Ohio train derailment: Documents show EPA chose not to declare emergency

NewsNation ^ | Updated: APR 3, 2024 / 03:32 PM CDT | Rich McHugh

[E. Pluribus Unum]

• EPA made the decision just three weeks after the derailment and burn
• Residents have complained of ongoing health problems
• Independent testing has shown evidence of toxins in the soil, air and water

(NewsNation) — Documents obtained by NewsNation show the Environmental Protection Agency, despite having the legal authority to do so, decided not to declare a public health emergency following a train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. 

NewsNation obtained EPA communications from the Government Accountability Project that were sent following the train derailment and controlled burn of tankers containing hazardous chemicals. 

An email between EPA attorney Robert Kaplan and EPA public relations discussed whether documents telling Norfolk Southern to clean up the contamination should include anything about medical benefits. 

“Agree with you Jeff. The issue of declaring a public health emergency is a difficult one. We have the authority but have only used it once, in Libby, Montana. Best not to get into this. Bob,” he wrote.

The EPA made the decision not to declare a public health emergency on Feb. 20, 2023, less than just three weeks after the burning of the tanker cars and after they had already found dioxins at the site of the burn. 

Libby, Montana, referenced in the emails, is a town poisoned by asbestos in the 1980s. For years, people worked in a vermiculite mine without knowing it was contaminated with asbestos fibers, though their employer, W.R. Grace, was aware of the danger.

Asbestos spread through the town and was carried by workers, causing some residents to die and others to be denied health care. W.R. Grace operated the mine from the 1960s until it closed in 1990, but no public health emergency was declared until 2009 after...

[E. Pluribus Unum]

[Skywise]

Because the Dems love themselves some trains - so the EPA wasn’t going to make their masters look bad.

That’s all this ever is anymore. If it had been a train owned by a GOP supporter, rest assured the EPA would’ve gone after him guns blazing.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Was this one of Warren Buffett’s choo-choos?

[eyedigress]

The dementia joe regime was not going to allow this crisis get to the waste stage or even stay in the news.
Burn it and make it go away.

You nailed it.

[nwrep]

The agencies are staffed top to bottom by MAGA-hating progressive ideologues who are extremely politically savvy. They knew this was MAGA central, and chose to not declare an emergency.

[Dogbert41]

Pete Buttigieg was on maternity leave then too, as I recall.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Was this one of Warren Buffett’s choo-choos?

Looked it up. It's not.

https://search.brave.com/search?q=Norfolk+Southern+Railway+warren+buffett&source=web

[rxh4n1]

Now, that’s what I call controlled...

[Governor Dinwiddie]

The people of East Palestine are White, working people. The government and media hate White working people. Joe Biden hates White working people. Pete ButtGig hates White working people.

On the other hand, if the train had derailed in East Darktown, subsequently before the year was out, the residents would have been installed in brand new homes. Thousands of tons of toxic soil would have been hauled away to a Superfund site. Everyone would have wads of walking around money. Good times in East Darktown.

[ronnie raygun]

weaponized agency against the people, if it were a rat stronghold, predominantly black and Hispanic, gay lesbian or transgender community it would be all hands on deck

[SMARTY]

“The people of East Palestine are White, working people. The government and media hate White working people. Joe Biden hates White working people. Pete ButtGig hates White working people.”

I’ve been there. E. Palestine is America the right way.

[oldtech]

Afraid this screwup by the EPA might be in the news for some time now because of the side effects of all the burning of that volatile material. They may try to blame it on something else in the future, but this sort of thing left unchecked can leave a very long term problem for the folks in that area. I never had much use for the EPA anyway; have much less now.

[oldtech]

Those are my sentiments exactly. Never had much else for the EPA before; I have much less now. All that I could ever see that they were good for was causing more & more problems & less & less answers for those problems.

[SunkenCiv]

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