Ohio leads the country in hazardous material transportation accidents, according to a four-month Enquirer investigation. Indiana and Kentucky also are in the top 12 states for hazmat spills.

More than a quarter of Ohio's overall incidents occurred in Greater Cincinnati. Our area experienced a hazmat spill every day on average in 2013.

The Enquirer analysis shows there have been about 5,550 hazardous waste incidents in Southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky over the last 10 years. After a significant dropoff caused by the shutdown of DHL's hub in Wilmington and the recession, incidents have risen over the last three years, the data shows.

In the last decade, the local incidents include 169 major spills, 94 evacuations, 16 injuries and two fatalities.

Those numbers aren't overwhelming, yet experts and first responders worry that the region is overdue for a major hazmat spill – one that could affect hundreds of people, if not more. And nobody's doing much to prevent the next big mishap, here or nationally, the experts say.

"I hate to say it comes down to money, but ... agencies only do what they absolutely need to do, and any future plans go out the window," said Michael Rodgers, a Georgia Tech engineering professor who is deputy director of the school's National Center for Transportation Systems, Productivity and Management.

More hazardous material being transported on the nation's aging transportation infrastructure "is just a recipe for disaster," said David Cassuto, an environmental law professor at Pace University in New York City. "It's not a question of if it will happen, but when and how bad."

"We are at our capacity on the highways and in many ways on the railroads as well," said Richard R. Young, a professor of supply chain management for Penn State University-Harrisburg. "This has meant a perfect storm for potential accidents."

Rising shipments by rail and truck of highly explosive crude oil pulled from shale oil fields are one example of how the rising risks of hazmat spills are spurring little action.

A train carrying shale oil exploded in Quebec last July, killing 47 and essentially leveling an entire town. In reaction to this and other train-related crude-oil incidents, the National Transportation Safety Board in January recommended the Federal Railroad Administration audit all shippers and railroads to "ensure they are properly classifying hazardous materials in transportation and that they have adequate safety and security plans in place."

The NTSB has no enforcement power, though, and the rail administration has yet to order such a review.

"The regulatory environment has become primarily reactionary.... They only act after a disaster happens," said Cassuto. "There is no real effort anymore to lower the risk as close to zero as possible."

Truckers and railways aren't even required to notify communities when dangerous materials are about to ship through a town. "People really don't realize how much of this stuff actually is on our roads, and how dangerous it can be," said University of Cincinnati environmental health professor Andrew Maier.

Keep in mind, nearly one in seven Americans, or more than 48 million people, live within 300 feet of a major highway, railroad or airport, so transport of hazardous materials potentially affects people not just where they travel but where they live.

The Enquirer analysis shows most of the local incidents involve relatively minor spills, and many are just fuel leaks from the gas tanks of semis during a regular accident. But serious incidents also climbed over the last three years nationally, statewide and regionally, according to the analysis of data from the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA).

Kentucky has the second-highest number of air transit accidents; the state is home to the DHL hub at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport and the main UPS air hub in Louisville.

'That's not smoke ... that's a chemical'

One hot August day in late 2005, a Cincinnati police dispatcher drove through a white mist on her way to work in the East End, and immediately her eyes watered and her throat burned.

Calling 911, she was told that someone else had reported a rail tank car on fire.

"That's not smoke," Karen Bentley told The Enquirer shortly after the incident. "That's a chemical."

A massive scramble ensued, eventually resulting in hundreds of evacuations and millions of dollars in lawsuits. Hazmat teams contained the dangerous white plume after two days of worry that the 30,000-gallon tank car could explode under pressure. The car had been left on a siding over the summer unattended for more than five months, leading the styrene inside to heat and eventually to leak out.

Nine years later, the styrene train car leak stands as perhaps the most well-known hazmat release in the region over the last 40 years.

Train companies do provide a list of the top 20 or so dangerous chemicals that might come through on any given day to what is called a local emergency planning committee. But those lists are not made public due to security and anti-terrorism concerns.

Cincinnati Fire Department District Chief Thomas Lakamp, who oversees the city's hazmat response team, said he currently doesn't have the resources to manage specific information of every major hazmat shipment through the area.

"I would like some more advance warning, but I could in no way handle knowing every single shipment," he said.

Why do Ohio, region have so many mishaps?

One reason that Ohio and Cincinnati see so many hazardous material shipments is because of the Ohio River. "There are only a few places where you can cross the river, and you throw Interstate 75 into the mix and you've got a huge potential disaster there," said Rodgers, who lives part of the time in Terrace Park.

Ohio ranks eighth nationally when it comes to the number of highway miles, and Greater Cincinnati has long been viewed as a key location for logistics and distribution centers with the East Coast, South and Midwest easily reachable.

Ohio also has the third-highest number of railroad miles among U.S. states, and has the sixth-highest number of railroad companies operating within the state, including CSX.

Finally, the area is not only a rail and highway hub, but also a major air freight center. The regional hazmat figures include accidents at the now-defunct air hub in Wilmington and an international air freight hub at CVG currently operated by DHL.

Since DHL has resumed operations at CVG, the airport has seen its share of significant incidents, including several accidents involving injuries. Those were handled internally by DHL, according to airport officials. CVG officials declined to be interviewed but said in an email statement that they respond to every hazmat situation at the airport. They said they work with carriers to determine what needs to be done to control the leak or treat any injured. Most times, that means carriers such as DHL handle entire incidents internally.

DHL said it meets all road and air regulations and that the shipper is prepared to handle most spills.

The location with the second highest number of incidents includes parts of Springdale, Sharonville and West Chester. The area contains the intersection of I-75 and I-275 as well as a major train yard operated by Norfolk Southern.

Two crashes show potential for disaster

Two local fatal truck crashes show how things could have been worse had they occurred differently.

The first occurred on a rainy night in October 2007, when driver Charles Osborne lost control of his tractor-trailer carrying a full trailer-load of paint and paint thinner at the ramp from Interstate 471 to Third Street Downtown at about 2:30 a.m. The truck flipped over the embankment and fell 30 feet on its back, spilling its contents below. Osborne, 53, of Bagdad, Kentucky, was killed instantly.

Osborne's family and former employers at Yellow Freight did not return messages or declined to comment.

While he wasn't on the scene, Cincinnati Police Lt. Bruce Hoffbauer said that, had Osborne been carrying something even more toxic or had the accident happened during rush hour, the crash could have been even more costly.

"We have been lucky to date not to have a major incident," said Hoffbauer, who oversees CPD's traffic unit. "I'll take luck though ... We just plan for the worst and hope for the best."

Two years later, another truck crashed early in the morning, this one carrying nearly 11,000 gallons of gasoline. An SUV driven by Thomas Johnson ran a red light and crashed into the truck on Ohio 32 in Union Township at nearly 2 a.m. in September 2008, ejecting passenger Alexandria Dierker, 19. She later died due to her injuries. The gas-carrying semi flipped over, but somehow neither driver was seriously hurt, and the 80 gallons of gasoline that was spilled did not ignite, keeping the cargo safe.

Another of Johnson's passengers, Lee James MacInnis, was also treated at the scene for a minor head injury. But MacInnis' mother, Beverly Mills, says her son went into depression and exhibited erratic behavior following a head injury from the crash. MacInnis is now in prison at the Lebanon Correctional Institution, serving a seven-year term for aggravated robbery, according to state prison records.

"That accident caused a lot of issues for a lot of people," Mills said.

Could more notice, different rules help?

Experts say that the federal government's patchwork approach to hazmat regulation plays a part in slowing safety improvements. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration sets hazmat transit regulations, but other agencies primarily enforce them.

"It certainly does not make it easier," especially if the agencies do not interact well, said Penn State's Young, who also has served as an executive with both a major chemical company and railroad.

Joe Delcambre, a spokesman for the hazardous material administration, acknowledged "there is always room for improvement when it comes to safety," but he said the interagency arrangement "has worked well."

Meanwhile, industrial production is expanding, and more of these chemicals are needed. That means shipments continue to grow while highway and rail capacity do not, said New Jersey-based hazmat transportation safety consultant Scott L. Turner.

"Sometime in the next month, somewhere in Ohio or maybe in Cincinnati, one of those shipments is going to tip over or derail."

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