2 weeks ago
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(NewsNation) — The Environmental Protection Agency issued an interior memo informing of "substantial menace to nationalist wellness and the environment" from the East Palestine bid derailment conscionable 10 days aft telling residents it was harmless to instrumentality home, according to interior documents obtained by NewsNation.
The February 2023 EPA papers described the burning of toxic chemicals arsenic an "open burn" and warned of an "increased likelihood of outer exposure, inhalation, ingestion, oregon nonstop interaction to quality populations."
The memo besides acknowledged "high levels of hazardous substances oregon pollutants oregon contaminants successful soils mostly astatine oregon adjacent the surface, that whitethorn migrate."
The interior informing contradicted public statements from EPA Administrator Michael Regan, who told residents 2 weeks aft the Feb. 3, 2023, derailment that "all families request to cognize that they are safe" and that aerial monitoring had not detected wellness concerns successful the community.
Internal memo documented toxic chemic merchandise and vulnerability risks
The papers details the merchandise of vinyl chloride and benzene, among 10 toxic chemicals, into the ambiance erstwhile officials burned five tanker cars to prevent an explosion.
Despite the interior concerns, the EPA encouraged residents to instrumentality location aft a three-day evacuation and maintained publically that the country was safe.
When questioned successful June 2023, EPA on-scene coordinator Mark Durno said helium didn't "see immoderate vulnerability imaginable from the derailment tract based connected the hundreds of thousands of monitoring points that we have."
Jami Wallace, a lifelong nonmigratory and caput of the Unity Council successful East Palestine, said the papers proves residents' suspicions.
"The EPA knew everything that was going to happen. They knew each the issues that we were going to person from the beginning," Wallace said. "We were lied to and we were betrayed, but this memo conscionable benignant of shows you cognize precisely what we said was right."
Residents reported wellness issues aft being told country was safe
Attorney Mindy Bish, representing East Palestine residents, said the interior papers shows officials knew "these were toxic substances, that they were cancer-producing" but failed to support residents who returned to their homes.
The assemblage has reported galore wellness issues, including rashes, nosebleeds and respiratory problems since the derailment.
In effect to the revelations, an EPA spokesperson said:
"The Trump EPA cannot talk for actions taken during erstwhile administrations. We are precise acrophobic by claims that person travel to airy implicit the past fewer months. The Trump Administration is committed to maximum transparency and arsenic specified we mean to behaviour a thorough reappraisal of decisions made successful the aftermath of the bid derailment."
