February 9, 2024
EPA Continues Denial of Elevated Dioxin Levels in East Palestine, Ohio
WASHINGTON – Yesterday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a statement on their response to our press release on the inaccurate dioxin reporting the agency conducted in East Palestine, Ohio. The agency stated, “Recent reporting on this issue is inaccurate and mischaracterizes EPA’s response and commitment to transparency.” Our report stated testing done by Norfolk Southern paid consultant, Arcadis, for dioxins and other toxic chemicals began as early as February 9, 2023. In this testing, the results came back showing elevated levels of dioxins and other chemicals known to cause cancer. It was not until East Palestine residents and advocates repeatedly requested the data and information that the agency sent them a letter with the results in September 2023. The results were posted on the website in May without revealing the results to the residents and buried among over 1,000 pages of miscellaneous documents.
Among the buried documents were the test results for dioxin, which were well above the safety threshold. Despite the EPA publicly stating from the onset of the derailment that they have no concern to believe dioxins posed a threat to the community, residents of the village are continuing to experience significant medical symptoms as a result of the exposure to the chemicals.
We will continue to stand behind our whistleblower client, Scott Smith, and the independent test results he finds. In addition to the continued support of Smith’s efforts, we also hold firm we will uncover more answers through our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Smith has used his own time and money to properly test the community for the devastating chemicals and continues to fight for justice.
Environmental Investigator, Lesley Pacey commented:
“We have specifically stated that the EPA results were buried on the EPA website and could find no evidence of the EPA discussing and/or openly disclosing these results in public meetings with the community. Unbeknownst to the general public, a link to the results was embedded in a letter to two community leaders in September 2023, who in turn shared the letter with their organization members. However, there is no evidence that the EPA shared this information otherwise, verbally or in print, beyond that one instance. To say anything otherwise is simply disingenuous. Going back and forth with the EPA, which seems more interested in protecting their image than safeguarding the health of the people of East Palestine and surrounding communities, wastes precious time that residents do not have to understand the threat of the environmental contamination.”
Legal Director, Tom Devine, commented:
““It is time to start holding the EPA accountable. All the bureaucratic smokescreens fail to deny some basic truths: The EPA knew there were high dioxin levels when it told everyone not to worry. The EPA was present when the decision was made to burn the contents of vinyl chloride railway cars in East Palestine. And it failed to test the resulting plume, at least as far as we are able to establish to date. That is why Government Accountability Project defends courageous whistleblowers like Scott Smith who are telling it like they see it, which seems a lot closer to reality than what we are getting from various government entities and corporate interests.”
Contact: Mary Allain, Interim Communications Director
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (202) 449-6042
Government Accountability Project
Government Accountability Project is the nation’s leading whistleblower protection organization. Through litigating whistleblower cases, publicizing concerns and developing legal reforms, Government Accountability Project’s mission is to protect the public interest by promoting government and corporate accountability. Founded in 1977, Government Accountability Project is a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.