Last Updated on February 27, 2023 at 10:05am

On Sunday afternoon, during the monitoring of the derailed cars, it was found that the pressure relief devices on some of the cars had stopped working. If not addressed, it could result in a catastrophic failure of the cars.

In coordination among all agencies and stakeholders, we have put together a plan to manually vent the cars. The contents will be drained in a controlled fashion. To protect the environment, we have prepared pits and embankments to drain the material into which will then be remediated.

When it is safe to do so, the manual release of the pressure will be via a controlled breach of several rail cars, and under the supervision of experts and first responders. This will be loud and visible. Some of the material will burn off as it drains for a short number of hours. We have been and will continue monitoring air quality with Ohio EPA. Afterward, cleanup work on the site can safely continue.