US EPA accused of skewing soil testing data after East Palestine disaster

A whistleblower group has claimed that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) helped Norfolk Southern Railway manipulate soil testing data after the catastrophic 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, to hide the scale of the disaster’s environmental contamination.

In February 2023, a Norfolk Southern freight train carrying tonnes of industrial chemicals derailed and began leaking its contents, which then burned for more than two days before authorities decided to perform ‘controlled burns’ of several railcars containing cargoes including vinyl chloride, which the EPA approved.

Now the Government Accountability Project (GAP) has published a 7 March 2023 letter from Ralph Dollhopf, who has served as an EPA ‘on-scene coordinator’ for decades, to Marc Ferries, the chief executive of Project Navigator – an environmental consulting management firm that specialises in Superfund site remediation. The email, which was obtained through a freedom of information request, appears to show that the agency relied on the rail firm’s testing methods and agreed not to test for five organochlorine compounds – 2,3,4,6-tetrachlorophenol, 1,2,4,5-tetrachlorobenzene, pentachlorobenzene, 1,2,3-trichlorobenzene and 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene – in its soil sampling plan. These compounds can be indicators for dioxin formation, according to GAP.

The letter, which was also sent to Norfolk Southern attorneys, doesn’t offer any scientific justification for deciding not to screen for those five chemicals, says Lesley Pacey, GAP’s senior environmental officer. But she suggests that the EPA’s reasons might include claims they were irrelevant to vinyl chloride – the principal cargo on the derailed train – as well as concerns about analytical cost or complexity, and a desire to downplay the extent of the contamination caused by the accident.

Ignoring ‘complex, chaotic chemistry’

‘EPA may argue that these specific compounds aren’t expected byproducts of burning vinyl chloride. But that would ignore the complex, chaotic chemistry of high-temperature combustion of chlorinated compounds,’ Pacey tells Chemistry World, adding that vinyl chloride can undergo rapid polymerisation reactions when exposed to heat.

Further, she emphasises that some of the compounds the EPA agreed would not be tested for, like tetrachlorophenol and trichlorobenzenes, can be precursors of dioxins, and their presence could suggest more serious contamination.

While Pacey acknowledges that federal agencies sometimes remove chemicals from screening lists to reduce analytical burden, she says these specific compounds are routinely included in standard EPA testing. She also argues that cost savings should never override public health concerns during disasters.

In response to GAP’s allegations, an EPA spokesperson said the agency is ‘very concerned’ by claims that have come to light over the past few months. ‘The Trump administration is committed to maximum transparency and as such we intend to conduct a thorough review of decisions made in the aftermath of the train derailment,’ the agency official continued. ‘We will work to ensure the health and safety of the people of East Palestine.’

Meanwhile, it was announced on 29 July that Norfolk Southern will be acquired by larger rival Union Pacific in an $85 billion deal. If approved, this would be the largest ever buyout in the sector.

But the Alliance for Chemical Distribution is opposing the merger. The trade group’s president and chief executive, Eric Byer, said prior similar rail mergers have led the chemical distribution industry’s customers to pay ‘increasingly high rates for unreliable and inadequate service’. He urged the Surface Transportation Board, which has economic regulatory oversight of US railways, to block the deal, arguing that ‘a transcontinental mega-merger’ will benefit the merging rail companies and investors, at the expense of chemical distribution companies.