Baltimore prohibits a harmful water dump in East Palestine

A Baltimore contractor has agreed to relocate the processing of hundreds of thousands of gallons of toxic wastewater from the site of last month's Norfolk Southern train derailment after local officials mounted strong opposition to the disposal plan. Clean Harbors of Baltimore Environmental Services announced on Tuesday morning that approximately 600,000 to 800,000 gallons of water from East Palestine, Ohio would be processed elsewhere. Local officials had only learned on Friday that Norfolk Southern had contracted with Clean Harbors to ship enormous amounts of contaminated water from the derailment site to Baltimore. The water would have been piped into Baltimore's aging, leaky sewer system and from there it would travel to the city's troubled Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant. The EPA has refused to hear any objections, having warned state environmental agencies that blocking Norfolk Southern's hazardous materials from their jurisdictions would be "impermissible" as a violation of the Interstate Commerce Clause of the Constitution.