美国国家公共电台 NPR--Norfolk Southern continues to clean up from its February derailment in Ohio

Norfolk Southern continues to clean up from its February derailment in Ohio

Transcript¹

Norfolk Southern Railway has removed a small mountain of soil laced with toxins² since the February train derailment in East Palestine. What happens to the waste that hazmat teams collect?

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

Norfolk Southern Railway has removed a small mountain of soil laced with toxins since the February train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. What happens to the waste, like vinyl chloride, that hazmat teams collect? Reid Frazier with The Allegheny Front reports, some of it goes to a nearby incinerator with a history of problems.

REID FRAZIER, BYLINE³: On a quiet street in the town of East Liverpool, Ohio, Amanda Kiger peers through a chain-link fence at a smokestack about 150 feet tall billowing out a plume⁴ of white vapor⁵.

AMANDA KIGER: See how short it is?

FRAZIER: The incinerator on the other side of the fence is separated from the neighborhood around it only by the small street we're standing⁶ in.

KIGER: There is an alley⁷, and then there's people's homes. It's not even a whole street. It's an alley.

FRAZIER: Kiger is executive director of River Valley Organizing, a local activist⁸ group. She's fought for years to tighten⁹ regulations on the incinerator. It's owned by an Indiana-based company called Heritage Thermal¹⁰ Services. In 2018, Heritage had to enter an agreement with the EPA to address nearly 200 violations¹¹. They include failing to control emissions¹² for dioxins, a group of long-lasting carcinogens, and heavy metals like cadmium and lead. This is why Kiger's first response to hearing that the East Palestine waste would be coming to her hometown was, not here.

KIGER: It makes you feel sick when you're like, OK, not in my backyard. I'm going to NIMBY this. You know, go give it to somebody else.

FRAZIER: Hazardous¹³ waste is incinerated all the time in the U.S. at over 100 facilities. But the East Palestine waste has become a political hot potato. Several states and cities rejected it, but East Liverpool officials didn't. The plant employs 180 people here. The Norfolk Southern waste, totaling more than 35,000 tons so far, presents a difficult problem, says Marco Castaldi, a chemical engineer at the City College of New York.

MARCO CASTALDI: Where are you going to put it? The only two options are into a landfill or into a incinerator.

FRAZIER: Castaldi says a big concern with incinerating the waste is the vinyl chloride in the dirt could turn into dioxins. But if incinerated correctly, the toxins can largely be contained. Castaldi says incinerators are better than landfills because they reduce the amount of hazardous waste by burning chemicals at very high temperatures.

CASTALDI: Any molecule¹⁴, if you heat it up enough, breaks apart into its elements.

FRAZIER: Heritage Thermal said in an email it meets all federal requirements. Ohio regulators say the plant has so far processed over 2,000 tons of East Palestine waste without any violations. Still, the incinerator has been controversial ever since it was built in the 1990s over the protests of local activists¹⁵ like Alonzo Spencer.

ALONZO SPENCER: Years back, we used to have demonstrations¹⁶. We've gone to jail (laughter).

FRAZIER: Spencer and others, including the actor Martin Sheen, protested plans to build the plant in this working-class neighborhood where per-capita income is about half the countywide average. Spencer, now 94, is worried about the Norfolk Southern waste getting incinerated a few hundred feet from his house.

SPENCER: We think our community is in jeopardy¹⁷ of our health. When I say community, I'm talking about the tri-state area - Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

FRAZIER: That's because the plant sits close to where all three states meet. The residents of East Liverpool now Hope Heritage does what it's supposed to and that East Palestine's waste doesn't become their problem, too.

For NPR News, I'm Reid Frazier in East Liverpool, Ohio.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 toxins   

n.毒素( toxin的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The seas have been used as a receptacle for a range of industrial toxins. 海洋成了各种有毒工业废料的大容器。
• Most toxins are naturally excreted from the body. 大部分毒素被自然排出体外。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 plume   

n.羽毛；v.整理羽毛，骚首弄姿，用羽毛装饰

参考例句：

• Her hat was adorned with a plume.她帽子上饰着羽毛。
• He does not plume himself on these achievements.他并不因这些成就而自夸。

5 vapor   

n.蒸汽，雾气

参考例句：

• The cold wind condenses vapor into rain.冷风使水蒸气凝结成雨。
• This new machine sometimes transpires a lot of hot vapor.这部机器有时排出大量的热气。

6 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

7 alley   

n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路

参考例句：

• We live in the same alley.我们住在同一条小巷里。
• The blind alley ended in a brick wall.这条死胡同的尽头是砖墙。

8 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

9 tighten   

v.(使)变紧；(使)绷紧

参考例句：

• Turn the screw to the right to tighten it.向右转动螺钉把它拧紧。
• Some countries tighten monetary policy to avoid inflation.一些国家实行紧缩银根的货币政策，以避免通货膨胀。

10 thermal   

adj.热的，由热造成的；保暖的

参考例句：

• They will build another thermal power station.他们要另外建一座热能发电站。
• Volcanic activity has created thermal springs and boiling mud pools.火山活动产生了温泉和沸腾的泥浆池。

11 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

12 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

13 hazardous   

adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的

参考例句：

• These conditions are very hazardous for shipping.这些情况对航海非常不利。
• Everybody said that it was a hazardous investment.大家都说那是一次危险的投资。

14 molecule   

n.分子，克分子

参考例句：

• A molecule of water is made up of two atoms of hygrogen and one atom of oxygen.一个水分子是由P妈̬f婘̬ 妈̬成的。
• This gives us the structural formula of the molecule.这种方式给出了分子的结构式。

15 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

17 jeopardy   

n.危险；危难

参考例句：

• His foolish behaviour may put his whole future in jeopardy.他愚蠢的行为可能毁了他一生的前程。
• It is precisely at this juncture that the boss finds himself in double jeopardy.恰恰在这个关键时刻，上司发现自己处于进退两难的境地。