(NewsNation) —The EPA is not backing down after scrutiny over whether the agency signed off on the burning of the 116,000 gallons of vinyl chloride in a Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
In a statement to NewsNation, the agency say it was not in consultation on the final decision to burn five tank cars full of vinyl chloride.
“The local fire chief made the decision to do the controlled burn in consultation with Norfolk Southern, local law enforcement, and response officials from Ohio,” that agency said. “EPA was acting in a supporting role — not in a consultation capacity.”
However, Norfolk Southern told NewsNation the EPA was involved and that the decision to burn was made “after discussions and consultation with Governor DeWine, Governor Shapiro, Ohio state agencies, Pennsylvania state agencies, U.S. EPA, U.S., and local first responders.
On March 9, Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw told Congress, “that decision was made by unified command, under the direction of the incident commander.”
The incident commander was Fire Chief Drabek, Shaw said.
“Having him make that monumental decision doesn’t seem logical to me,” former EPA Administrator Judith Enck said. “Further, I was in a meeting with the EPA recently and asked them why they signed off on the decision to do the open burn. And they told me they did not sign off.”
NewsNation has obtained a video of a March meeting, during which the EPA said the same.
“So we did not authorize that,” EPA On-Scene Coordinator Mark Durno said. “When we are in that phase of the emergency, we don’t make that decision.”
Resident Jami Cozza organized that meeting and now heads a local council fighting for justice.
“Obviously there’s no transparency and there’s no communication among the different agencies that are on the ground,” Cozza said. “The EPA told us that they were consulted about the controlled burn. They were in the room when that decision was made to do the controlled burn.”
She says they’re now pointing fingers to take the blame off themselves for “a poor decision that was made.”
“It wasn’t just a poor decision,” Cozza said. “It was a poor decision that affects people’s lives. There’s no room for error when you’re dealing with people’s lives. This isn’t a ‘whoops, I backed into your car.’ This is a, ‘whoops, now your children may have cancer and infertility or possibly could have died.'”
As she spoke, Cozza became more frustrated with the situation she and her community find themselves in.
“We feel so abandoned,” she said through tears. “People have lost their jobs. People have sick children. People are going through divorce. People are dealing with this relocation and jumping from hotel to hotel. We’re dealing with our own community members telling us, ‘Well if you’re sick, get out.'”
Cozza said her town is now divided.
“They just keep throwing money at these businesses,” she said. “But where’s the money for the people that need … to get out?”
What has been done, hasn’t been enough, Cozza said.
“The local salon paid to have people’s hair cut,” she said. “That’s not helping the community. That’s promoting Norfolk Southern’s narrative of ‘everything is OK. Come back to town.’ You give my kid cancer and infertility, and you want to give her an ice cream cone? That isn’t helping us. That’s adding an insult to injury.”
“What people need are vinyl chloride tests,” Cozza continued. “We need air purifiers for our houses. We need independent (agencies), because we obviously can’t trust the EPA. They’re not giving the community what they need. They’re using our businesses…to create this narrative that we’re OK and we’re not OK.”
Environmental advocate Erin Brockovich was on the ground following the crash in February, and she said there has been a serious lack of transparency.
“I think it’s shameful how our agencies have handled a train derailment and almost left this community, their children, their future and their health, left to dry,” Brockovich said Friday on “Elizabeth Vargas Reports.”