Looking back on the East Palestine derailment

Gabe Korngold ‘23

On February 3, a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed and caught fire in East Palestine, Ohio. Since then, the crisis has become a major talking point for politicians and the American public.

Immediately after the incident, around 1,500 residents of East Palestine were forced to evacuate over fear of air contaminants. Three days later, the area of evacuation was expanded. People in the area reported smelling strong odors, and many showed symptoms of chemical exposure, including rashes, coughs, and headaches.

The effects on the ecosystem were also devastating. Dangerous chemicals such as vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate, ethylhexyl glycol acrylate, and ethylene glycol monobutyl were onboard the train when it derailed, and were released into the soil, water, and air around East Palestine. As of February 8, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources estimated that 3,500 fish had died.

Even though residents were told it was safe to return home five days after the incident, many continued to express concern over the air quality, despite EPA reports that the site was safe.

The derailment sparked many questions about the state of rail infrastructure in the United States, especially regarding the lenient requirements for train brakes. Democrats faulted the Trump administration for rolling back some of those guidelines in 2017, and the White House bashed Republican lawmakers for promoting automated track inspections.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg also came under scrutiny for his response to the incident, Republicans, in particular, criticized him for waiting several days to put out a statement, and for three weeks to visit the site of the crash.

While Buttigeig did admit fault for not visiting sooner, he also pushed back against the criticism of his response. In an interview with CNN, he remarked, "It's really rich to see some of these folks -- the former president [Donald Trump], these Fox hosts -- who are literally lifelong card-carrying members of the East Coast elite, whose top economic policy priority has always been tax cuts for the wealthy, and who wouldn’t know their way around a T.J. Maxx if their life depended on it, to be presenting themselves as if they genuinely care about the forgotten middle of the country."

Buttigeig was particularly scornful of Donald Trump. The former president made a visit to East Palestine several days before the transportation secretary and bashed him for not also making a trip. Buttigeig later claimed that he had already been planning a visit by then.

Another key figure in the aftermath is Norfolk Southern, the rail company that operated the crashed train. Since the incident, they have also come under fire, both for failing to prevent the derailment and also for their response to the crisis. Initially, the company vowed to donate $25,000 to the residents of East Palestine, however, they increased this amount after public backlash at the small reimbursement. As of April 13, Norfolk Southern claims to have provided $28.5 million to the community.

The EPA has tasked Norfolk Southern with identifying and cleaning up contaminated soil and water around the site. EPA Administrator Michael estimated that as of March 17, 6.8 million gallons of liquid waste and 5.4 tons of solid waste had been removed from the site, however the cleanup will likely take several months.