FILE - A Environmental Protection Agency worker works in Leslie Run in East Palestine, Ohio, June 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

EAST PALESTINE — The Government Accountability Project, a watchdog group based in Washington, D.C., continues to hold the feet of Norfolk Southern and the federal Environmental Protection Agency to the fire for what the GAP has repeatedly called a fumbled response to the 2023 train derailment and one of the biggest chemical releases in U.S. history.

In its latest charge, GAP accuses the EPA of manipulating the scope of dioxin contamination in the village, citing an EPA letter dated one month after the derailment recently obtained by the group through a Freedom of Information Act request. According to the GAP, the letter proves the EPA directed Norfolk Southern to remove certain derailment chemicals from its sampling list and to collect more baseline soil samples — meant to reflect pre-derailment dioxin levels — at locations heavily exposed to the initial fire and the vent-and-burn of vinyl chloride.

“It is widely known that baseline samples must come from unpolluted areas to ensure an accurate measurement of normal environmental conditions,” the GAP stated in an emailed statement. “Otherwise, the ‘baseline’ is meaningless, making it impossible to meaningfully evaluate the presence, concentration, or danger of contaminants and chemical detections above, at or below normal levels.”

The U.S. EPA, which was under the direction of the Biden Administration when the letter was sent from East Palestine Lead EPA Incident Commander Ralph Dollhopf to a Houston-based environmental project management and consulting firm as well as Norfolk Southern legal counsel but is now directed by President Donald Trump, deviated from its standard practice of defending its East Palestine response decisions when asked for a comment on the latest GAP charge. A Region 5 EPA spokesperson told the (Lisbon) Morning Journal via email that the agency now plans to thoroughly investigate those decisions.

“We are very concerned by claims that have come to light over the past few months,” the EPA said. “The Trump Administration is committed to maximum transparency and as such we intend to conduct a thorough review of decisions made in the aftermath of the train derailment. We will work to ensure the health and safety of the people of East Palestine.”

Environmental Protection Agency workers survey Leslie Run in East Palestine, Ohio on Wednesday, June 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

The claim of the EPA covering up the full scope of the derailment contamination comes on the heels of a report last month that accused the Biden Administration of not disclosing health risks – chief among them “cancer clusters” – those exposed to the derailment chemicals face. The Trump Administration slammed the previous one for “another outrageous example of the gross mismanagement and poor treatment of Americans” when the GAP released internal Federal Emergency Management Emergency Agency (FEMA) emails in June that discussed the very-real impact of the derailment on public health.

As for the GAP’s most-recent accusation, the group said the EPA and Norfolk Southern failed to consider wind direction or acknowledged the winds changed near the time of the vent-and-burn, meaning deposits from the plume likely fell where baseline samples were taken.

The GAP insists the letter proves what whistleblowers, scientists and experts have been saying for over two years — the testing to determine the true extent of contamination following the derailment was at best inaccurate and at worst intentionally distorted.

“EPA’s soil sampling strategy was never about finding the truth. It was about negligently allowing flawed testing to support the false and deceptive Norfolk Southern narrative,” said GAP Senior Environmental Officer Leslie Pacey. “Because EPA ignored reverse wind patterns on the day of the vent and burn, the entire evacuation plan and soil sampling plan appears to be invalid, putting residents in harm’s way during the illegal open burn and concealing the full extent of dioxin contamination in East Palestine. This is smoking gun proof that EPA deceived the public by allowing Norfolk Southern to move the goal posts.”