EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — A multi-million dollar manufacturing business located at the center of the East Palestine train derailment is planning to close for good and said it can't afford to relocate. The EPA and Norfolk Southern have since moved in and are using the facility’s parking lot as cleanup headquarters.
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“It’s a nightmare, and we are still living in the nightmare, and I don't know when we can get out of this,” said Edwin Wang, Owner of WYG Refractories.
Wang moved his businesses to East Palestine from New Jersey four years ago. CeramSource, located off North James St., makes carbon bricks for steel factories. His other business, CeramFab, manufactures ceramic installation materials. It’s located right down the street from where the Norfolk Southern train derailed on Feb. 3. Since the train derailment, Wang said his businesses have derailed, too, especially CreamFab.
“Everyone knows this is a disaster area, and they do not feel secure to do business with us in the future,” Wang said. “I’m not sure how to get the business back.”
Wang said his employees returned to work Monday, Feb. 6, following the controlled release of vinyl chloride, but Operation Manager Howard Yang said employees started to feel ill.
“Bad, a lot of coughing, headaches, nosebleeds, and we sent them to the ER right away,” said Yang. “They were diagnosed with chemical bronchitis.”
Since then, Wang has stopped operations at CeramSource and CeramFab until the EPA says it's officially safe to return. The EPA is also currently using CeramFab's parking lot for contaminated soil cleanup, which Wang said he agreed to. Wang's 30 employees are now receiving lost wages compensation from Norfolk Southern.
“We are out of money, we are out of time, we are out of the labor to continue our manufacturing,” Wang said.
Before the derailment, Wang invested over $20 million in renovation costs for the CeramFab building. Wang feels that renovation was now a waste. He thinks he can relocate one business, but not both.
“At least we can save the wholesale business by relocation, but the manufacturing is beyond our ability,” Wang said.
Wang wants to be compensated for his business's losses from the derailment.
“Everything,” said Wang. “They really should, but right now, I don’t know. It’s in the hands of my lawyer and my lawyer is dealing with Norfolk Southern. I want everything back. I want my space back, I want to run my business, I want to create jobs, and I want to fulfill the orders for our customers. Realistically speaking, it’s impossible right now based on the current situation.”
In the Ohio EPA’s latest update, cleanup will continue for weeks until it's completed.
News 5 reached out to Norfolk Southern regarding Wang's facility, Ceramfab, and they told us, in part: "The site is being fully remediated in accordance with the company's long-term plan with the Ohio and U.S EPA, but we remain committed to working safely and with urgency”.
To date, Norfolk Southern said it has excavated more than 37,000 tons of soil and 14.8 million gallons of liquid for disposal.
