EXCLUSIVE Audio: EPA Official Admits Norfolk Southern Misled Ohio and Pennsylvania Residents That Air Was Safe After Derailment, Chemical Detonation
"Oh my God," EPA official said about NS declaring air safe in East Palestine; official also admits EPA failed to adequately warn residents of health risks and that there are "scientific uncertainties"
Status Coup has reported ON-THE-GROUND in East Palestine, Ohio and western Pennsylvania eight times in the 21 months since the Norfolk Southern derailment and chemical detonation that sickened many residents. We pledge to continue investigating and covering this important story. Please support this independent investigative reporting.
Nearly two years after the disastrous Norfolk Southern train derailment and chemical detonation of 1.1 million pounds of toxic vinyl chloride over East Palestine, Ohio and Pennsylvania, Status Coup has obtained exclusive audio in which the EPA’s top official in East Palestine admitted Norfolk Southern misled residents about the safety of the air in their community after the railroad behemoth blew up five cars of vinyl chloride; the EPA and Norfolk Southern failed to properly warn residents about the health risks they faced following the disaster; the EPA should have provided temporary relocation sooner, and that there are “too many scientific uncertainties” to know what the long-term health risks posed to residents are.
The admissions, made by Mark Durno, the EPA’s on-scene coordinator in East Palestine, directly contradicted health and safety assurances—made for 21 months—by the EPA, the Ohio EPA, Norfolk Southern, and more recently, attorneys representing victims in East Palestine and Pennsylvania. Vinyl chloride is a carcinogenic gas linked to a rare form of liver cancer as well as brain cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, lymphoma, leukemia, and increased risk of miscarriages and birth defects.
“When I saw on TV the CEO of Norfolk Southern [Alan Shaw] come out and say the air is safe I remember thinking to myself, ‘well that’s not going to go over well…you never say that’,” Durno told Christina Siceloff, a Pennsylvania resident who lives six miles from the derailment/detonation. Later in the conversation, which occurred on October 11th, Durno circled back to Norfolk Southern’s assurances that the air was safe: “I still remember the day I was watching the television [and Norfolk Southern’s CEO said] the air is safe…like oh my god,” Durno said incredulously. In September, Norfolk Southern fired Shaw over an unrelated personal matter.
AUDIO of conversation between EPA’s Mark Durno and Christina Siceloff":
Durno further criticized Norfolk Southern’s “all clear” proclamation made after the derailment/detonation, which the EPA parroted, arguing that all levels of government, and the railroad company, should have warned residents—before they returned to their homes—that they might be affected by “low level chemicals.”
“I wish the whole of the responding community; us [the EPA], local government, state government, Norfolk Southern, everybody would have said these acrylate compounds, they stink to [the] high heavens, and even though we’re not seeing them above our action levels, it still smells here and you may be sensitive to those low level chemicals or those odors. That would have been the right way to do it; apparently they didn’t do it that way…
Durno also acknowledged the EPA’s failure to sufficiently warn residents of health risks linked to the chemicals engulfing their communities—and that Norfolk Southern and the agency should have set up temporary relocation for affected residents sooner.
“One of the things, when we look back at the way that we described risk out here, was that I wish that we would have done a better job helping, especially the people immediately local, understand what they were dealing with; they came into town and they smelled chemicals. Well, if you smell chemicals, then you’re exposed to chemicals, even though they’re well below our action levels, they’re still there and you’re still exposed, right? If I could go back and change one thing, when we set up the temporary relocation program—which we did a month after the derailment—I wish we would have done that early on.”
Durno’s admission stunned Siceloff, who like many residents in East Palestine, Ohio and earby Pennsylvania, has suffered from health issues ever since the derailment/detonation.
“Finally, after nearly two years, someone is being open and honest with us,” Siceloff told Status Coup about Durno’s comments. She went on to criticize both the EPA and Norfolk Southern for misleading residents for 21 months.
“The railroad had responsibilities to our communities and they could have at least owned up to their irresponsibilities and been honest with us about coming home or being home. Instead, they only worried about making money and opening their tracks. The EPA also has a responsibility to protect human health and the environment. Instead, for nearly two years now, they have let the corporation do what they wanted despite people saying they were—and are—sick. How can we trust that we can “move on” and work on recovery when we don’t know if we can trust that this won’t happen again, trust that someone will be honest with us, and trust that our current and future health and environment isn’t in jeopardy?
Durno’s private admissions also shocked experts Status Coup spoke with.
“They were all wrong! It’s still not safe!" George Thompson, an independent toxicologist with 55 years of experience, told Status Coup about Durno’s comments. “Residents and business owners still need to be re-located at Norfolk Southern’s expense.”
Thompson has conducted extensive research into the East Palestine derailment and chemical detonation; his analysis found the disaster, and combustion of vinyl chloride, produced as many as 120 chemicals linked to cancer. According to his findings, the chemical plume—produced after Norfolk Southern conducted a prohibited open chemical burn of five cars of vinyl chloride—spread to as many as eight states and Canada. The veteran toxicologist said it was clear, soon after the derailment/detonation, that Norfolk Southern and the EPA were misleading residents that their community was safe.
“This [claim] was made without any data, since insufficient time had elapsed to sample, ship, analyze, and evaluate risks from air, water, and soil contamination to the residents in the East Palestine area,” Thompson said. He zeroed in Durno’s claim that the EPA had only detected “low level chemicals” in the air over East Palestine and Pennsylvania—levels Durno stressed were under the EPA’s “action level,” or level of chemical contamination that would force remediation.
“[This] does not take into account [residents] exposure to a cocktail of chemicals, many of which produce the same effect that may result in synergistic toxicity,” Thompson said. He added that the EPA “grossly underestimated the unprecedented diverse spectrum of highly hazardous chemical exposures”— over 8.5 million pounds in total—that had the potential to “contaminate the total environment, including the food chain, for over eight to 16 states.”
Thompson argued the EPA’s response has been deeply flawed— and based on an outdated toxicological paradigm—in which the agency is still regulating based on the risks that individual chemicals pose to humans. More simply put: the EPA’s response, and air, water, and soil testing that’s been done in East Palestine and Pennsylvania, looked through a narrow lens of human exposure to individual chemicals—rather than human exposure to a cocktail of multiple chemicals all at once.
Durno all-but admitted the same.
“There’s too many scientific uncertainties,” he told Siceloff about ongoing research that is being conducted on the health risks associated with humans being exposed to multiple toxic chemicals simultaneously. Durno acknowledged that early research shows that this “is a real phenomenon.”
“Then why let us stay here?” Siceloff responded, dumbfounded as to why the government would allow residents to remain in the area if there is uncertainty about what the long-term health effects will be for residents. “Why would it make sense to keep people in a place that could kill them in five years?”
Durno responded that the uncertainty about long-term health risks is why the EPA insisted, as part of its $600 million dollar settlement with Norfolk Southern, that there be ongoing health monitoring for residents (many residents Status Coup has spoken to believe that monitoring is insufficient).
Scott Smith, an independent testing expert who’s conducted environmental sampling in East Palestine over 30 times, was blown away by Durno’s comments.
“This is so significant I don’t know exactly where to begin,” he told Status Coup, adding that the EPA official’s admissions—which are at odds with the EPA’s public claims—expose what “appears to be a cover up” between the government, Norfolk Southern, and plaintiffs attorneys. “They’re"all working together under the undue influence of the multi-billion corporation” to sell out the victims, Smith argued.
The plaintiffs’ attorneys Smith referenced recently finalized a controversial $600 million settlement between Norfolk Southern and the EPA. As Status Coup reported, residents represented by those attorneys expressed concerns about a rapid change in their posture; one that pivoted from arguing East Palestine and surrounding areas were chemically contaminated—with sick residents—to putting forth a chemical industry expert to claim that the disaster would result in minimal future health issues.
Siceloff asked Durno why, from the beginning after the disaster, the EPA did not tell residents that they had been exposed to harmful toxic chemicals.
“Well, we never said that you weren’t,” Durno responded.
Lesley Pacey, an investigator with the Government Accountability Project, began seeking documents from the EPA about the disaster soon after it occurred. Durno’s private comments should lead to a “shakedown of the entire system,” she told Status Coup. The EPA “knew all along” that residents were being exposed to levels of chemicals that could harm residents, Pacey said. Nonetheless, she continued, the EPA allowed Norfolk Southern to “make the decisions, circumventing their duty to guard human health and the environment from dangerous chemicals.”
Based on Durno’s admissions, Pacey called for Congressional hearings and an investigation by the Inspector General.
Status Coup has reported on-the-ground in East Palestine eight times in the 21 months since the derailment and detonation; we have interviewed dozens of previously health residents who are now suffering from a variety of health issues. Here is a partial list of those ailments.
Cancer
Seizures
Strokes
Kidney issues
Nose bleeds
Blood in urine
Bloody stool
Body tingling
Tingling lips, numb lips
Eye pain, burning eyes, red eyes, blurred vision
Dementia
Headaches, migraines
Feeling delirious, feeling drunk
Dizziness
Fatigue
Hair loss, burning scalp
Early puberty in boys, premature menstrual cycles in young girls
Memory loss, forgetfulness, confusion, decreased alertness
Depression, anxiety, PTSD
In response to our questions, a Norfolk Southern spokesperson said, “I do not hear Durno stating that Norfolk Southern lied to the public.” Status Coup followed up noting that Durno clearly stated Norfolk Southern misled the public about the safety of the air after the derailment (and asked additional questions). The spokesperson did not further respond.
The EPA did not respond to Status Coup’s request for comment or answer our detailed list of questions.
Status Coup is one of the only national news outlets continuing to investigate and break news on the chemical disaster in East Palestine, Ohio and western Pennsylvania. We have reported on-the-ground in East Palestine eight times and would like to stay on this story. This investigative reporting takes a lot of resources; please support Status Coup as a member for as low as $5 dollars a month.