On Monday, November 25, the East Palestine Village Council convened at the bi-monthly public meeting where guest speaker Chris Hunsicker from Norfolk Southern presented a short update on the remaining restoration work and answered questions. Watch the video and review the summary below.
Stream Remediation
Hunsicker reported that since water levels are down because of drought conditions, a qualitative assessment of the stream has not been completed. The quarterly assessment process with water and sediment sampling will resume when normal water conditions return.
Ongoing Restoration Work
Tank farms five and six have been removed and the areas restored with grass growing. Tank farm three is almost dug out with another scrape planned and topsoil ready to go in. The ditches are flowing down the Sulphur Run the way they were before with final work finishing up connecting new pipes and culverts. Drainage features and storm drains in the field between Pleasant and Sharon have been completed and will be getting topsoil restored. And the sheet piling removal is ongoing where it makes sense with soil collection and piling decontamination so they can be reused in other projects. Some pilings near the tracks will be pounded down and left for stabilization.
The remaining investigation and remediation work to be done is ongoing in the east end at the CSI site. That’s the area where contamination was identified and the next phase of the clean up and soil removal will take place. Test borings and monitoring wells in that area have shown no contaminants in the water, so it’s not travelling through the ground, but the screening levels in the soil mean it needs to be addressed and these areas are dug out so there are no concerns later on. The pumps at State Line Lake are in place so clean water can bypass around the wetlands during any construction.
The expected timeframe for completion barring any weather delays will be the end of first quarter 2025.