Years Later, Will Vance Get to the Bottom of East Palestine Derailment Concerns?

Vice President JD Vance and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin are looking to get to the bottom of health and environmental concerns resulting from the Norfolk Southern freight train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, now more than three and a half years ago.

It’s an effort that Jami Wallace, a resident of East Palestine, told the Daily Signal she is appreciative of for providing “validation,” though she has “zero trust in the government and zero expectations,” even as she pleaded for “action at this point.”

Vance and Zeldin wrote a letter to Nicole N. Murley, the acting inspector general of the EPA. The letter begins by calling for “a comprehensive, independent investigation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) into the coordinated response to the February 3, 2023, Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.”

“The response to the derailment, subsequent controlled release and combustion of hazardous materials, environmental contamination, and prolonged concerns regarding air, soil, water, and public health warrant continued scrutiny and oversight to ensure appropriate accountability and inform future actions,” the letter said. “Documents recently made public underscore our concerns.”

Those “recently made public” documents and how they had been hidden from residents before, as well as the effect on settlements, were top-of-mind issues for Wallace. While “everyone thinks we were taken care of” with that $610 million settlement, she told the Daily Signal, the carcinogen testing results from Stephen Perry, an exposure-warnings expert and industrial hygienist hired by the class-action settlement attorneys, were kept hidden.

TRENDING ARTICLES

news

FBI Followed Catholic Priests, Continued Richmond Memo Work After Removal Order: DOJ Report Finds

Tyler O’Neil

opinion

Victor Davis Hanson: The Radical Left Wants to Destroy America and Rebuild It

Victor Davis Hanson

opinion

The WNBA Became a DEI Circus—Now Caitlin Clark Could Pull the Plug

Victor Davis Hanson

She also lamented that residents meanwhile “settled for pennies.”

NewsNation shared the report last week on Perry’s findings for 2023. The levels of carcinogens found were “above screening levels [for cancer], which means you can’t walk away from it,” Perry told the outlet. What he found included elevated levels of dioxins and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

“Somewhere between 50% and 70% of the data points, whether they be for dioxins or PAHs, exceeded screening levels,” he said. “You have to do something. You have to do further analysis to see what needs to be done from a remediation standpoint. And you also have to do further analysis to determine what it means for people in that environment,” adding, “There is a problem here.”

Wallace explained her major takeaway from the derailment and how it was handled. “The biggest thing that this has taken away from me is my perception of reality,” she said. “Had I heard myself talking before the derailment about EPA cover-ups and the government being owned by the railroad … I would say, get this crazy lady away from me.”

She recalled how she told her husband they’d return home once the evacuation was lifted. “If the EPA says it’s fine, it’s fine,” Wallace had told him. She no longer has that trust.

“I go in my driveway. I can’t breathe, my skin’s turning red. My mouth is numb. I look over at the creek that flows about ten steps from my front door, and I can just see chemicals free flowing down the creek. At that point, I didn’t need to be a scientist, and I knew the EPA was lying,” she continued.

Vance and Zeldin’s letter went on to draw a contrast between the second Trump administration and the Biden-Harris administration, as did a press release from the EPA.

“The people of East Palestine deserve certainty about their health and the safety of their community. They did not get it from the Biden EPA. The Trump EPA is committed to correcting the mistakes of the past administration. We have done everything in our power since day one to protect human health and the environment in East Palestine, and that work will continue, guided by our commitment to gold-standard science,” Zeldin said.

The letter also called for “corrective actions.”

“If the review identifies shortcomings, EPA will consider appropriate corrective actions that are warranted, including changes to emergency-response procedures, environmental monitoring, or interagency coordination to reduce the possibility of similar problems in the future,” it read.

The EPA Office of Inspector General told the Daily Signal that it is reviewing the matter.

“We received the referral and are reviewing it. We encourage anyone with information regarding potential wrongdoing related to EPA operations to report it to our OIG Hotline,” said Director of External Outreach & Communications Kim Wheeler.

Last week, the Government Accountability Project released documents related to the derailment response obtained by the organization as part of a Freedom of Information Act request.

On Monday, the organization welcomed the letter from Vance and Zeldin but insisted that the investigation “cannot be the last step for closure” for residents.

Wallace repeatedly spoke about health problems with the community, of those with cancer, and how she’s particularly concerns for residents who may lack insurance coverage.

Her own health issues include diagnoses of hypothyroidism and asthma, as well as a cough, low activity in the memory section of her brain, and a cyst in her right ovary that may result in a hysterectomy. Additionally, she experiences symptoms such as pain and tingling in her feet and chronic fatigue, symptoms that Wallace said “are known to be caused by chemicals.”

Vance had just started serving in the U.S. Senate from Ohio when the train derailment took place on Feb. 3, 2023. Along with then-Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, he introduced the bipartisan Railway Safety Act in March 2023 to mandate stricter safety requirements for trains carrying hazardous materials.

That Vance is from Ohio, Wallace said, plays a role in her having faith, though there’s a caveat.

“If nothing comes out of this letter that Lee Zeldin and JD Vance wrote, it’s at least validation to some of us that something is wrong. I’m very hopeful that something does come out of it. I always had faith in JD Vance because he is from our area. But at this point, I have zero trust in the government and zero expectations,” she shared. While she reminded that she is hopeful, Wallace stressed that “we really need action at this point.”

“I don’t think we’re ever going to be able to ban the chemicals,” Wallace concluded, “but what we can do is make sure that the people that live trackside, live near anywhere that produces, manufactures, or stores these chemicals as safe as they can possibly be.”