East Palestine residents condemn EPA after whistleblower claims

(NewsNation) — A whistleblower has stepped forward regarding the Environmental Protection Agency’s response to the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, saying the agency deviated from normal procedures when testing for chemical contamination.

Scientist Robert Kroutil spent four decades helping to create the ASPECT program, a high-tech plane the EPA uses to detect chemical compounds in the air. Now, Kroutil is saying the deployment of ASPECT in East Palestine was the “most unusual” he’s ever seen.

East Palestine residents Linda and Russ Murphy joined “Elizabeth Vargas Reports” to discuss the whistleblower’s claims, saying the EPA is still hiding things.

“Not many people have the courage to stand up and do what he did. They’re more willing to stay silent and stay safe. We’ve not been silent, and we’re definitely not feeling very safe. I am just grateful that he did it, and we’ve known all along that things just don’t add up. And this is, I’m sure, the tip of the iceberg. When people hide things, it’s because they have something to hide, and the EPA has been hiding things since Day 1,” Linda said.

Kroutil says the EPA’s protocol is to have the ASPECT plane in the air within hours of a chemical disaster. Instead, it was deployed five days later.

Linda, who has logged several hours in the EPA office, tells NewsNation that the person in charge of that flight had their phone shut off for several days due to a migraine, making her unreachable by phone.

“Why on earth have somebody shutting their phone off and have that kind of power to make these decisions over human lives? It’s beyond criminal. It’s evil. They haven’t said what is going on,” Linda said.

Both Linda and Russ say they continue to experience health problems as the community fights to get answers over a year later.

“We’re constantly feeling uneasy on our feet or dizzy, flushed, trouble focusing, don’t see quite as well as we should be. There’s a lot of stuff going on. The headaches; I still get that funky taste in my mouth, that sweet, very odd, tingling, shortness of breath,” Russ said.

In a statement Tuesday, the EPA said it didn’t request the plane until Feb. 5 — two days after the derailment — and it arrived in Pittsburgh late that day from its base in Texas. Due to icing conditions, the flight crew decided it wasn’t safe to fly it on the day of the vent-and-burn, but it’s unclear why the plane didn’t make a pass over the derailment on its way into the area.

EPA Response Coordinator Mark Durno has also said he believes the agency had enough sensors on the ground to effectively monitor the air and water as the derailed cars burned.