After Our Report, EPA Admits It Detected Toxic Vinyl Chloride in East Palestine

Days after we broke that the EPA found cancer-causing chemical in soil at derailment site, EPA reveals it found 3 "small areas" of "low level" VC; it still has not revealed what the levels were

Three days after our exclusive report that exposed the EPA had detected toxic vinyl chloride in soil in East Palestine, Ohio—and not notified the public—the agency revealed it had found three “small areas” of “low level” vinyl chloride in the small town that Norfolk Southern detonated 116,000 gallons of cancer-causing chemical over 16 months ago.

“Three small areas on-site where significant hazardous substance management operations occurred showed low levels of vinyl chloride present just above site screening levels,” the EPA posted on its website. “In accordance with the approved plans, soil was removed for off-site disposal.”

It’s been a week since Status Coup first asked the EPA about its detection of vinyl chloride in soil by the derailment site—specifically inquiring the date the agency detected the VC, what the exact levels were, how deep in the soil it was found, whether groundwater was threatened, and why—given he fact that the EPA has insisted for 16 months it had not detected vinyl chloride in East Palestine— the agency did not notify the public.

The EPA has not answered any of those questions nor did it provide any of that information on its website Friday when it revealed it had detected “three small areas” of “low levels” of vinyl chloride (Status Coup followed up with the EPA this morning asking the aforementioned questions but has not yet received a response).

[Nearly a week after Status Coup broke the critical public health information—and that the EPA did not notify the public it found vinyl chloride in East Palestine—no mainstream media or local Ohio or Pennsylvania news outlet has reported it. Status Coup is aware that the Associated Press and several local outlets are aware of our story—and have confirmed it themselves—yet still have not reported it.]

Residents Status Coup have spoken with are sick a year-and-a-half after Norfolk Southern unnecessarily detonated the carcinogenic vinyl chloride over East Palestine—which, once released into air, breaks down in a few days into hydrochloric acid, formaldehyde, and carbon dioxide. According to the National Cancer Institute, exposure to vinyl chloride poses an “increased risk of a rare form of liver cancer (hepatic angiosarcoma), as well as primary liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma), brain and lung cancers, lymphoma, and leukemia.

Experts have vehemently disagreed that the EPA’s digging out of vinyl chloride posed no threat to residents’ health—and insist that the EPA reveal what exactly the “low levels” it found were.

“THE DOSE MAKES THE POISON,” Judith Zelikoff, a toxicologist at N.Y.U.’s medical school, told Status Coup. Harvard-educated chemist Stephen Lester agreed that the public, and experts, need to know what the levels detected were.

“The idea that it will ‘not be a concern’ to excavate the contaminated soil does not make sense; it flies in the face of what has been occurring in EP since the derailment. Many people in the town became sensitized to the chemicals released into the air and waterways by the derailment. Digging this area up will release VC into the air and will pose health risks to the people living nearby, especially to the people who have become sensitized to the chemicals. This should not be ignored or brushed lightly aside. They’re reluctant to share information and they’re hiding things they find. They should do an announcement with something like that, to share it with the public, and to share what they found in terms of the concentration. If they were to share the [contamination] numbers, other people might have a different opinion. They don’t want me, or anybody else who doesn’t think along the same lines as they do, to see these numbers because we might share a different opinion—and that creates political and community problems for them.”

On Saturday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost held a meeting with East Palestine residents about the proposed $310 million federal settlement between the EPA and Norfolk Southern and other settlement matters. Yost said he did not understand why the EPA agreed to a settlement with Norfolk Southern before the final investigative report from the National Transportation Safety Board [NTSB] was released.

“For the life of me, I don’t know why they negotiated a settlement before they had seen the NTSB report; I certainly wasn’t interested in doing that,” Yost said, confirming the state of Ohio would not be settling with Norfolk Southern before the final NTSB report is released.

“We must hold our federal Environmental Protection Agency accountable at the end of this as well,” Lenny Glavan, an East Palestine Village Councilman, told the Attorney General. “The EPA was designed to provide security to the people to ensure that in situations like these they act in our best interest—not their own. However, we in East Palestine do not feel that way. The lack of timely and effective action from the EPA—working in conjunction with Norfolk Southern has exacerbated our suffering and uncertainty.”

The NTSB will hold its final investigative hearing in East Palestine on June 24 and June 25th before releasing its final report.

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