Continuing questions linger at Ohio derailment site

Welcome back after a long holiday weekend (for those in the U.S. at least). As you sort your way through emails and messages, I wanted to make sure you didn't miss this story from PN's Frank Esposito on the National Traffic Safety Board hearings in East Palestine, Ohio, last month covering the February derailment of a Norfolk Southern freight train.

Frank's story focused on the dispute between Oxy Vinyls LP — whose vinyl chloride monomer, a PVC feedstock, was burned off at the derailment site — and emergency and rail officials who decided the best option was to release it following the derailment.

At the time, officials on the ground said the release was to prevent a possible explosion by the overheated material. But Oxy officials maintain that they told the emergency responders that the VCM wasn't at risk.

"We did not participate in or recommend the decision on the burnoff," Paul Thomas, vice president of health, environment, safety and security with Dallas-based Oxy, told the hearing.

Frank also spoke with one of the families impacted by the derailment and VCM release.

Jessica Conard is a lifelong resident of East Palestine who lives there with her husband and three sons. Their home is about 2 miles from the derailment site. Since the derailment, one her sons has been diagnosed with asthma and she's seen friends with a variety of medical issues.

Conard points to a "patchwork" response from the railroad and government officials for the continuing confusion on the ground from people who live there.

"I never thought I'd be a self-taught expert on the polymerization of vinyl chloride," she told Frank.

Also from last week, our data specialist Hollee Keller wrapped up our annual ranking of injection molders by looking at the "little" companies in her All Things Data blog.

As she notes, these companies make up the biggest grouping of processors tracked by PN and represent 700 plant locations across North America. They also collectively saw more than $9 billion in sales.

Hollee was able to add 20 more companies to the rankings that covered 2022 and noted that only five companies from 2021's list quietly closed, "much fewer than previous booming years have seen."

Maybe you spent part of the holiday weekend on a golf course. Maybe your summer ahead includes more golf games. Maybe you need a little help with your game. A major golf club maker thinks maybe plastics can be that help, our sister paper Urethanes Technology International writes.

Topgolf Callaway Brands just launched the sale of its Callaway CB Wedge made with urethane microspheres directly behind the striking area of the club. It says the "pocket" of urethane "flattens under pressure, and the resulting compression allows it to absorb undesirable vibrations at impact." The technology previously was used in Callaway irons.

The system is more forgiving, the company says. It just went on sale at the start of July.