EPA: Derailment not a health emergency
The aftermath of last year’s fiery train derailment in eastern Ohio doesn’t qualify as a public health emergency because widespread health problems and ongoing chemical exposures haven’t been documented, federal officials said.
The Environmental Protection Agency never approved that designation after the February 2023 Norfolk Southern derailment even though the disaster forced the evacuation of half the town of East Palestine and generated many fears about potential long-term health consequences of the chemicals that spilled and burned. The contamination concerns were exacerbated by the decision to blow open five tank cars filled with vinyl chloride and burn that toxic chemical three days after the derailment.
The topic of a public health emergency came up in emails obtained by the Government Accountability Project watchdog group through a public records request. But EPA Response Coordinator Mark Durno said the label, which the agency has only used once before in Libby, Mont. — where hundreds of people died and thousands were sickened from widespread asbestos exposure — doesn’t fit East Palestine even though some residents still complain about respiratory problems and unexplained rashes. Officials also believed the agency had enough authority to respond to the derailment without declaring an emergency.
Durno said the reason a public health emergency isn’t being considered is that “we have not had any environmental data” about ongoing chemical exposures in the extensive air, water and soil testing program.
The EPA said in a statement that the order it did issue telling Norfolk
Southern it was responsible for the damage declared that “the conditions at the derailment site ‘may constitute an imminent and substantial endangerment to the public health or welfare or the environment.’ ” So the agency said it didn’t see a need for a public health emergency because it had the legal authority it needed to respond.
But area residents like Jami Wallace see plenty of evidence that their hometown has become a disaster every time they open Facebook and see posts about their friends’ kids covered with rashes or struggling with chronic nosebleeds.