mixing. Day 18, the Gaussian of Alberton, appeared over. The final evacuee meeting was held at 9 a.m. in the basement of the Joker's Wild Casino. Emeralds Dan Watts told residents the last of the liquid chlorine was removed from car 3 at 5.30 a.m. Soil excavation would continue. I-90 was open for business. The 17-day closure was reportedly the longest interstate closure in U.S. history, and across the longest distance at 49 miles. Emeralds rail line would soon reopen, exceeding by 10 days the longest closure in Emeralds 9-year history. Only residents on Plateau Road had to wait a bit longer because of soil excavation. Officials had promised a computer model of the initial release since at least April 16. Now Watts claimed it is impossible to get an accurate model. There are just too many unanswered questions. The U.S. weather service is unable to tell us the weather at that location. We do not know the chemical reaction levels, the heat of the chemicals, the amount transferred into the atmosphere, how much thermal lifting, the amount of liquid pooled from the tank car, and to the ground. Without the documentation of the weather, there is no purpose for guessing. Accuracy, of course, was impossible, and never the point. The repeated promises officials revealed no estimates of residents' initial exposure. In fact, models of the original release would be done, but never publicized. Finally, Emerald announced the barbecue at the Natural Peer Bridge from 4 to 7 p.m., where work crews could meet the residents. The meeting notes reflected three questions raised by residents. Question, we don't feel safe. Watts, you will be allowed to stay in motels for a period of time. Question, 17,000 gallons of caustic, how many cars? Answer, tank car 5 ruptured in the derailment. This was the first public reference to the amount of potassium crestylates spilled, though still not published in the media. At this meeting, the Missoula Health Department gave residents informational handouts to prepare them for re-entry, though many people had returned yesterday. Question, are you willing to sign it? I need a copy. Some people thought one handout was a contract, assuring safety. Watts said, "The Health Department document has been signed by Leahy Ball-Waldren and himself, but unified command had not literally done so, and not some people brought copies forward to be personally signed by the co-commanders." One document was, "Health and Environmental Information for People Returning to Alberton and a frequently asked question format. Under, what will I find when I return home?" Question, is there chlorine gas in the area still? Answer, all monitoring for chlorine gas away from the spill site shows that the gas is no longer present at detectable levels. It is extremely unlikely that any pockets of chlorine gas remain. If our chlorine odor is present, but not real strong, windows and doors should be open to provide fresh air. If chlorine odors are strong or irritation of the eyes, nose and throat occurs, do not enter the area. Note, there was no systematic monitoring. Sensitized people were not specifically warned throughout this advisory. Question, what will the vegetation look like? Answer, away from the site, most of the vegetation will look normal. Note, based on vegetation studies, visible damage occurred within several miles of the site. Question, is it safe to drink the water? Answer, groundwater was deemed safe, but the health department warned the Alberton Public Water Supply System is chlorinated. People who have homes connected to this system should run the tap for several minutes upon returning home to flush some of the chlorine smell. As for pets and livestock, the advisory said, " Animals and people react to chlorine in a similar fashion. Unless an animal suffered a severe reaction to the chlorine gas, it will probably recover completely." Note, no official ever addressed whether animals could also be sensitized. Regardless, this was another affirmation of complete recovery for most animals, including humans. Question, is it safe for my children and pets to play outside? Answer, officials declared the environment safe. Note, they assumed any site-related odors off-site were not significant. As for indoors, the advisory said, "Household items will be safe." Use a baking soda solution for cleaning. Question, if I stay away longer, will my house be safer? Answer, no. At this time, monitoring and sampling indicate no contamination with chlorine or other chemicals from the spill away from the derailment site. Under, what about health symptoms? Question, what if I still have symptoms? Answer, the symptoms of chlorine gas exposure include eyes, nose, throat, airway, and lung irritation. These may be delayed, but should resolve over time. If you are still experiencing symptoms, consult a health care provider. People with underlying respiratory problems, such as asthma and smokers, may have symptoms that continue longer or require more aggressive medical treatment. These folks and others may also be more sensitive to chlorine or other chemicals for several weeks after the incident. You may wish to avoid household bleach for a while. Some individuals may experience a recurrence of symptoms. These recurrences may be triggered by anxiety, smells, or low levels of chlorine or other chemicals that can normally be found in a household. In addition, the residual contaminated soil from the liquid potassium crestlight spill may produce an odor that bothers some people, but others may not smell it at all. Note, this handout did not mention specific sensitivity symptoms or how close to the site was necessary for people to be to smell odors or be bothered. Question, what are the long-term effects of chlorine gas? Answer, people who have suffered a severe reaction to the chlorine gas and required hospitalization may develop chronic lung problems. Those who have had low to moderate exposures will probably have no long-term health problems from the gas. Note, this again assured likely full recovery for nearly everyone. Question, what symptoms do the other chemicals cause? Answer, testing has shown that no other chemicals of the derailment left the spill site, so no other spill-related symptoms are expected. Any odor of the residual potassium crestlight may cause headaches for some sensitive people near the site. Note, this was an immediate contradiction. Dr. Kochen had also listed nausea, vomiting and dizziness as reaction to site odors. And sensitivity also included respiratory and other reactions. Under, what about the other chemicals? Question, what about the pesticide smell some residents have reported? Answer, the smell that some residents have noticed is probably from the spilled potassium crestlight, a liquid which can have a very pungent odor, and possibly also from the acid at the spill site. These compounds can be smelled by some people at levels far below concentrations which pose a health concern. This odor should be decreased, now that the contaminated soils have been excavated and contained. Note, this acknowledgement of a pesticide-like smell related to the site was stripped of health consequences, especially to sensitize people. But the health department had already acknowledged symptoms. In effect, the health department was telling residents that any crestallated related symptoms were not a significant health concern. Question, what about the chemicals that mix together during the spill? Answer, the mixture formed some chlorinated compounds called chlorofenols. These compounds were not found beyond the spill itself. Note, the health department did not try further to account for people smelling pesticide-like odors far from the site during visits and having reactions. In some, Lehi's advisory made scant mention of sensitivity symptoms. Quote, "Any odor of the residual potassium crestlight may cause headaches for some sensitive people near the site." The only additional direct mention to sensitivity, quote, "People with underlying respiratory problems and others may also be more sensitive to chlorine or other chemicals for several weeks after the incident." Headaches were the only specific symptom mention related to sensitivity. Lehi left out the symptoms of nausea, vomiting, and dizziness, which the poison control center had also related to site odor. Most notably, respiratory symptoms were not mentioned. And finally, an indirect sensitivity reference, quote, "Some individuals may experience a recurrence of symptoms that may be triggered by anxiety, smells, or low levels of chlorine or other chemicals that can normally be found in a household. The residual contaminated soil may produce an odor that bothers some people." A separate handout was similar advice made no mention at all of sensitivity. Fundamentally, it was left up to chemically expose people to subjectively determine further health risks upon reentry. Chris Weiss consulted with Lehi on the handouts. MRL's evacuee meeting handout stated emphatically that officials, quote, "Agree that it is safe for all Abruten-area residents to return home at this time, with the exception of people living on West Plateau Road." Go Home Beyond this limited information, some residents claimed they were not warned about sensitivity symptoms upon their reentry. At the April 26th evacuee meeting prior to Saturday's reentry, the only public comments that Lehi made regarding sensitivity symptoms were summarized as, quote, "Water. You may be sensitive to chlorine smell for a while." Chemicals, you may notice some smell, some do, some don't. There may be residual smell. Symptoms, you may continue to have symptoms. Get in touch with your health care providers. Smells, of course, signified chemical exposure, but this was not stated. Lehi recalled understanding that the odor could drift off-site. The odor, she said, "Yeah." Weiss recalled, "Oh, I think you could smell it in Abruten. If the wind was blowing correctly and if the sun was beating down, you know, it was starting to warm up. We knew people on Abruten would be smelling odors." But odor was exposure. Neither Weiss nor Lehi thought any odor would pause a health concern, and this was reflected in the vague, understated warnings about sensitivity. Peter Nielsen recalled it was the consensus of the health department that air monitoring at homes during reentry was unnecessary. Per the handouts, monitoring was left up to the noses of returning residents, including anyone sensitized. Even the limited sensitivity information was not broadcast widely, Lehi acknowledged. If people were not at that meeting and didn't get any of the guidance, then no, she said, they wouldn't get that message, I don't think. The understatement over sensitivity issues was reflected in the mazulean reports, which made no mention of sensitivity concerns in the days leading up to general reentry. Chemical sensitivity was off the public radar. Abruten was safe. Go home. By noon, car 2 residue was completely transferred. All liquid chlorine secured. A small amount of vapor and car 3 was being vacuumed. Waldron briefed, all residents will be allowed to return home by 4 PM. Those residents west of the Natural Pier Bridge have been instructed by Dan Watts of MRL. They can enter that area. Steve Way determined area safety based on chlorine monitoring. But the rationale for keeping plateau residents out, such as Kelly Johnson with her history of serious respiratory and immune problems, had the youth excavating the soil and any vapor stirred up. That situation had not changed. Lucinda Hodges recalled that plateau residents loudly complained and officials backed down. MRL wanted these residents to wait until Monday, but they noted residents, however, requested to be allowed to their homes. Meanwhile, soil excavation continued. Weiss recalled, "Even I was surprised at the depth and breadth of the whole." Pre-segregated piles were made, visibly contaminated, moderately stained, and non-stained soils. The staged soils awaited the long process that would allow their ultimate removal. The state of emergency would be lifted the next day. At 2 PM, Mineral County Sheriff O'Brien advised, "Alberton is all ours again. Everyone can go home except Mrs. Reardon, whose eponymous lane ran by the site." Alas, Ethel Reardon, one of the last evacuated on April 11, was the last to be allowed home. I.C. Waldron had met earlier with local officials and Deputy County Attorney Mike Zahay said to consider jurisdiction once the incident ended. The plan was for the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, or DEQ, to oversee site remediation. The EPA and Missoula County would transition out. Mineral County would handle site-related health complaints. Sanitarian Denise Moldrowski was the only employee of the Mineral County Health Department. Missoula County Commissioner Fern Hart said, "When Denise was with the group at the French town station, she said at least three times, 'You won't leave us to handle this by ourselves. We don't have the capability. We met Moldrowski.'" Zahay said noted, "An MOU, a memorandum of understanding, has been drafted. The Missoula County Health Department requested that their name be added as being in control. I feel we are working for Mineral County, not in charge." Moldrowski had pleaded for help and Leahy wanted to do more, but Zahay said told the commissioners Missoula County should distance itself legally. The site would become the responsibility of the state and Mineral County, despite criticism of DEQ and that Mineral County had few resources. Leahy recalled, "Mineral County had one sanitarian who was kind of keeping in touch with us from time to time, but that's all they had. We did originally want to be on the MOU and then we changed our thinking on that, because we didn't have any legal authority other than that MOU outside of the jurisdiction. And we'd be responsible without the authority to clean it up." DEQ didn't move as fast, she said, but they have a lot more resources. Governor Roscoe had created the DEQ in 1995, splitting it from public health. "We definitely had an attitude," Leahy said. "We had lobbied against the whole splitting of the State Health Department and Department of Environmental Sciences." The separation of human health from environmental issues became a pivotal theme in the Alberton story. Hodges characterized reentry as, "Party it down, it's safe, we're going to have a barbecue at the spill site." The barbecue was held on the staging area for forward operations, just over half a mile from the spill. Ellen Anderson, my claims officer, Hodges said, "Call me that day at the holiday inn and invited me to the barbecue." I said I didn't think I'd be interested in coming. He said, "Well, if you change your mind, I want to let you know now that it might smell a little weird to you, but you'll get used to it. So why don't you come on out and see how you do?" Anderson at least admitted it smelled. Kathy Finiman of Alberton briefly stopped by. "That was the big mistake," she said. "My eyes were really bad after I got back from there and my tongue. The bridge area smelled very strong of weed and feed to her." Jay styled behind his family to the burger-fed, "We just more or less turned around and came back home because we could still smell it. I was so hypersensitive. I drove down there and it was a no time that I could start feeling reactions and had to get the hell out." John Matthews attended with his wife and was appalled at how horrible it still smelled out there. He said, "It was a nice sunny day, but there was this undertone of, 'God, are we crazy for being out here with it still stinking like this?'" And there were these cleanup crews there and they stank like they'd been rolling in this stuff. Matthews thought about 100 people attended. The weary EPA reps did not. After the marathon response, the crew wasted no time returning to Denver, but they took along a toxic reminder. Weiss recalled, "Steve and I were so exhausted, we basically wrapped up our business and got on the plane. It was one of these little puddle jumpers and I remember people turning around and looking at us and smelling us because we both reeked like chlorine. We'd been wearing the same clothes for like five days, sleeping in them. I didn't notice it, you know, until I got home and my wife just said, "Oh my God, could you throw that jacket out?" The story illustrated again that chlorine didn't just go away. Many evacuees were to accuse the media, mainly the mazullian, of putting the interest of AMRL above the people impacted by the spill. A clear attitude was reflected in the newspapers' first editorial about the spill following 17 days. Published April 28, the unsigned editorial focused not in the effects of the spill on the residents or on the overall response effort, but narrowly on AMRL. Defending AMRL's response as, quote, "something special." From the start, the mazula-based railroad has accepted full responsibility for the accident. Note, AMRL did not admit liability for the derailment, and never would. The editorial then noted with some cynicism that in light of the potential liability millions of dollars at least, AMRL could have been expected to circle the wagons, summon the lawyers, and do whatever it could to limit its liability. But AMRL's first instinct was to protect people, the paper said. But this was naive. AMRL summoned its lawyers almost immediately. The initial cost recovered by insurance, which AMRL needed to pay out in order to reach the next tier of coverage. The editorial then continued that AMRL had paid for accommodations and medical attention and pledged to cover all costs, despite reports that some opportunists are taking advantage with lavish meals and questionable purchases. This was the most specific published allegation made yet concerning spill victims taking advantage of AMRL. The mazullian's source was unstated, but the editorial's rumor-like allegation left a general impression with those who would criticize such alleged opportunists and those deeply offended by the allegation. The editorialists did not understand or acknowledge that meals and purchases could be deducted from any claims. The editorial continued, "Just as important, AMRL employees and officials have bent over backward to keep evacuees and others in Western Montana informed about all aspects of the wreck and its clean up." Of course, not every question can be immediately answered. But one example of withheld information, the mazullian had yet to publish even a gross estimate of the amount of potassium cresselates spilled, misinforming readers that it was a small amount. The editorial concluded, "The rear wall must be held accountable for this terrible mess and the harm it inflicted, but let's also give AMRL and its employees the credit they're due. Their response has been most honorable and admirable." During the 17-day evacuation, the mazullian made no investigation into residents' complaints of smells and symptoms during visits. Neither this nor any future mazullian editorial ever mentioned ongoing health problems and complaints of spilled victims. While the editorial spotlighted AMRL praised for the overall response had been cited in mazullian stories, but there were no publicized criticisms about the response other than those from a few seemingly disaffected residents. Remarkably, not even a post-incident critique would be documented by any agency. The local media praised the response, but produced no journalistic appraisal. The mazullian served as the main chronicler of the popular story of the Albertan spill, the most complete archive available to the general public. In the public eye, nothing had gone wrong with the response. The perception? This was an accident, tragically one man who shouldn't have been on the train had died. It was a difficult challenge to control the chlorine, and in the end, the area was safe for return, and most everyone was expected to fully recover from their exposure. The mazullian county commissioners later jointly wrote an editorial thanking people who had helped in various ways during evacuation. But they also raised several cautionary "what if" scenarios. What if the winds were prevailing heavily west to east, with no rain to dampen the cloud they asked? What if it occurred in an area between a large part of the population and the hospitals? What if the corporate entity involved were not responsive, or were not headquartered here in Missoula County, or in Montana, or even in the United States? But those were what ifs. On April 30, two days after full reentry, the mazullian put the final seal of approval on resolution of the incident. A pictorial spread chronicled a return to normalcy for Albertan over the weekend, a husband and wife sharing homemade beer Saturday afternoon, a woman hanging laundry in the evening, a mother and her two-year-old saying "bedtime prayers, thanking God for letting us sleep in our own beds tonight," and cars parked outside a town bar late at night. On Sunday morning, an old man fed his chickens. There were no published complaints from residents. Albertan had returned to normal, and normal was good. But for many residents, a crisis continued. MRL continued to negotiate with about 50 ACE members, distrustful of returning, offering to continue to pay for housing while working with them on a day-to-day basis. Spokesperson Linda Frost assured in the Monday mazullian it's entirely safe for these people to return to their homes. A spokesperson Paris Young said Emerald would not budge on our main thing, which is individual testing on homes and property by an independent lab. Frost said "thousands of tests have proven Albertan safe for return, fastly misrepresenting the sampling done for chlorinated compounds." The story did not address the hold-out's complaints of odors and symptoms. Hodges recalled William Brodsky's appearance at the Friday evacuee meeting. "We gave a wonderful glowing speech that they'll be there for the long haul. No claim is too big or too small, the whole reassurance thing. And I believed him. I did. I believed that we weren't just going to be totally screwed. I just didn't think it was possible." No official spoke of remediation of homes. Hodges said many people looked to Leahy to safeguard their interests. "We feel they sent us back in when it was not safe for everybody," she said. "There's a lot of animosity, especially from a lot of the mothers, toward Ellen Leahy, because she was seen as the only person standing between us and the railroad on these safety issues. We felt she was patronizing us and not taking our symptoms seriously." When we went home and we were being exposed to pesticide smells and phenol smells, what did baking soda to clean with have to do with that? Hodges recalled that friend Deb Janakaro went home on Saturday the 27th. And she came back devastated and tears, Hodges said. "And I think just about every woman I know did that, the first day they went home. She would go in every day and clean her home and come back and stay at the hotel. She did that for about a month until she felt the house was ready. We all just knew that it was altered. Even though they said it was safe, it just didn't feel safe. I wasn't going. And then of course, once I tried, I really knew that I was in trouble." Last time on gas, the true story of a toxic train derailment, we begin book 2, The Long Hall. In book 2, many residents return to an environment and homes that make them ill and begin to understand that chronic chemical sensitivity will follow them wherever they go. Some of them begin a journey to try and get answers to their illness by seeking help from government agencies, including the EPA's National Ombudsman, who agrees to open a case. Some also seek compensation and justice in lawsuits, and begin to question whether the train wreck that wrecked their lives was truly an unforeseeable accident, as the railroad company claimed. Until then, this is Ron Scholl. Thanks for listening. This podcast is adapted from the book Gas, the true story of a toxic train derailment. Visit amazon.com to see the two book series. To access support material in the book, such as maps, photos, illustrations, and video links, visit my Facebook page Gas, the true story. Or watch my Gas playlist on my YouTube channel at R.L. Scholl. [MUSIC]