EPA, Norfolk Southern manipulated East Palestine soil testing data: Report

(NewsNation) — A whistleblower group has obtained documents suggesting the Environmental Protection Agency collaborated with Norfolk Southern to manipulate soil testing data following the February 2023 East Palestine train derailment, according to a new report.

The Government Accountability Project recently acquired a March 7, 2023, email from the EPA to Norfolk Southern that allegedly shows the agency relied on the railroad company's testing methods and told them not to test for five toxic compounds, said Lesley Pacey, a representative of the whistleblower group.

The most significant allegation centers on the EPA's selection of "baseline" soil samples from locations heavily impacted by the toxic plume of smoke from the open burn of vinyl chloride tankers. Baseline samples serve as benchmarks for comparison to track contamination levels.

"This is black and white receipts that the EPA was working with Norfolk Southern to create the outcome that Norfolk Southern wanted," Pacey told NewsNation.

Scott Smith, an independent testing expert and whistleblower, said the arrangement allowed Norfolk Southern to "clearly handpick testing data to say, you were already contaminated. We didn't add to that contamination."

Stephen Petty, one of the lead experts on a class-action lawsuit against Norfolk Southern, exclusively told NewsNation the EPA and the railroad company failed to test in the correct areas for dioxins, potentially skewing results.

He said officials did not account for wind direction during the burn when determining testing locations.

"If they knew that the winds were actually either calmer to the other direction, primarily, then they were inverting background and foreground, which would make you conclude 'no problem here,'" Petty said. "But more, maybe more insidiously, it would call into question the entire decision-making process to go forward with the burn in the first place."

Petty, who is bound by a nondisclosure agreement and cannot reveal his test results, said he believes officials may have intentionally avoided testing in areas most likely to show contamination.

When asked whether the EPA and Norfolk Southern did everything possible to determine true exposure levels for East Palestine residents, Petty said: "No, I don't think so."

Residents of East Palestine say they are still having health issues more than two years after the Norfolk train derailment. Officials vented and burned five tank cars, releasing the carcinogen vinyl chloride into the air.

Early this year, East Palestine and Norfolk Southern announced a $22 million settlement resolving all of the village’s claims. 

The settlement is to be used for priorities the village identifies in connection with the derailment, but it also recognizes about $13.5 million that Norfolk Southern has already paid to the village for upgrades to the water treatment plant and to replace police and fire equipment, among other things, according to the joint announcement on the village’s website. It also reaffirms Norfolk Southern’s commitment of $25 million to ongoing improvements to East Palestine City Park that is in addition to this settlement.

The freight train derailment in the village near the Pennsylvania state line included 11 cars transporting hazardous materials. Area residents evacuated and, days later, officials fearing a possible uncontrolled blast intentionally released and burned toxic vinyl chloride from five rail cars, sending flames and black smoke into the sky. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board later determined that it wasn’t necessary to blow open those vinyl chloride cars and burn the plastic ingredient.