WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has directed federal agencies to go door-to-door in East Palestine to check on families affected by the toxic train derailment that has morphed into a political controversy.
House Republicans, meanwhile, have opened an investigation into the derailment, blaming Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for what they contend was a delayed response to the fiery wreck.
House Oversight chairman James Comer became the latest lawmaker Friday to jump into what has become a political proxy war as both parties lay blame on the other after the Feb. 3 derailment and chemical leak that led to evacuation of the small northeastern Ohio community.
Brockovich warns of dangers
EAST PALESTINE — Residents of East Palestine say they are still fearful as activist Erin Brockovich warns they are in for a long battle after a train derailment earlier this month.
Brockovich spoke to an overflow crowd Friday at a high school auditorium in the town where the Norfolk Southern train crashed Feb. 3.
Officials seeking to avoid an uncontrolled blast had the area evacuated and opted to release and burn toxic vinyl chloride from five rail cars, sending flames and black smoke billowing into the sky.
Brockovich told residents to trust their instincts and not people who dismiss their worries.
According to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, surface water testing is not detecting contaminants upstream from impacted waterways, according to an update from Gov. Mike DeWine’s office.
The impacted area of Sulphur Run remains contaminated and testing continues to show readings of butyl acrylate and ethyl hexyl acrylate in Leslie Run.
Crews continue to remove contaminants through aeration, DeWine said.
The U.S. EPA reported that no contaminants associated with the derailment were detected.
by indoor air testing at a total of 569 homes and 20 outdoor air monitors have not detected contaminants, DeWine
said.
Dioxin concerns
U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown and J.D. Vance sent a letter to the directors of the Ohio EPA last week asking why it was not testing for dioxins, a harmful suite of chemicals the senators claimed got into the air in East Palestine when officials burned off the vinyl chloride in the rail tank cars.
Scientists say burning vinyl chloride can indeed generate highly toxic dioxins, some of the most dangerous human-made compounds and that it is important to test for the compounds now, before they have a chance to bioaccumulate, or build up, in the plants and animals that people eat.