How the EPA and Norfolk Southern are attempting to sweep East Palestine under the rug

Originally published on The Heartland Beat.

It has been a month since the East Palestine chemical disaster and since that time the EPA has been conducting extensive cleanup efforts, just not in East Palestine. With the majority of media outlets and political opportunists now flooding the area, the EPA has been on a clean sweep to brush the actual dangers under the rug and sterilize their image surrounding this catastrophe.

Since the beginning of this disaster, The Heartland Beat has been monitoring the fallout. Our first piece covering the major issues pertaining to the chemical spill can be found here.

Within that piece, a study was linked from the U.S. EPA website documenting the air quality test that had been completed by Tetra Tech not long after the chemical burn. Among the major concerns from the document were the noted elevated levels of several chemical compounds. The study found the air was contaminated with nine times higher than the “normal” levels of acrolein, two times above normal levels of benzene and 23 times above the normal levels of ethylbenzene.

It was noted in the previous article that the study failed to look for phosgene gas, a known compound resulting from the controlled burn of vinyl chloride. It was also noted that the company conducting the test, Tetra Tech, has a sordid history with accurate reporting after environmental chemical contaminations.

Prior to publication of that piece, The Heartland Beat reached out to the U.S. EPA to inquire on if they felt these elevated levels were of concern to the residents, why they did not search for phosgene and how the residents could feel comfortable with the results of any test conducted by companies with such a dubious history with honesty. While the EPA did not respond to that inquiry, the study has since been taken down from their website. Perhaps coincidently, multiple CTEH scientists, another firm involved in the testing and communications for the incident, have died in a plane crash out of Hillary Clinton Airport.

While there are always alternative explanations for occurrences like these, taken together with the totality of willful ignorance the EPA has exercised relating to this disaster and the long-term consequences of it, one must wonder how long ago the line of intent was crossed.

One of the first lines of inquiry The Heartland Beat pursued with the U.S. EPA pertained to who was directing the operations in the region after the derailment. Puppets Officials from various levels of the current administration claimed that the U.S. EPA, in this case Region 5, had boots on the ground in the area directing and organizing cleanup efforts mere hours after the derailment. Despite this, the EPA has not responded to multiple inquiries, from various avenues, to state who the onsite coordinator of this operation was. The significance of this person’s identity is multifaceted. One of the main concerns pertains to who designed the plan to burn off the chemicals in the train car that was heating up. Additionally, who decided to drain and burn the remaining train cars that were not of concern for explosion and what other considerations were made in the 48+ hours between the derailment and the actual mobilization of thermite and road flares that punctuated one of the greatest environmental disaster in midwestern history.

When asked, the U.S. EPA deferred any further questions pertaining to those plans to Norfolk Southern, who promptly provided a canned response.

Why It Is Important:

In a now viral video circulating the web, one environmental expert explains that despite media terminology circulating right now, East Palestine was not a controlled burn. Those in charge of the operation, whoever they may be, did not control for environmental factors and oxygen saturation meaning the burn-off was off the rails. The impact of this is that the chemicals burned did not completely combust, leading to the creation of extremely volatile dioxins, as well as other potentially unknown compounds, entering the air and subsequently the ground and water of a wider area than previously imagined.

As early as the 1990’s, the EPA had recognized dioxins as one of the most lethal and toxic chemical compounds in existence. Dioxins comprised a massive role in the hazards of agent orange in Vietnam and led to generational birth defects and malformities. When previous spills of the compounds have occurred, governors would order quarantines of entire towns that are still empty to this day. Much like PFAS contained in our food and water, these compounds are long lasting, with a half-life of over 100 years. As outlets have previously reported, these compounds are incredibly stable and can spread thousands of miles. These compounds are so widely recognized as lethal and dangerous that not even nuclear waste disposal facilities will store them.

Knowing all of this information, the EPA has begun extensive testing of the ground and water for dioxins completely evaded questions as to why they are not testing for these compounds either near the crash site or in the direct wind path of the plume they helped create. As we previously reported, prevailing wind patterns were blowing northwest all night during the uncontrolled burn and only shifted north to east by 9:00 a.m. the following day. At that current trajectory, the major areas affected could have stretched all the way through Geauga and Lake County. Despite this, county emergency management agencies outside that stipulated one-mile radius of the actual crash are not interested in testing for dioxins or any other compounds of concern as a result of this far reaching plume. Inquiries into their lack of effort gets referred to the Ohio EPA, who will then refer concerned citizens to the U.S. EPA and the U.S. EPA will simply send you fluff press releases on how they continue to test homes for everything except the compounds of concern.

As predicted by everyone following this incident that isn’t the EPA, the affected area is far greater than the one-mile radius the EPA was focused on. In East Palestine and across multiple regions, residents are reporting symptoms and diagnoses of chemical exposures including rashes, chemical taste in their mouths, headaches and the death of their animals. As experts have stated, if you can smell it, you are already exposed. Despite this, residents are still being told in town hall meetings by EPA sanctioned doctors that if they have symptoms they can put their number on a list and someone will call them to help them find a diagnosis. There is no discussion of consequences for those responsible for this act. No disclosure of names for who was in the know.

The EPA is not revealing the information pertaining to tests that they should have completed, such as an 8260 and 8270 for volatile and semi volatile organic compounds. Instead they are touting the test results of contracted companies like CTEH or Tetra Tech which are not looking for compounds of concern and do not specify exact values of the compounds that show up positive in samples. One does need to ask the question on if the statement to residents giving them the all clear to return home was more about getting trains back moving than it was pertaining to their actual safety. At this point, such questions may be rhetorical.

According to Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, the operation was completely run by Norfolk Southern who provided inaccurate modeling and did not consult neighboring states and communities of their operation, deciding to conduct the burn independent of other entities or agencies with the permission of the Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and completely ignoring alternative solutions. If we are to believe that the U.S. EPA had boots on the ground during this event, what were they doing if not coordinating the effort themselves? Were they deferring all action to the company that created the disaster? Were they voicing concerns over how the burn was being conducted or communicating their well-documented knowledge of the threat of a massive dioxin plume spreading across multiple states and parts of Canada? The onsite coordinator from U.S. EPA Region 5 whose name the EPA will not disclose would know. The confirmation of any suspicions over how captured this agency truly is rests in the FOIA-requestable emails, text messages and communications between this individual and Norfolk Southern. Until we can learn his name, the truth will be buried in a grave as shallow as the pools of vinyl chloride resting just beneath the newly constructed tracks in East Palestine.

That dam is breaking though, or has broken. Among the myriad of half-assed cleanup attempts Norfolk Southern has been attempting to ship out the contaminated soil and water to holding facilities in other states. When those states were made aware of the shipment of said waste, they immediately refused to take the extremely toxic refuge and Norfolk Southern has simply been content to dig a hole and construct a makeshift dam to hold in the chemically saturated waste products until it could be sent to injection wells where it will be buried again. This pit has now begun to flood over due to inclement weather, sending weeks of collected toxic sludge spilling back out into the soil.

This is not to say that Norfolk Southern has not been busy with other aspects of “cleaning” the area. With no states willing to take toxic waste, In the dark of night, Norfolk Southern has been busy burning off the contaminated waste from the wreckage.

Thankfully the EPA is on the case, asking the perpetrators of this event to conduct their own testing to determine if there is anything worse than what they originally reported. Researchers not under the EPA or Norfolk Southern expect groundwater contamination to not fully take root for another few months, but in the mean time, the air is still saturated with hazardous compounds and there has still been no accountability for those involved.

As we are quickly learning, East Palestine is not unique. This event could happen anywhere. We should ask ourselves how long we are willing to tolerate such egregious abuse from corporations and insular shielding from tax-payer funded organizations like the EPA. Many residents are still uncertain and concerned about returning to their homes and with the looming threat of poisoned wells still hanging heavy in the near future, there needs to be justice brought to those responsible. After all, there is only so much cinnamon can do.