Gov. Eric Holcomb is pushing back on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s move to transport hazardous materials from the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment to an Indiana facility.

“I continue to object to the EPA administrator’s decision from Washington, D.C., to move hazardous waste from the East Palestine train derailment to Indiana. Further, there has been a lack of communication with me and other Indiana officials about this decision,” he said in a statement released Tuesday.

Holcomb learned third-hand Monday that materials will be transported to a landfill in Roachdale in west central Indiana.

“I directed my environmental director to reach out to the agency,” he said. “The materials should go to the nearest facilities, not moved from the far eastern side of Ohio to the far western side of Indiana. I have made a request to speak to the administrator to discuss this matter. I want to know exactly what precautions will be taken in the transport and disposition of the materials.”

The Associated Press reported the EPA announced two new hazardous waste sites will receive some of the shipments from East Palestine — an incinerator in Grafton, Ohio, and the landfill in Roachdale.

Indiana Ninth District Congresswoman Erin Houchin, R-Salem, and U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, R-Indiana, also both issued statements about the transfer of hazardous materials to an Indiana facility.

“I am just as shocked as Governor Holcomb and other Hoosiers to learn that the EPA is transporting hazardous materials nearly 400 miles from the East Palestine train derailment to a facility in Indiana,” Houchin said in a prepared statement. “However, I’m not surprised to see the continued lack of communication from the administration to the American people and our state leaders about this issue. The Biden administration has mishandled the response to this tragedy since it happened. Whether it be Secretary Buttigieg, or in this case the EPA, this is simply more of the same.”

She said she strongly opposes bringing these hazardous materials through or around the Ninth District or to neighboring Indiana communities, particularly when state and federal officials here have not been given any information about safety protocols taken to protect the public.

In a prepared statement, Braun, said he also is opposed to this transfer of hazardous materials.

“The Biden EPA and Transportation Department have mishandled this disaster from Day 1,” he said. “Any material from this disaster being transferred to Indiana overseen by this Biden EPA is seriously concerning. Hoosiers’ safety is my top priority.”

IDEM weighs in

In a statement to the Indiana Capital Chronicle, representatives with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management said they did not have regulatory authority “to prevent hazardous waste disposal facilities from accepting materials for which they are permitted to handle and dispose.”

The Roachdale landfill is operated by Heritage Environmental Services and is federally certified to handle the management of hazardous and nonhazardous solid waste. The “geologically isolated” site has about 14 million cubic yards of permitted landfill capacity, according to Heritage’s website.

“The decision to contract with Heritage Environmental Services for disposition of hazardous waste was made by Norfolk Southern, despite the fact that the Roachdale, Indiana, facility is located nearly 400 miles from the train derailment site in East Palestine, Ohio,” said Barry Sneed, an IDEM spokesperson.

He added that IDEM is communicating with the EPA and local authorities in Putnam County “to determine exactly what material is being brought to Indiana, when and in what quantities.”

The EPA did not respond to messages seeking comment Tuesday.

Background

The EPA now is getting close to having enough certified facilities to take all of the waste from the site of the Feb. 3 derailment in East Palestine, said Debra Shore, a regional administrator with the agency. Some liquid and solid waste had already been taken to sites in Michigan and Texas, according to The Associated Press.

About 1.8 million gallons of liquid waste have been collected from the derailment site, according to the Ohio EPA.

The incident happened more than three weeks ago when 38 rail cars derailed. No one was injured, but officials opted to release and burn toxic vinyl chloride from five tanker cars, sending black smoke billowing into the sky.

Casey Smith is a reporter for the Indiana Capital Chronicle. This story first appeared Feb. 28 on the Indiana Capital Chronicle website at indianacapitalchronicle.com. Tribune Reporter Erika Malone contributed to this story.