(NewsNation) — In February 2023, a Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio.
Some 1,500 residents were told to evacuate. Fearing an explosion, officials decided to vent and burn five tank cars, releasing 116,000 gallons of the carcinogen vinyl chloride into the air.
Minutes later, a toxic plume of smoke smothered the region.
“We basically nuked a town with chemicals so we could get a railroad open,” Sig Caggiano, a hazardous materials specialist, said at the time.
However, three days later, the Environmental Protection Agency said it had not detected contaminants at “levels of concern” and gave the all-clear for residents to return.
Residents complained of rashes and sickness.
One, Katlyn Schwarzwaelder, said she broke out in a rash almost instantly when she went back home after being evacuated.
“I undressed to get into the shower, and I had a rash all over the side of my face, on both sides and all over my chest,” Schwarzwaelder said.
Another, John Kent, said his neurologist told him the derailment was a very impactful event in his life.
“It perpetuated my grand mal seizures in the sense that I would have likely never had a single seizure event had been not been for these happenings,” Kent said.
Now, tensions are high between residents and government officials. The ugly divide between the authorities and those asking tough questions was exposed when NewsNation correspondent Evan Lambert was arrested during a news conference held by Ohio’s governor. Charges filed against Lambert were later dismissed.
Politicians swooped into town, including former President Donald Trump. Current President Joe Biden was not one of them, even though he previously said he would do so “at some point.”
The discovery of chemicals in the creeks of East Palestine, including Leslie Run, undercut the administration’s PR and messaging. NewsNation investigative correspondent Rich McHugh and resident Rick Tsai, now running for Congress, went to Leslie Run, where a rainbow-colored sheen appeared when the ground was stirred up.
In March, an independent testing expert confirmed residents’ fears that carcinogens were in the water that the Ohio EP was not finding. More tests revealed dioxins — the most toxic compounds on the planet — in the soil, water and people’s air filters.
“Dioxins don’t go away,” independent testing expert Scott Smith said. “You get exposed over time. And dioxins, I say, are the fentanyl of chemicals.”
By May, frustration had grown.
FILE – A black plume rises over East Palestine, Ohio, as a result of a controlled detonation of a portion of the derailed Norfolk Southern trains, Feb. 6, 2023. The Biden administration is initiating a formal evaluation of risks posed by vinyl chloride, the cancer-causing chemical that burned in a towering plume of toxic black smoke following a fiery train derailment earlier this year in eastern Ohio. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File) 
FILE – Portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed the night before burn in East Palestine, Ohio, Feb. 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File) 
FILE – Cleanup continues, Feb. 24, 2023, at the site of a Norfolk Southern freight train derailment that happened on Feb. 3 in East Palestine, Ohio. The costs related to the East Palestine derailment continue to grow to reach $966 million for Norfolk Southern, but the railroad’s service is improving and its insurance companies have started to pay their share of the cost of the crash in eastern Ohio early this year. (AP Photo/Matt Freed, File) 
FILE – This photo taken with a drone shows portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed the night before in East Palestine, Ohio, still on fire at mid-day, Feb. 4, 2023. On Wednesday, Sept. 20, President Joe Biden ordered federal agencies to continue holding Norfolk Southern accountable for its February derailment in eastern Ohio and appoint a FEMA official to oversee East Palestine’s recovery, but he still stopped short of declaring a disaster. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File) 
FILE – This photo taken with a drone shows portions of a Norfolk Southern freight train that derailed the night before in East Palestine, Ohio, still on fire at mid-day on Feb. 4, 2023. The railroad industry is trying to make sure that emergency responders can quickly look up what is on a train when they respond to a derailment. In the chaos after a Norfolk Southern train derailed and caught fire in eastern Ohio in February, firefighters couldn’t find that information for roughly 45 minutes. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File) 
FILE – A view of the scene Friday, Feb. 24, 2023, as the cleanup continues at the site of a Norfolk Southern freight train derailment that happened on Feb. 3, in East Palestine, Ohio. On Tuesday, Feb. 28, in the wake of a fiery Ohio derailment and other recent crashes, federal regulators urged that freight railroads should reexamine the way they use and maintain the detectors along the tracks that are supposed to spot overheating bearings. (AP Photo/Matt Freed, File) 
FILE – A plume rises over East Palestine, Ohio, as a result of the controlled detonation of a portion of the derailed Norfolk Southern trains, Feb. 6, 2023. After the catastrophic train car derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, some officials are raising concerns about a type of toxic substance that tends to stay in the environment. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
“We just want people to see how many of us are affected,” East Palestine resident Jamie Wallace said. “We are people. We’re not just East Palestine. We’re not just Pennsylvania. These are our lives. These are our children’s lives.”
A community group called Unity Council for the East Palestine Train Derailment hosted a town hall meeting to hear people’s concerns.
“That whole town is a chemical cocktail, and we’re all lab rats,” resident Linda Murphy said.
Locals grew angry with the EPA, which they say is ignoring the facts and, most importantly, ignoring them.
“The EPA has not tested my house, my soil, nothing,” resident Shelby Walker said.
NewsNation pressed the EPA. Mark Durno, an EPA response coordinator, said in an interview with McHugh that “he didn’t know” why people are getting sick, though he did say there’s a “potential” they were exposed to vinyl chloride.
In July, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine requested that Biden issue a disaster declaration but that did not happen.
“We have gotten a big old middle finger — I am just gonna say it,” resident Jessica Conard said. “I feel like our community does not matter to the president I actually voted for.”
Today, about one year later, those in East Palestine say their problems are getting worse, not better. At a town hall NewsNation anchor Chris Cuomo hosted, he asked a room of residents, “Who believes that you have been forgotten?”
Every hand went up.
As the new year starts, NewsNation will continue to search for answers.