(NewsNation) — More than a year after a Norfolk Southern train derailed near the town of East Palestine, Ohio, residents say they are still struggling to get accurate information about toxic chemicals in the air in and around their homes.
After officials burned 116,000 gallons of toxic vinyl chloride, releasing a plume over the town, the messaging from the Environmental Protection Agency has been consistent. They found no threat of exposure to residents from vinyl chloride.
“Since the fire went out, EPA air monitoring has not detected any levels of chemicals of health concern that are attributed to the train derailment,” said EPA Administrator Michael Reagan. “EPA has assisted with the screening of more than 480 homes under the voluntary screening program offered to residents and no detection of vinyl chloride or hydrogen chloride were identified. But we are continuing to have those indoor air screenings available to any resident who wants their air tested.”
Residents were evacuated during the controlled burn but told it was safe to return home shortly after.
“As of March 4, approximately 600 homes have been screened through this program and no detections of vinyl chloride or hydrogen chloride have been identified,” said Debra Shore, EPA Region 5 administrator, a month after the derailment.
Last June, NewsNation asked the EPA about vinyl chloride in the community and was told that monitoring done since the evacuation had shown no evidence of sustained viny chloride exposure in the community.
But residents have told a different story.
Jess Conrad said she has been begging to have the air inside her home tested.
“We had persistently asked federal authorities to complete a robust indoor air monitoring program and it seems to be falling on deaf ears,” she said. “Everybody really does want their air tested.”
In February, she decided to pay an independent group out of her own pocket for testing instead.
Edelweiss Technology Solutions set up air monitoring for 24 hours inside and outside of her home.
Acrolein, benzene, ethanol, ethyl acetate, styrene, toluene and vinyl chloride were all detected.
Edelweiss found high levels of acrolein inside her home, the report stating the chemical was identified to have the largest potential for health impacts during an independent assessment of the town done in February of 2023.
The group also detected vinyl chloride outside her home, in the ambient air on her porch. A technical fact sheet from the EPA states that if vinyl chloride is released into the atmosphere “it can be expected to exist mainly in the vapor phase in the ambient atmosphere and to degrade rapidly in air by gas phase reaction with photochemically produced hydroxyl radicals with an estimated half-life of 1.5 days.”
“It says estimated half-life of 1.5 days, this implies that there needs to be a source that is currently emitting vinyl chloride into the air in the vicinity of the residence,” Conrad said.
As shocking as that sounds, Conrad told NewsNation it lines up with what people in the area have been saying for months.
“We’ve been sick, we’ve had these illnesses that no one is keeping track of,” she said. “We have no organized medical response here and we’re being told that it’s because we’re stressed or because of allergies or pink eye. But there is, a year later, still vinyl chloride lingering around East Palestine and this is two miles out. This is a year later.”
The report from Edelweiss concluded that the spread of concentrations of chemicals found in Conard’s home and outdoor air “indicate a source outdoors for acrolein and vinyl chloride but with an unknown location.”
For residents, the battle to find out what may be lingering in the air and water has been a long one.
“We’ve been doing this for over a year now. It’s exhausting,” Conard said. “Why do we still have vinyl chloride in the air? Who is emitting? What is emitting vinyl chloride? Is it the creeks? Is it the train?”
NewsNation asked the EPA about the issue last month.
They said the “EPA has not seen this data or associated work plans. Please have the property owner reach out to us.”
Conard did meet with the EPA about her results. NewsNation reached out to the agency again, to ask how they explain the vinyl chloride found in the air, if they had identified the source and if they were concerned about the level of chemicals detected.
The EPA has not responded to the request. But they did tell Conard the results do “raise a red flag” to do more testing.
