Head Topics: EPA Announces ‘Completion of Major Cleanup Activities’ in East Palestine, OH, 8 Months After Toxic Train Derailment
This article features Government Accountability Project’s Environmental Investigator, Lesley Pacey, and was originally published here.
The EPA is facing criticism for its response, including from the agency’s own inspector general, as well as a leading environmental scientist. While the world’s attention has been focused on Israel and Hamas, I thought it might be worthwhile checking in on the situation in East Palestine, Ohio. Legal Insurrection readers will recall that it was the site of a train derailment involving tanks filled with reactive and flammable substance
A statement Thursday afternoon from Norfolk Southern said “soil excavation is set to be completed … marking a significant environmental remediation milestone.” “Because from here, you can get a view of the entire site and see up close the last area where hazardous waste was excavated,” said EPA administrator Debra Shore.
Regional EPA administrator Debra Shore promised that her agency will make sure all the contamination is gone before signing off on the cleanup. The EPA is facing criticism for its response to the East Palestine train derailment, including from the agency’s own inspector general, as well as a headtopics.com
“The EPA is not responding to this in a way that makes any sense. It tells me that EPA may have a different agenda than to really investigate what’s happened at East Palestine and do the kind of testing that will answer questions,” Lester said.
“While minor when taken individually, these inconsistencies could, when taken together, erode public trust in the data communicated,” the inspector general report said the EPA’s records concerning dioxin testing in the wake of the train derailment through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). headtopics.com
In a press release, the Government Accountability Project, which was formed in 1977 by the Institute for Policy Studies to “empower whistleblowers, hold the powerful accountable and advocate for change, stated that the group’s environmental investigator Lesley Pacy visited the village last month and experienced herself the same medical symptoms residents have reported.