EAST PALESTINE — The Region 5 Environmental Protection Agency continues its community outreach series with another informational session set for Thursday at The Way Station inside the First United Presbyterian Church located at 109 W. Rebecca St. to inform the public of cleanup and remediation efforts in the wake of February’s Norfolk Southern train derailment.

The planned presentation will be followed by a question-and-answer opportunity for village residents. Thursday’s session — the third in the weekly series — will discuss private-well sampling and be conducted by the Columbiana County Health District. The session will discuss how sampling is completed, how the results are interpreted and how responding agencies determine if the derailment has caused any contamination.

The first session explained the soil-sampling process in and around East Palestine and discussed the preliminary results of the Phase I soil-sample collection. During that session, EPA Response Coordinator Mark Durno reported that while dioxins were created by the derailment on Feb. 3 and controlled burn of vinyl chloride days later, the levels detected were not at large enough amounts to cause an alarm. The EPA said the numbers found in the soil were consistent with typical background levels of dioxins that are created by any combustion processes.

The EPA sampled and tested soil at 148 residential, recreational, commercial and agricultural locations – 89 from Ohio and 59 from Pennsylvania. Each location was sampled for both shallow and deep samples, meaning one at the surface and one below the surface. Some samples from Pennsylvania did show elevated levels.

The second session discussed air quality in the village and was conducted by the EPA’s Matt Villicana who reported that his agency’s data revealed no high levels of toxins in the air.

In other remediation news, the process of excavating and removing contaminated soil beneath the south tracks was completed April 22. Work then was started on the south tracks where the process will be completed. Remediation is expected to continue for weeks.

At the EPA’s last count, 38,358 tons of toxic dirt has been dug up and removed from the village. The EPA reported that asbestos-containing material (ACM) was identified on the north track work area within a debris pile and will be managed and disposed of in accordance with applicable state and federal laws. The ACM has been properly labeled, containerized, and is awaiting off-site transportation and disposal in 11 roll-off containers.