Did Norfolk Southern Just Admit It Got Away With Poisoning East Palestine?
"Have a great day," railroad answered when confronted with document of an EPA official admitting NS conducted an illegal chemical detonation over East Palestine. Residents grow sicker by the day.
It’s not every day a multi-billion dollar company’s 29-word response to a journalist becomes a story in itself, but in this case, Norfolk Southern’s recent message to yours truly is as close as it gets to a “we got away it, f*ck off” admission.
On August 19th, I reached out to Norfolk Southern, which made $8.75 billion in gross profit in 2024, as well as the EPA about an important document I uncovered. As Status Coup reported, in a February 10th, 2023 letter authored by Jason El-Zein, an EPA manager in the Emergency Response branch, El-Zein notified the railroad giant of its liability for what the EPA official labeled “the open burn off of vinyl chloride” over East Palestine on February 6th, 2023. He was referring to the five tanker cars—carrying 1.1 million pounds of the cancerous gas—that Norfolk Southern detonated over East Palestine and western Pennsylvania.
According to veteran toxicologist George Thompson, who analyzed the disaster and chemical combustion created, the chemical mushroom cloud created by Norfolk Southern traveled to as many as eight states—and created as many as 120 chemicals linked to cancer.
El-Zein’s acknowledgement that the railroad had conducted an illegal, and according to one former EPA official who spoke with Status Coup, “very dangerous” open burn detonation is important for several reasons:
Dating back to the 1980s, the EPA prohibited the open burning of hazardous waste as a result of the potential danger it posed to public health.
The Ohio EPA also prohibits this method.
At the same time the EPA official admitted in a letter to Norfolk Southern that the detonation of the vinyl chloride tankers was in fact an open burn, the EPA was publicly echoing Norfolk Southern’s false claims that it had conducted a so-called “controlled burn.”
Over two years later, Norfolk Southern and the EPA have continued misleading affected East Palestine and western Pennsylvania residents about the nature of the chemical detonation, referring to what they did as a “controlled burn.” As a former EPA official told Status Coup, “these different descriptors of the burn have very important legal distinctions.”
Part of the rational and judgment for a $600 million dollar settlement over the Norfolk Southern derailment was based off of the EPA, and Norfolk Southern’s, testing data and public assertions about the process that led up to the decision to blow up the five vinyl chloride tankers.
Over two years later, residents in East Palestine and western Pennsylvania continue to grow sicker, with a list of physical and cognitive issues now nearing 100 different health conditions (including cancer, seizures, strokes, dizziness, bloody noses, premature menstrual cycles in young girls, premature puberty in young boys, and many more issues).
As Sil Caggiano, a hazardous waste specialist who spent 39 years in the Youngstown Ohio fire department, told Status Coup, what Norfolk Southern did was “straight up against regulations and [was done] with the Ohio EPA on scene.”
Previously, Caggiano had deadpanned that Norfolk Southern had “nuked a town with chemicals to get a railroad open.”
So when I reached out to Norfolk Southern about the letter the EPA had sent the railroad days after it “nuked” East Palestine—which in plain language stated Norfolk Southern had conducted an open burn of toxic chemicals over Ohio and Pennsylvania—I was expecting, at the very least, a modestly lawyered-up response that attempted to smear corporate lipstick on a toxic pig.
Instead, Norfolk Southern brazenly ignored the question. For reference, my question sent to them on Monday, August 19th:
Good Afternoon,
This is Jordan with Status Coup News. An EPA memo/letter sent on 2/10/23 to your company calls Norfolk Southern's vent and burn of vinyl chloride in East Palestine an "open burn burn off of vinyl chloride" (which is prohibited by EPA's own regulations).
"e. Areas of contaminated soil and free liquids were observed and potentially covered and/or filled during reconstruction of the rail line including portions of the trench /burn pit that was used for the open burn off of vinyl chloride"
This is obviously at odds with what both Noroflk Southern and the EPA were publicly stating at the time.
Do you have an explanation for this?
Jordan
And there short, quasi-taunting response:
Good afternoon,
Thank you for reaching out. The latest updates related to East Palestine can be found on our website at Making it Right in East Palestine.
Have a great day.
NS Media Relations
I don’t know about you but my interpretation of their “response” was a multi-billion dollar railroad giant—who is on the verge of merging with fellow Goliath Union Pacific (video below)—essentially taking a corporate victory lap while digitally smirking that they got away with poisoning thousands of people in Ohio and Western Pennsylvania.
Worse than Norfolk Southern’s completely evasive refusal to answer is the EPA’s lack of a response. After reaching out to the agency on August 19th with similar questions, the agency responded later in the day stating, “we’ve received your inquiry. Working on a response.”
Two days later—with no response from the EPA on one of its top officials contradicting what the agency and Norfolk Southern have been telling the public for over two years—I followed up, “still waiting. Not sure why the EPA requires 48 hours to respond to a pretty simple question.”
As of this writing, now four days after reaching out to the EPA, the agency is still apparently “working on a response.”
Status Coup also reached out to both the Ohio and Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office multiple times regarding the letter EPA sent to Norfolk Southern acknowledging that the railroad had, in fact, conducted an illegal open burn over East Palestine and western Pennsylvania. As part of our inquiry, Status Coup asked if either AG’s office had opened up criminal investigations into Norfolk Southern’s actions and, if not, will our new reporting spark any investigation.
Neither office has responded.
Unlike the corporate media—who quickly parachute in and out of the growing list of corporate sacrifice zones across America before quickly abandoning the story—Status Coup will continue to dig and report on the growing health crisis, and cover up, happening in East Palestine and western Pennsylvania. Sadly, residents in both areas are growing sicker due to the chemical petri dish that invaded their communities and homes. We would like to return to report in East Palestine ON-THE-GROUND. Please support our efforts as a paying member for as low as $5-10 bucks a month.
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