On Saturday, she plans to pack her bags and move from East Palestine, Ohio, to Kentucky with her family and her three miniature Schnauzers — at least temporarily, Todd said.
“I watched every news conference and I didn’t hear anything that made me think this was a data-driven decision,” Todd, 44, told The Washington Post. “We don’t feel like we have a lot of information.”
After the derailment, federal and local officials repeatedly told residents that the air quality was safe and that the water supply was clean.
But more than a week after a Norfolk Southern train derailed — causing an explosion that sent flames into the air and a cloud of smoke over parts of the village, and led authorities to release a toxic plume — residents told The Post that they have yet to see the full list of chemicals that were on the train when it derailed.
Without much information, residents and experts told The Post they were questioning whether it would be safe to return to their homes a week after contaminants flowed into local streams and spewed into the air. In some waterways, dead fish were found, a state official confirmed in a news briefing, and residents who returned to their homes in neighboring Pennsylvania towns were advised by state officials. to open their windows, turn on the fans and wipe all surfaces with diluted bleach. .
“The biggest question that remains is what, if anything, is being released from the site, first and foremost,” said Peter DeCarlo, a professor of environmental health at Johns Hopkins University. “If there are residual chemical spills, then it still presents a risk for people in the area.”
It was 9 p.m. on Feb. 3 when 50 cars of a 141-car Norfolk Southern train derailed, sparking a massive fire near dangerous chemicals that kept firefighters away for days. The derailment, in which no one was injured, was likely caused by mechanical issues with one of the railroad’s axles, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said.
The incident caused further alarm nearly 48 hours after the crash, when changing conditions in a rail car caused authorities to warn of a possible “big explosion.” Officials on Monday conducted a “controlled release” of vinyl chloride to contain the explosion, and on Wednesday they allowed residents to return.
Some nights, resident Eric Whitining told The Post, the air was like an “over-chlorinated swimming pool” and his eyes burned. He returned to his home the day the authorities lifted the evacuation order. He can’t move his family of five from their home, so he says he has no choice but to stay and follow the authorities’ instructions.
“For a small town, we have to trust them, because what else do we have to do?” Whitining said. “We have to trust that they are not lying to us.”
More than 1,000 people — residents, business owners, and anyone else who may have been harmed by exposure — were affected, an estimated one in four lawsuits filed by Ohio and Pennsylvania residents against the Norfolk Southern.
That lawsuit, filed Wednesday by East Palestine residents Ray and Judith Hall, alleges negligence by Norfolk Southern led to the derailment. Their lawsuit, which seeks money, medical monitoring and more, says the residents were exposed to toxic substances and fumes, incurred expenses due to the evacuation and suffered “extreme emotional distress ” and anxiety.
Norfolk Southern spokesman Michael L. Pucci said the railroad could not comment on the litigation.
Norfolk Southern has set up a “family assistance center” and is compensating residents who fled their homes, though Pucci declined to say how many people are involved or how long the assistance will continue.
The Environmental Protection Agency says the main chemicals involved are vinyl chloride, its byproducts phosgene and hydrogen chloride, butyl acrylate and others. But neither the EPA nor the NTSB has published a complete list of what the train carried.
Asked if Norfolk Southern would release the list, Pucci referred The Post to the NTSB, which is investigating the derailment.
An NTSB spokesman said the list will be part of the agency’s derailment docket, which is usually published months after an incident. EPA spokeswoman Rachel Bassler said the agency has listed the chemicals that “represent the most severe impacts to the community.”
Some experts say the EPA’s air monitoring should be done with more sophisticated devices and that it’s unclear whether the agency has enough data when it tells residents the air is safe.
“In any of these situations, the EPA will monitor using the tools they have, but that doesn’t mean that’s the best way to monitor,” said Johns Hopkins’ DeCarlo. “The handheld monitors used are easy to use, but they often do not have the necessary sensitivity or chemical specificity to detect if there is a risk.”
Judith Enck, former EPA regional administrator, agreed. He said it was “unconscionable” that the EPA had not publicly listed all the chemicals that were on the trains. The agency, he said, should launch a website that displays test results “in a way that the public can easily understand.”
“At the very least, people should know what’s in each train car,” Enck said. “This is the one moment where you need maximum transparency.”
The EPA provided air monitoring data to health agencies before allowing residents to return, said Bassler, the agency spokeswoman. Since the fire was extinguished, air monitoring has not detected any levels of hazardous chemicals, he said.
Nearly 450 homeowners have signed up to screen the air in their homes, an option offered by Norfolk Southern and assisted by the EPA. As of Friday night, 105 homes had been screened and no vinyl chloride or hydrogen chloride had been detected in any of them, Bassler said.
Although vinyl chloride is a carcinogen, its most severe effects are usually documented after long-term or high-volume exposure, according to federal reports.
“Brief exposure to low levels of substances associated with the derailment does not pose a long-term health risk to residents,” Norfolk Southern said in an FAQ sheet for residents.
The question is whether enough contaminants are released to cause higher impacts.
Nate Velez, 31, whose home and business are near the railroad tracks, said his family does not plan to return home. The house still reeked of chemicals, and Velez said his wife, a nurse, “wasn’t taking any chances” with the amount of toxic chemicals that had been sprayed.
“The amount of … chemicals that were spilled and burned just doesn’t go away,” he said. “I don’t believe there is any way to know the full impact until enough time has passed. And that’s not worth the risk. “
Todd and his family drove from East Palestine to Lexington, Ky., on Feb. 5 to take shelter with the family until the authorities consider the town safe for residents to return.
But when that happened, Todd said he’d check it out before even thinking about going back to town.
So on Sunday, Todd and her husband, who had spent the night in a hotel in Salem, Ohio, after returning from Kentucky, drove to her home in East Palestine, wearing masks, to make a review. Her son and her three dogs remain in Lexington, Todd said.
“We are counting on our senses because [officials] didn’t tell us much,” Todd told The Post.
