EPA Watchdog Launches Probe Into East Palestine Derailed Train Response

The Environmental Protection Agency’s handling of the 2023 East Palestine train derailment is under formal review. The agency’s Inspector General announced the investigation on Tuesday. The probe will assess how the EPA responded to the accident and the subsequent health and environmental issues that have persisted.

The inquiry follows pressure from local residents and Vice President JD Vance. The derailment occurred in February 2023 when a Norfolk Southern train left the tracks due to a failed bearing. Chemicals spilled and caught fire. Three days later, officials decided to vent and burn vinyl chloride from five rail cars. The National Transportation Safety Board later determined that the venting was unnecessary, though emergency responders feared an explosion at the time.

The Inspector General’s office will determine if the EPA met its responsibilities. It will also review whether the agency had enough data to support its public claims that residents were safe to return home. Experts have questioned if the EPA’s shared data obscured risks. Current health standards often measure exposure to single chemicals, not the mixture found in East Palestine.

Jami Wallace, an East Palestine resident, said she expected to cry when she heard of the probe. She has tracked more than 80 people in the area who developed cancer since the accident. Wallace stated, “It’s like we’ve had to push them along the way for every single thing they did, and then they didn’t even do it right.” She added, “We’re not going to stop when you poison our kids.”

Norfolk Southern reached a $600 million class action settlement with residents. However, the funds remain largely tied up in court disputes over the initial settlement administrator. A group of residents has sued the attorneys, alleging they were pressured into signing the deal. A separate federal settlement involving a $15 million fine for the railroad and $55 million for medical exams and groundwater testing has awaited judicial approval for more than two years.

Norfolk Southern is currently seeking to merge with Union Pacific. The $85 billion deal aims to create the nation's first transcontinental railroad. The Surface Transportation Board is conducting an extensive review of the merger.