EPA Dragged Its Feet On Investigating Chemical Risk From Ohio Train Derailment, Emails Show

The Environmental Protection Agency waited a month to consult some of its top experts about the risk of dangerous chemical exposure around East Palestine, Ohio, following the fiery derailment of a Norfolk Southern train hauling toxic materials, internal emails show.

That delay left at least two EPA scientists surprised and concerned. And it occurred while the agency was deferring to the railroad giant and its web of contractors to spearhead environmental testing, including crafting protocols for sampling soil, water and air for chemicals — a move many saw as a glaring conflict of interest.

The Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine on Feb. 3 while hauling toxic and flammable materials, including hundreds of thousands of pounds of vinyl chloride, a common organic chemical used in the production of plastics and that’s been linked to several types of cancer.

EPA officials confirmed to HuffPost that the agency did not direct and was not consulted about the so-called “controlled burn.” They said EPA’s role at that time was to “coordinate and conduct air monitoring from outside the evacuation area,” yet acknowledged the agency never considered monitoring for dioxins, a family of extremely toxic compounds that can form when chlorinated chemicals like vinyl chloride combust.

Enck and Stephen Lester, a toxicologist and the science director for the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, who both reviewed the emails and have closely followed the response in East Palestine, accused the agency of misjudging the dioxin risk and failing to uphold its mission to protect public health.

“Virtually every step of this process they’ve done it wrong,” Lester said. “I’ve been doing this for more than 40 years. I’ve seen EPA’s work at hundreds of sites around this country, contaminated sites, and this is as bad as I’ve ever seen them be. And that is shocking to me.”