EXCLUSIVE: EPA Hid Discovery of Toxic Vinyl Chloride in East Palestine, Won't Disclose Levels They Detected

"We direct Norfolk Southern to deal with it,” EPA official told PA resident after admitting EPA found vinyl chloride in soil at derailment site. "They're hiding things they find," chemist tells us

Since the catastrophic Norfolk Southern derailment and detonation of 116,000 gallons of toxic vinyl chloride over East Palestine, Ohio in February 2023, the EPA has insisted its testing hasn’t detected the toxicant in its testing in the small town, but Status Coup has learned the EPA detected vinyl chloride in soil at the derailment site—and did not notify the public.

“Regarding the VC detection, the whole reason that we are doing this massive confirmation sampling effort is to verify that the cleanup was complete,” Mark Durno, the EPA’s on-scene coordinator in East Palestine, texted on May 20 to Christina Siceloff, a Pennsylvania resident who lives 5.9 miles away from the derailment and chemical detonation (their full text exchange at the bottom of this story). Durno told Siceloff the EPA detected vinyl chloride on the north side of the railroad track at the derailment site —the discovery of which contradicted prior EPA assurances that the derailment site was “completely cleared of hazardous contamination” and was “filled with clean soil.”

Durno told Siceloff that if the EPA detected a concerning level of chemicals “we direct Norfolk Southern to deal with it”; he added that after detecting the soil contaminated by vinyl chloride, the agency dug it out.

The EPA would not answer Status Coup on the date it discovered the vinyl chloride, only stating it was “earlier this spring” (sources told SC soil digging at the derailment site occurred in early May). The agency would also not answer our questions as to what the levels and concentration of vinyl chloride it detected were; how deep into the soil it was; if groundwater may have been compromised; why the agency did not notify the public; and if it had detected vinyl chloride anywhere else but didn’t notify the public. Instead, an EPA spokesperson told Status Coup the agency detected a “low-level” of vinyl chloride “nowhere near any structures” and conducted a “minor removal” of the soil that posed “no risk to public health.”

Durno echoed this, telling Siceloff that digging up the contaminated soil posed no risk of it spreading into the air. “The levels are so low any off-gassing would not be a concern—even to sensitive populations. Of course, this can’t be confirmed because EPA would not provide the levels it detected. When asked by Siceloff if the EPA had notified the public it detected vinyl chloride, Durno answered no, rationalizing that, “the VC was just above the very conservative screening level.”

Several experts Status Coup spoke to vehemently disagreed with the EPA and condemned them for not notifying residents.

Harvard-educated chemist Stephen Lester criticized the EPA’s “minimization” of digging out soil contaminated with vinyl chloride; “oversimplification” that they detected low levels of vinyl chloride; and accused the agency of hiding critical public health threats from the public.

“The idea that it will ‘not be a concern’ to excavate the contaminated soil does not make sense; it flies in the face of what has been occurring in EP since the derailment. Many people in the town became sensitized to the chemicals released into the air and waterways by the derailment. Digging this area up will release VC into the air and will pose health risks to the people living nearby, especially to the people who have become sensitized to the chemicals. This should not be ignored or brushed lightly aside. They’re reluctant to share information and they’re hiding things they find. They should do an announcement with something like that, to share it with the public, and to share what they found in terms of the concentration. If they were to share the [contamination] numbers, other people might have a different opinion. They don’t want me, or anybody else who doesn’t think along the same lines as they do, to see these numbers because we might share a different opinion—and that creates political and community problems for them.”

Judith Zelikoff, a toxicologist at N.Y.U.’s medical school, echoed that concern.

“Vinyl chloride released to the soil is expected to volatilize or leach into groundwater. Most vinyl chloride that is spilled in soil or surface water (like lakes, ponds, and rivers) evaporates into the air quickly. VC in the air breaks down in a few days, resulting in the formation of several other chemicals including hydrochloric acid, formaldehyde, and carbon dioxide. Once it is in the environment, vinyl chloride is broken down by sunlight in a few days and changed into these other chemicals.”

Renowned environmental activist Erin Brockovich concurred that digging out the vinyl chloride posed a risk to nearby residents. “VC is dangerous—which is why they were aerating the streams,” Brockovich told Status Coup. She added that the EPA’s “silence is their response,” referring to the agency not notifying residents after it detected the vinyl chloride and not providing specifics about the quantity that was found.

Lesley Pacey, an environmental investigator with the Governmental Accountability Project, denounced the agency.

“The EPA has a duty to protect public health and a duty to warn residents of potential health threats. The moment EPA found the vinyl chloride, they should have alerted the public. And now that the information has leaked out, it's time to come clean about all the details of the vinyl chloride discovery and remediation.”

According to the National Cancer Institute, exposure to vinyl chloride poses an “increased risk of a rare form of liver cancer (hepatic angiosarcoma), as well as primary liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma), brain and lung cancers, lymphoma, and leukemia). Beyond the direct threat of vinyl chloride exposure, when it’s burned, it produces carbon monoxide, hydrogen chloride, carbon dioxide, and phosgene—the latter being a chemical weapon banned from use in war after World War 1.

Zelikoff stressed the importance of knowing what the levels of vinyl chloride the EPA detected were. “THE DOSE MAKES THE POISON,” she said. She also emphasized she had “great concern about the phosgene that was released during the train explosion.”

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Lester, the Science Director at Center for Health, Environment, highlighted the need to know how deep in the soil vinyl chloride was detected given that changes in weather can affect the movement— upward into the air or downward into groundwater—of the toxicant. Lester found it troubling that vinyl chloride was detected in East Palestine over a year after the derailment and chemical detonation—cautioning it likely meant the area it was detected has “likely been leaking vinyl chloride into the air and groundwater since the derailment.”

Since the derailment and chemical detonation, East Palestine residents, and nearby Pennsylvania residents, have developed serious ongoing health issues. Through six reporting trips to East Palestine, Status Coup has been made aware of a variety of health problems residents are experiencing. The following are just some of what we’ve been told:

• Seizures and strokes

• Bloody noses, blood in urine, bloody stool

• Headaches, dizziness, feelings of deliriousness, brain fog, memory loss, cognitive issues

• Nausea, diarrhea, vomiting

• Body tingling

• Burning eyes, burning nose, burning scalp

• Severe fatigue

• Depression, anxiety, PTSD

• Changes in women’s menstrual cycles

Some have been diagnosed with cancers; Wayne O'Connell, a Pennsylvania resident who lived eight minutes from the derailment and detonation, developed breast cancer—rare in men—leading him to undergo a double mastectomy. Far less serious: in my first reporting trop to East Palestine in April, I developed a splitting headache, feelings of deliriousness, and pressure under my eyes while conducting interviews inside a home and outside on a residents’ front porch (I don’t normally suffer from any of these ailments)

Robert Kroutil, an EPA contractor—who recently became a whistleblower after revealing the EPA’s alarmingly delayed reaction to the East Palestine disaster—criticized the agency for not notifying the public after it detected vinyl chloride in soil. “They have an absolute duty to warn residents of impending actions that might threaten the public health.  I am extremely worried about the transparency of their actions for the chemical vapor monitoring required to alert the public to the threat and presence of a chemical exposure.”

Lester, an expert who’s been fighting against environmental contamination dating back to Love Canal in the 1970s, said it was “extraordinary” to find a pocket of vinyl chloride over a year after the derailment and chemical detonation. “VC is highly volatile and some of it will dissolve in the water (groundwater), so you would not expect to still find it. The initial concentration must have been substantial. There very likely may be other pockets similar to the one they found.”

Chase Kinder, an East Palestine resident for 30 years with degrees in chemistry and biology, told Status Coup the EPA was “100 percent bullshitting the people…these are legacy chemicals that don’t go away.”

Durno told Siceloff that the EPA did not detect vinyl chloride in the air after digging it out. But experts have questioned the EPA’s air testing, noting that the agency has not been using the proper equipment to test for vinyl chloride and other toxicants in the air following the derailment and detonation (Durno himself acknowledged this soon after the derailment).

Lester also noted that the EPA’s recent detection of vinyl chloride casts further doubt on the CDC’s decision not to test residents for vinyl chloride in the aftermath of the derailment and chemical detonation. As Status Coup broke in 2023, the CDC was advising doctors in East Palestine not to test residents for vinyl chloride, claiming it passed through the human body after 24 hours and would not be detectable afterwards.

“Their statement about VC in the body refers to the body metabolizing the VC, but that only holds if the person is no longer exposed to VC,” Lester said, noting that the recent detection of vinyl chloride shows that residents are still being exposed to the toxicant.

The text messages from May 20 between EPA’s Mark Durno and PA resident Christina Siceloff:

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