EPA official says agency made mistakes in East Palestine

(NewsNation) — An EPA official says the federal agency should have tested the creeks near East Palestine sooner following February’s toxic train derailment, according to an audio recording obtained by NewsNation.

“I will be first to acknowledge that we waited way too long to do the assessment of the creeks,” Mark Durno, the EPA official in charge in East Palestine, told Pennsylvania resident Joy Marie Mann— who recorded their conversation at the local EPA headquarters.

Watch the full report on “Elizabeth Vargas Reports” on Wednesday at 6 p.m. Eastern. Click here to find out how to watch.

On the recording, Durno, who was speaking in his personal and not official capacity, makes a number of troubling statements regarding the federal response.

Just three days after officials burned 116,000 gallons of vinyl chloride over East Palestine, the EPA assured residents it was safe to return home. But soon after, community members started reporting strange illnesses.

When asked whether he sees a correlation between the illnesses and the EPA’s all-clear decision, Durno can be heard on the recording: “This is just an opinion. This is way out of my lane… My position on it is I do believe that some of the ongoing health concerns are from early exposures either that weekend or that next week. I do believe that probably is happening.”

As for the groundwater, he says it appears to be safe, for now.

“I am 100% confident in the groundwater, I am not saying I am 100% confident in the groundwater in 10 years,” Durno said.

However, he also acknowledged the testing limits are high, which means chemicals detected below those levels may not show up.

“We are testing for full scan TLP analysis for volatiles plus other contaminants and like I said most of the results we have are non-detect… We can’t even see them, the analytical cell. The analytical methods don’t go down into parts per quadrillion,” he said.

The EPA recently ordered Norfolk Southern to do more cleanup in the creeks and is requiring the railroad to conduct a “comprehensive investigation of oil-contaminated sediments” in order to “determine if more cleanup is necessary to ensure any potential long-term impacts are addressed.

The order came just three weeks after a NewsNation report showed the rainbow sheen in Leslie Run is still there more than eight months after the incident.

Both Ohio senators have also asked EPA Administrator Michael Regan to approve testing inside people’s homes.

When asked about indoor testing, Durno said it’s complicated.

“There are a whole lot of chemicals that are in people’s homes that have nothing to do with the train derailment. We go in there and start sampling, we’re going to see it and I assure you that once that data is present, (people will say), ‘Why are these chemicals in my house?’”

Lesley Pacey, an investigator with the Government Accountability Project, isn’t satisfied with the EPA’s response.

“These are not acceptable answers from the EPA, an organization that’s entrusted to protect the health of the community and that has the money and the manpower to do so,” she said.

Pacey has listened to the full audio recording and says the EPA’s tactics seem aimed at not finding the truth and not revealing the truth to the public.

“It’s just really shocking to hear these things and very concerning because the EPA’s job is to take care of the environment and human health, and it sounds like they’re not really sure they did that based on what they’re hearing now with these health symptoms,” she said.

Stephen Lester, science director with the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, agrees. He thinks the EPA is failing its core mission: To protect public health.

“They’re not doing that in East Palestine. They’re not doing that to protect somebody, I believe. I don’t know who, but it’s certainly not to protect the community in East Palestine,” he said.

For residents, the stakes couldn’t be higher.

“People are really sick here, and I think the EPA understands that,” Pacey said. “Why they haven’t done the testing that they need to do and inform the public about what’s going on is the real question.”

The EPA declined NewsNation’s interview request and did not comment.