A few weeks after it was disclosed that some of t he toxic waste from the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio was being shipped to Texas, it raised the prospect that perhaps it was traveling through Oklahoma.
Since then, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt revealed Sunday he blocked a shipment of the waste that the government wanted to store in Western Oklahoma. In a Facebook post made Sunday, the Governor said he and U.S. Senators James Lankford and Markwayne Mullin along with U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas were notified by the EPA of the shipment Saturday afternoon.
Working together, the state leaders agreed to block the waste shipment.
“There are too many unanswered questions and ultimately I made the decision that this is not in the best interest of Oklahomans. As of late last night that shipment has been blocked,” said the Governor.
The Environmental Protection Agency indicated the Norfolk Southern Railway Company wanted to ship the waste material from Ohio to Lone Mountain, a toxic waste storage site near Waynoka. It is operated by Clean Harbors Inc.
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/M2FP4CJSOGMZK7OZ6PS6GCIVII.jpg)
The EPA indicated the shipment involved more than 3,600 tons of contaminated soil and it was expected to arrive on Monday in Oklahoma.
A report by The Frontier indicated Stitt had been alerted by Indiana officials when some of the soil had been shipped to their state.