While the world’s attention has been focused on Israel and Hamas, I thought it might be worthwhile checking in on the situation in East Palestine, Ohio. Legal Insurrection readers will recall that it was the site of a train derailment involving tanks filled with reactive and flammable substances.
The responders attempted to do a control burn of the material, which released a toxic plume of material and resulted in serious chemical contamination of the area. Air and water quality was adversely impacted throughout the region. One hazardous material experts stated, “We basically nuked a town with chemicals so we could get a railroad open.”
Now, eight months later, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced the completion of significant cleanup activities.
This weekend, the final truckload of impacted soil will be removed from the derailment zone. Moments before Norfolk Southern’s statement, the EPA — alongside village Mayor Trent Conaway — had an update of its own on the progress the work is having on the community nine months later.A statement Thursday afternoon from Norfolk Southern said “soil excavation is set to be completed … marking a significant environmental remediation milestone.”The land behind Leake Oil in East Palestine hasn’t been the same since Feb. 3. From the train derailment to the ongoing cleanup process, the public has never been allowed close to the site. But as Taggart Street has reopened and the work to remove contaminated soil from the site is almost finished, the EPA and Conaway felt it was time.“Because from here, you can get a view of the entire site and see up close the last area where hazardous waste was excavated,” said EPA administrator Debra Shore.
However, there will still be some follow-up activity and testing.
Officials with both the state and federal Environmental Protection Agencies will still oversee the remaining cleanup work, which includes backfilling in excavated areas and assessing chemical contamination in the area’s creeks. Residents post pictures regularly of a chemical sheen on water in the streams anytime the creekbed is disturbed.Regional EPA administrator Debra Shore promised that her agency will make sure all the contamination is gone before signing off on the cleanup….Regular testing of the air and water will still take place too. Officials have said those tests consistently showed it’s safe although many residents remain uneasy.
The EPA is facing criticism for its response to the East Palestine train derailment, including from the agency’s own inspector general, as well as a leading environmental scientist.
A report by Stephen Lester, science director at the Center for Health Environment and Justice, found the EPA’s sampling for dioxin was “highly unusual and very subjective, and did not follow standard procedures for investigating contaminated sites.””The EPA is not responding to this in a way that makes any sense. It tells me that EPA may have a different agenda than to really investigate what’s happened at East Palestine and do the kind of testing that will answer questions,” Lester said.A separate report by the EPA inspector general found “multiple instances of inconsistencies in the air monitoring and sampling data on the EPA’s East Palestine website.””While minor when taken individually, these inconsistencies could, when taken together, erode public trust in the data communicated,” the inspector general report said.
Meanwhile, a government whistleblower-protecting watchdog group made another attempt to obtain the EPA’s records concerning dioxin testing in the wake of the train derailment through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
The Government Accountability Project made a second request to the EPA Monday, asking for expedited processing of information regarding dioxins and other chemicals of concern from the East Palestine derailment in fulfilling an original request for the information. The original request was made in September.In a press release, the Government Accountability Project, which was formed in 1977 by the Institute for Policy Studies to “empower whistleblowers, hold the powerful accountable and advocate for change, stated that the group’s environmental investigator Lesley Pacy visited the village last month and experienced herself the same medical symptoms residents have reported.
Finally, the wait for the Biden visit to East Palestine (the site of a massive regional disaster) continues.
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