The Biden administration is facing accusations of not publicly releasing concerning health information related to the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment, including internal warnings about the toxic burn plume’s potential to cause “cancer clusters,” Lesley Pacey, an investigator with the Government Accountability Project, said.
Newsweek has reached out to Pacey and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for comment via email on Sunday.
Why It Matters
On February 3, 2023, a freight train carrying toxic chemicals—including vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate, ethylhexyl acrylate and ethylene glycol monobutyl—derailed in East Palestine about a quarter mile west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania state line. Some of the cars spilled their toxic load into the nearby waterway which feeds into the Ohio River.
Norfolk Southern and its contractors decided to conduct a controlled burn of the five vinyl chloride tank cars in an effort to limit their volatile nature and future explosions. The controlled burn sent up thick plumes of black smoke, which contained various hazardous chemicals. Officials coned off and evacuated a 1-mile radius around the spill, which was then extended to 2 miles a few days later for residents’ safety.
Up to 540,000 square miles, spanning 16 states surrounding the site in East Palestine, had some traces of the inorganic chemicals released during the disaster, according to a new paper in the journal Environmental Research Letters.
Many residents have criticized the government response, saying it fell short in addressing immediate health risks and long-term safety. They also called out then-President Joe Biden for not showing up earlier enough.
What To Know
Months after the derailment and burn, in September 2023, Biden issued an executive order to ensure that East Palestine residents are “protected now and in the future.”
The order directed FEMA to “oversee long-term recovery efforts in the affected communities and conduct a comprehensive assessment of unmet needs of the affected communities in recovering from the derailment beyond the cleanup work directed by EPA.”
Pacey obtained FEMA documents and emails that revealed the extensive coordination between FEMA, the White House, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Justice, and the National Security Council, which noted the health concerns and unmet needs in East Palestine.
“They also knew that they called this plume a really toxic plume. They knew that there would be the potential for cancer clusters,” Pacey told NewsNation.
In published emails, Pacey showed FEMA noted “the occurrence of a cancer-cluster in [East Palestine] is not zero” and expressed the need for a “tripwire to identify cancer clusters.” Pacey says the cancer cluster discussion went all the way up to the White House but never entered the public sphere.
Pacey included screenshots of several emails sent by James McPherson, the FEMA’s disaster recovery coordinator assigned to oversee the East Palestine response.
The Government Accountability Project on May 20 also published a report that revealed the Biden administration had determined health risks to residents would require at least 20 years of medical monitoring, and the project determined that that the disclosures “point to inevitable health impacts.”
Two whistleblowers in September 2024 criticized the federal government for prematurely declaring the area safe, as well, Dr. George Thompson and Stephen Petty, who called for extensive monitoring and emphasized the threat of cancer clusters following the incident. They deemed claims of “no long-term health impacts” to be premature due to the lack of health assessments completed in the area.
What People Are Saying
Lesley Pacey said in a May 20 statement: “These documents confirm what East Palestine residents have feared: government officials knew about the serious health risks posed by the derailment and controlled burn but deliberately kept this information from the community.”
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told NewsNation in a statement: “Emails of FEMA ignoring a potential cancer cluster breakout in East Palestine, Ohio, under the Biden administration is yet another outrageous example of the gross mismanagement and poor treatment of Americans under the prior administration.”
Kasie Locke, an East Palestine resident, told Newsweek in 2024: “I can’t tell anyone where I live without them having a look of sorrow. Even though day to day we’re trying our best to go about our normal lives in the best way we all can, I will still always have an ill feeling when I think about how the rest of my family’s life is going to go.”
What Happens Next
Norfolk Southern is expected to committee over $1 billion to address the contamination and improve rail safety and operations.
A lawsuit was filed earlier this year that alleged people died because of the derailment and chemical spill.
Vice President JD Vance, a former senator from Ohio, visited the site in February, pledging the community “will not be forgotten, will not be left behind.”
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