Allie Vugrincic/The Vindicator via AP
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, left, and officials with the Federal Railroad Administration look at a burned Norfolk Southern railcar that had been carrying hazardous materials, February 23, 2023, in East Palestine, Ohio.
Three weeks after the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, the national focus has not dimmed. Former President Donald Trump arrived at the site of the crash on Wednesday, bringing along his own branded water. Footage shows Trump receiving a tour from East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway, with Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) in tow. As Trump approached a crowd of East Palestine residents, someone from the crowd yelled, “What is your message for Joe Biden?” He responded, “Get over here.”
Trump’s bombastic arrival coordinated with conservative efforts to press the political advantage. Last week, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said that, despite being in contact with the White House and requesting direct aid from various federal departments, he was notified by FEMA that Ohio did not qualify for disaster assistance. Though this was technically correct because DeWine still has not formally requested disaster relief, the following day that decision was reversed. In a joint statement, FEMA administrator Thomas Sivak announced that the agency would send a senior response official and a Regional Incident Management Assistance Team (IMAT) to support state and federal efforts.
That reversal, Trump insinuated, was the federal government responding to his call to visit the small Ohio town. That was also the reaction on the right to the announcement that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg would visit a day after Trump. On the night before Trump’s visit, after a Daily Caller reporter asked Buttigieg if he would be visiting the site, he responded: “When the time is right.”
Though he praised the work of first responders, Trump made no mention of Norfolk Southern. Asked about how his administration’s Transportation Department rolled back regulations that would have required electronically controlled braking systems on trains moving hazardous materials, he said he had “nothing to do with it.” However, as reporting from The Lever has shown, Norfolk Southern’s lobbying “effectively exempted” trains hauling hazardous materials, like the one in Ohio, from being classified as “high-hazard,” which carries tougher safety requirements.
Currently, the Transportation Department is reviewing comments for a rail industry–supported rule that would weaken brake-testing requirements. That rule is opposed by five rail unions. However, in a letter to Norfolk Southern, Buttigieg said he would propose a new package of tougher regulations, including restoring the tougher Obama-era brake rule.
AS THE POLITICAL NOISE GROWS, community advocacy groups in East Palestine are keeping their heads down. Emily Wright, a spokesperson for River Valley Organizing, told the Prospect regarding Trump’s arrival, “We don’t really have the time to pay attention to the celebrities that have visited.” She continued: “If they contact us, we want to work with anybody we can. But we want this to be community-led.”
Wright explained that some residents are still experiencing symptoms of nausea and others are developing rashes. “Who knows when we can feel confident about drinking the water?” she told me.
When asked about FEMA’s reversal, Wright said that according to their legal team, the initial disqualification was because the derailment was not a “natural disaster.” At this point, the main concern for groups like River Valley Organizing is ensuring that the assistance from FEMA actually serves the needs of residents near the crash site, and that Norfolk Southern follows through on its orders from the EPA that it clean up the site. “We’re not really sure what [FEMA’s assistance] looks like yet,” Wright said. “We’re hoping that it looks like more tests, cleanup help for residents … We don’t have a lot of money.” Different charities and donations have made up for the lack of immediate assistance for residents.
As for water testing, Wright was critical of reports that water from the town is safe for consumption. However, not all residents receive their water from the city, and instead rely on wells. “Yeah, you may have clean water now in the city. But these are forever chemicals that went in the ground, they will never go away,” she said.
In fact, the consulting firm hired by Norfolk Southern for water testing, AECOM, has drawn scrutiny. David Erickson, a hydrogeologist and the founder of Water & Environmental Technologies, an environmental consulting firm in Montana, told HuffPost that AECOM’s sampling was “sloppy” and “amateur.”
Those faulty preliminary results are what the state’s EPA and Gov. DeWine relied on to give residents the green light that their water was safe for consumption. Norfolk Southern has tried to disclaim wrongdoing in the water-testing process, instead shifting the blame to the lab where AECOM’s samples were tested. Despite the faulty process, an Ohio EPA spokesperson, James Lee, defended AECOM’s samples when asked by HuffPost. Yesterday, DeWine pretended to drink tap water from a sink in East Palestine.
Instances like the water-testing debacle are why River Valley Organizing insists that more transparency is needed from FEMA and that guardrails need to be in place for monitoring Norfolk Southern throughout this entire process. “Norfolk Southern has lied to all of us,” Wright said. She recalled a newscast last week where a Norfolk Southern representative downplayed the amount of lube oil that had seeped into the river. “He made his fingers do a little pinch … but tens of thousands of gallons went in and now all the waterways around here, even leading into the streams, have a petroleum-like sheen.”
On Thursday evening, River Valley Organizing hosted a town hall for residents, which featured environmental researchers from nearby universities, hazardous-materials experts, and free nonsoliciting environmental legal services. The objective was to give residents a clear understanding of how to seek independent water and soil testing.
Wright said that the crisis has also created a vacuum where lawyers are running around the town offering services tied to high up-front retainer fees, overwhelming residents with options. “People are weary and concerned … So we’re just hoping that we can keep transparency in the process. Unfortunately, when this all started, there was no transparency.”
