COLUMBIANA COUNTY, Ohio — More than three months after a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine, many people who live in and near the community say their lives are still upended.
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Tuesday evening, the Unity Council for the East Palestine Derailment hosted a community discussion about the lingering effects and future consequences of the rail disaster. The group, which calls itself a “community oversight board,” is calling for more transparency during the cleanup and investigation and asking for more federal and state assistance for residents.
“People are still uncertain. And it’s in the uncertainty that gives people frustration,” said Daniel Winston, a Unity Council board member and co-executive director of River Valley Organizing.
Winston and others sat on a panel facilitating Tuesday’s discussion. Many were worried about the short and long-term effects the derailment will have on their health, the environment and the region’s economy.
“We need answers, I need answers. I’m desperate. That’s why I’m here,” one panelist said.
Several audience members became emotional talking about sleepless nights, mysterious maladies and concerns about their children’s futures.
“We shouldn’t have to fight this hard to get the care and the things that we need. I’m an RN and I’ve had it. This is ridiculous. We should’ve had this a long time ago,” said one woman who explained her 30-year-old daughter has developed painful joint issues in the months following the derailment.
Some residents feel unsafe returning to their homes three months later.
“We haven’t been in our home since the day after it derailed, which was that Saturday. We woke up and we could tell the house was not safe. It smelled. We were getting sick,” recalled Tammy Youschak.
The East Palestine mother chose to have her 17-year-old son finish his junior year remotely rather than send him in person to East Palestine High School. Norfolk Southern is helping the family cover rent in a home several towns away, but Youschak has been otherwise disappointed with the company and government’s response.
“I feel it’s been very inadequate. And I feel like they’re ignoring us,” she said.
She and others said they distrust the official narrative that the community is safe enough for families to continue their lives as usual. An independent researcher joined the Unity Council Tuesday to talk about his efforts to gather more comprehensive data.
“You can’t declare things safe or unsafe without the data,” said Scott Smith, the chief sustainability expert for ECO Integrated Technologies.
Smith said he’s working to create an interactive map, showing how far the controlled burn smoke plume extended in February and documenting the environmental effects in the area.
The Unity Council is calling for more transparency from the EPA in its data collection. It also plans to push the city of East Palestine for details about how donations are being used and call on Governor Mike DeWine to press FEMA for an emergency disaster declaration.
“We need that here desperately, so people can get what they need,” Winston said of the emergency declaration, which could free up more federal aid for the region.
News 5 reached out to the governor’s office. A spokesperson there said DeWine has requested more aid from FEMA. However, the agency told him the East Palestine derailment falls short of a disaster designation because Norfolk Southern is already offering its support, and the derailment caused minimal property damage.
A May 16 update on East Palestine from DeWine's office states that finalized results of plant tissue sampling shows East Palestine area crops are not contaminated with semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs). The testing was conducted by the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) and The Ohio State University (OSU) College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences using U.S. EPA-approved methods.
The latest test results from the East Palestine Municipal Water System continue to show no indication of contaminants associated with the derailment.
"The public water system continues to meet all state and federal standards for safe drinking water," the governor's update states.
Neighbors and Unity Council members said they’re frustrated with what they believe is a lack of urgency in finding answers and offering help to those affected by the derailment.
“This is about East Palestine being a tipping point in changing things for this country,” Smith said.
