State health and environmental agencies have issued statements declaring the Village of Glendora’s air and water safe in the wake of a July 5 Canadian National Railway train derailment that led to a tanker car fire and spillage of a toxic chemical.
The Mississippi State Department of Health on July 11 said it has finished sampling and testing of the Glendora public water supply and “found no contamination of benzene.”
The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, in a statement to Mississippi Today, said, “Air monitoring began promptly after the incident. There have been no detectable levels of benzene found and air quality in the community remains at safe levels.”
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The rail company noted, “Air monitoring continues out of an abundance of caution, and CN will continue to work with MDEQ.”
Following the same logic, MSDH said its Bureau of Public Water Safety “will temporarily increase the benzene monitoring frequency for Glendora from once every six years to annually. If no detectable results for benzene are shown for three consecutive years, the sampling frequency will return to the regulatory standard of every six years.”
MSDH noted that both the Health Department and CN personnel collected samples from the Glendora public water supply at the same time from the same locations. The MSDH samples were analyzed by the Mississippi Public Health Laboratory, and the CN samples were tested by a third-party certified laboratory, with both confirming no benzene impacts to the water, the Health Department said.
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Cleanup continues in the wake of the freight train accident that saw 22 cars derail from a train consisting of 139 cars and two locomotives. The incident occurred about 2:27 p.m. on July 5 just south of Glendora.
The incident led to a complete evacuation of the village as firefighting vehicles and personnel from about a dozen local and area fire departments battled the intense flames of a derailed tanker car carrying benzene that burned for just shy of 10 hours.
No injuries were reported.
The evacuation order was lifted just before midnight July 5, but some Glendora residents stayed in area hotels.
Two days later, CN gathered residents in Glendora and gave each family a $100 Walmart gift card, Mississippi Today reported.
CN said anyone having any questions or concerns regarding expenses incurred due to the incident is asked to contact Risk Management Officer Anthony Dale at 901-603-9138 or email anthony.dale@cn.ca.
The National Transportation Safety Board had investigators at the site and said a preliminary report will be available within 30 days.
