FILE - In this photo taken with a drone, portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed the previous night in East Palestine, Ohio, remain on fire at mid-day, Feb. 4, 2023. On Tuesday, Nov. 14, a business owner whose companies are near where the Norfolk Southern train derailed and caught fire sued the railroad seeking $500 million because most of his companies have remained closed and he hasn't been able to reach an agreement on compensation with the railroad. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
Vice President JD Vance and Environmental Protection Agency head Lee Zeldin are calling for an independent investigation into the Biden administration’s response to the Norfolk Southern train derailment that released hazardous materials in East Palestine, Ohio, in 2023.
Read more Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court to Allow Its Transgender Military Ban
In a letter to the EPA’s Office of Inspector General, Vance and Zeldin say ongoing concerns about federal decisions that may have affected human health warrant review.
Documents released this week by a government watchdog group show federal officials had concerns about the number of deaths that could result from burning some of the hazardous chemicals inside the train. The documents also included an unpublished analysis of contamination concerns from one month after the derailment, which showed hazardous contaminants lingering in East Palestine.
After train rail cars carrying hazardous chemicals crashed in February 2023, worries about a massive explosion led Norfolk Southern to propose draining the chemical vinyl chloride out of five of those cars and setting it on fire. Nearby residents were evacuated before the plan went into effect.
Trending
-
Trump Is Quietly Working to Give Part of Yosemite to a Private Developer
-
Republicans Buck Trump’s ‘Lake America’ Order: ‘Petty and Disappointing’
-
ICE Detains Far-Right Commentator Milo Yiannopoulos
-
Trump Pushes Major Meatpacking Change Just Days After Plea From Glenn Beck
The newly released documents show early EPA modeling projected that more than 1,900 people could die and thousands could get sick from the burning of that chemical. Later modeling reduced those numbers to 29 potential deaths and 163 injuries.
Read more Federal Court Says States Can Regulate Prediction Market Sites
The National Transportation Safety Board later found that Norfolk Southern misrepresented the risk of the train cars exploding, and that the decision to vent and burn the chemicals was unnecessary.
East Palestine residents have remained concerned about their health since the disaster.
“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,” Zeldin said in a statement. “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.”
Earlier this year, the Trump administration opened an investigation into a subcontractor responsible for sampling groundwater at the train derailment site after it failed to meet data quality standards.
Read more Trump Plans to Freeze Civilian Federal Worker Pay for Next Year
About the Author
