East Palestine creeks visibly contaminated year after train derailment

(NewsNation) — Residents in East Palestine, Ohio, say the creeks in their town are still visibly contaminated nearly a year after a Norfolk Southern train derailed, unleashing toxic chemicals into the small community.

Neighbors have been fighting with local and federal environmental officials, saying they aren’t doing nearly enough to address their concerns.

The creeks that run through East Palestine weave their way through town behind homes and through parks. Walk a couple blocks, and residents are bound to encounter one.

For the past year, NewsNation has documented the chemical contamination in East Palestine.

At first glance, the creeks look clear. But when stirring up the water, chemicals rise to the surface, reflecting an alarming rainbow hue. The creeks in town remain contaminated.

“We found carcinogens in the water. Carcinogens that the Ohio EPA is not finding,” Justin Johnston with Big Pine Consultants said.

After a NewsNation report in September, the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) ordered Norfolk Southern to do more testing and more cleanup.

Now, nearly five months later, the EPA told NewsNation they are still waiting on those results.

“We don’t have any science that suggests there is contamination that would pose a human health risk. We don’t have any sign of contamination in the air, in the water, in the soil,” Anne Vogul with the Ohio EPA said.

The problem is that data from an independent environmental group — Three Rivers Waterkeeper — suggests the opposite.

“Most of the contamination that we found with these 15 different analytes, we would recommend no exposures,” Heather Hulton VanTassel, the executive director of Three Rivers Waterkeeper, said. “These are non-natural, carcinogenic chemicals that we don’t know a lot about — what long-term chronic exposure can do to our health.”

VanTassel tested the water in Sulphur Run back in November. The results were off the charts for 15 different chemicals.

Chemicals and carcinogens that, in each category, the EPA is documenting at much lower levels.

“We’re testing for the same things as the EPA and are finding really high levels,” VanTassel said.

VanTassel claims the EPA has not done enough testing yet to deem the community safe based on the exposure that her team found in the sediment.

Both of the creeks that run through the town drain into the Ohio River and provide drinking water for millions.

NewsNation asked the EPA for an interview and the agency declined.