Public expresses frustration at East Palestine meeting

Jul 28, 2023

Pennsylvania governor's letter is highly critical of NS actions in wake of derailment

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EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — Large crowds, changes of format, and public frustration marked Wednesday night's public meeting over the aftermath of the Feb. 3 derailment and chemical spill in East Palestine.

The town hall meeting at the East Palestine High had been switched beforehand to an informational session featuring a series of tables with officials available to answer questions. That changed again after about 20 minutes as some attendees expressed unhappiness with the format, according to news reports, with East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway holding a Q&A session.

Norfolk Southern announced earlier in the day that it would not attend the meeting [see "Citing ‘physical threat,’ Norfolk Southern withdraws …," Trains News Wire, Feb. 15, 2023].

"I’m just as frustrated as you are," Conaway told those in attendance about the railroad's decision. "I’m trying to get answers. I cannot force them to be here."

Conaway said he and other officials stood by the decision to perform a controlled release of chemicals from derailed tank cars, the New York Times reports, while those in attendance questioned whether their water was safe to drink, and expressed continuing fears about their safety despite official assurances. "Why are people getting sick if there's nothing in the air or water?" one woman asked, one of several questions to draw applause from a crowd estimated at 700 or more.

The latest such official statement came Wednesday from Gov. Mike DeWine, who said tests showed no contaminants in the five wells that supply East Palestine's water, WKYC-TV reports. However, those with private wells should use bottled water until they have their water tested, the Ohio Department of Health advised.

Difficulty in arranging such testing was expressed by some at Wednesday's meeting, while others asked for more details about the testing process.

In other developments:

— Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, in a Tuesday letter to NS CEO Alan Shaw, said the railroad's "failure to adhere to well-accepted standards of practice related to incident management, and prioritizing an accelerated an arbitrary timeline to reopen the rail line, injected unnecessary risk and created confusion" in the wake of the derailment. WESA Radio, which published the letter, reported that Shapiro had asked the state's Public Utility Commision to investigate the NS response to the incident.

Shapiro said state officials had noticed three significant issues with the railroad's actions: its failure to participate in unified command and planning in response to the incident; it provided "inaccurate information and conflicting modeling" about the controlled release of vinyl chloride from derailed tank cars; and its "unwillingness to explore or articulate alternate courses of action" to that controlled-release plan limited officials’ ability to respond.

— U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan will vist East Palestine today to assess the continuing response to the derailment, and meet with local officials and residents. EPA officials will also demonstrate the equipment they are using to monitor the area's air quality.

Regan and other officials are scheduled to hold a press conference this afternoon, WKYC-TV reports.