Feds see spike in HAZMAT accidents on roads, railroads

June 12th, 2023

This photo taken with a drone shows portions of a Norfolk and Southern freight train that derailed the night before in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

In early February, a train derailment in eastern Ohio sent 38 cars off the track and spilled more than 100,000 gallons of hazardous chemicals, including one that’s linked to cancer.

Federal data now shows these kinds of accidents are not a rarity. Accidents involving transported hazardous materials have become even more common on the same roads people travel on every day. In the last ten years, HAZMAT roadway accidents have risen 155%, according to the Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

“We want to get to zero, and any increase is not where we want to be,” said Deputy Administrator Tristan Brown of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. He also confirmed that there are 1.2 million shipments of hazardous materials every day in the U.S.

Nearly 1,400 hazardous material accidents have happened on Georgia’s roadways over the past decade, while 84 accidents occurred on Georgia railroads.