East Palestine Resident: ‘EPA Was Lying’ as Carcinogen Data Stayed Hidden From Families
More than three and a half years after a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, newly revealed documents show that cancer-causing chemicals were found at dangerous levels in the community while residents were kept in the dark and pressured to settle for what one local calls “pennies.”
Vice President JD Vance and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin are now demanding answers. The two officials sent a letter to Nicole N. Murley, the acting inspector general of the EPA, calling for “a comprehensive, independent investigation” into the response to the February 3, 2023 disaster.
“The people of East Palestine deserve a government that is transparent and accountable to them,” Vance wrote on social media. “If the Biden administration withheld public health risks from the community, they must be held accountable.”
For Jami Wallace, an East Palestine resident who has lived through years of uncertainty, the investigation offers some “validation.” But trust is gone.
“I have zero trust in the government and zero expectations,” Wallace told the Daily Signal, pleading instead for “action at this point.”
The trigger for renewed scrutiny came last week when NewsNation published findings from Stephen Perry, an exposure-warnings expert and industrial hygienist hired by attorneys handling the class action settlement. Perry’s testing results from 2023 were never shared with residents before they agreed to terms.
What he found was alarming.
“Somewhere between 50% and 70% of the data points, whether they be for dioxins or PAHs, exceeded screening levels,” Perry told NewsNation. Those levels were “above screening levels for cancer, which means you can’t walk away from it.”
Perry said further analysis was needed to determine remediation steps and health implications. “There is a problem here,” he concluded.
Wallace says most Americans assume the $610 million settlement meant residents were “taken care of.” The reality, she insists, is different. Families settled before knowing the full extent of contamination.
“Everyone thinks we were taken care of,” Wallace said. Residents meanwhile “settled for pennies.”
The letter from Vance and Zeldin pointed to documents “recently made public” as evidence that the response to the derailment, including “the controlled release and combustion of hazardous materials, environmental contamination, and prolonged concerns regarding air, soil, water, and public health warrant continued scrutiny and oversight to ensure appropriate accountability.”
For Wallace, the disaster shattered something deeper than her health. It destroyed her faith in the institutions Americans are taught to trust.
“The biggest thing that this has taken away from me is my perception of reality,” she said. “Had I heard myself talking before the derailment about EPA cover-ups and the government being owned by the railroad, I would say, get this crazy lady away from me.”
She remembers telling her husband they could return home once the evacuation order lifted. “If the EPA says it’s fine, it’s fine,” she had believed.
Then she went back.
“I go in my driveway. I can’t breathe, my skin’s turning red. My mouth is numb,” Wallace recalled. “I look over at the creek that flows about ten steps from my front door, and I can just see chemicals free flowing down the creek. At that point, I didn’t need to be a scientist, and I knew the EPA was lying.”
The Vance and Zeldin letter draws a contrast between the current Trump administration’s approach and how the Biden-Harris administration handled the crisis. For families in East Palestine, that contrast may mean the difference between answers and continued silence.