EPA criticized, protests held in E. Palestine
Trending
EAST PALESTINE -- Calls for transparency from the agencies who responded to and have been overseeing the cleanup of February's Norfolk Southern train derailment continue to mount as residents and lawmakers remain frustrated with the Environmental Protection Agency six months after the rail disaster and intentional chemical release.
Those frustrations boiled over Sunday and Monday and led to back-to-back protests in the village. Residents stood outside the EPA Welcome Center in East Palestine on both days in an effort to draw attention to what they say is lack of information and "gaslighting" from the agency in response to health concerns and reported medical symptoms.
"I want the truth," said Christina Siceloff of Darlington. "I want to know if it's safe to live in my home. I want to know it's safe for my son. I want to know I will be here to raise my son. I just want the EPA to be honest about what we were exposed to and what we may still be exposed to."
Siceloff was one of many residents who pushed back at the EPA's explanation of a fishkill that was discovered in Leslie Run on Aug. 7. East Palestine resident Randy Dehaven filmed the dead fish and what appeared to be a thick chemical sheen on that portion of the creek and posted the video to social media. Both the Ohio and federal EPA investigated the video but blamed a construction project upstream for the fishkill. Both agencies said the material filmed was biological matter and construction debris and said the event was "unlikely" due to the derailment -- directly or indirectly.
Siceloff found that stance almost comical.
"I see it," she said. "I can flip over a rock and it's there. Don't tell me I don't see it."
U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, echoed Siceloff's words during a trip to the village on Monday.
"I was told by some residents last week that the EPA said there was no contamination in Leslie Run. I was just there today and you can see it," Vance said.
In a statement last week, the Ohio EPA "testing of the water in Leslie Run generally shows no indication of chemicals associated with the derailment." Both the state and federal EPA said no samples were taken of the fish nor were any taken of the water or sediment where the fish were found. Though both agencies admit to witnessing sheen on Sulphur and Leslie Runs, the Ohio EPA said the sheen may not be related to the derailment at all while the federal EPA expressed encouragement that conditions in both creeks are improving.
Unity resident Rick Tsai equated the EPA's explanation to the fishkill with that of the agency's explanation to independent test results that found the presence of thiodiglycolic acid (TDGA) or vinyl chloride metabolite in residents' urine samples.
"It's the same thing. There's dead fish in the creek and there's chemicals in the creek but the chemicals didn't kill the fish," he said. "There was vinyl chloride on the train and there's vinyl chloride on your body but it's not from the derailment."
TDGA is the body's major breakdown product of vinyl chloride and a biomarker for exposure as vinyl chloride breaks down in the body rapidly.
Any detection of .50 is considered a reporting level of TDGA. The test is expensive and not offered by the East Palestine Health Clinic. Some residents, who have paid out of pocket for the pricey urinalysis, say they have registered numbers twice the reporting levels and higher but the EPA has repeatedly challenged the validity of the metabolite test, asserting test results can be too easily influenced by other variables such as smoking, consuming alcohol or the introduction of B-12 supplements to the body.
The EPA has encouraged residents who are experiencing health symptoms to visit the East Palestine Clinic, a facility that was fast tracked by Gov. Mike DeWine in April to replace the temporary health assessment clinic that was set up in the days following the rail disaster.
However, residents maintain that the clinic does not offer the tests needed to monitor the health impacts and potential chemical exposures in the wake of the derailment. During an EPA informational session last Thursday, Jessica Conard questioned why residents have still not been granted immediate and easy access to such testing.
"That (East Palestine) Health Clinic doesn't offer any services that my primary physician can't offer," she said. "It doesn't do anything special for the train derailment that my physician wouldn't be able to do. And we still can't get testing for dioxins, vinyl chloride or benzene. I have orders from my physician to do so, but I don't have anywhere to take it."
In a statement, following his visit, Vance wondered the same thing.
"Many residents of East Palestine have told me that the new health clinic in town, stood up to respond to their derailment-related health concerns, has failed to do anything of the sort," he said. "What residents want -- and deserve -- is meaningful health monitoring. If their health is normal, they deserve that peace of mind. If, God forbid, they feel sick, they deserve a diagnosis so they can receive the treatment they need."