EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (NewsNation) — Many residents of East Palestine, Ohio, are feeling forgotten. The rural town is still grappling with a train derailment that some say could impact them for decades.
Ten of the 50 train cars that derailed Feb. 3 were carrying hazardous materials. The Environmental Protection Agency identified at least four chemicals that were on board: vinyl chloride, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate and isobutylene. Officials recently tried to clear some of the chemicals with a controlled burn.
Some members of the community have reported unusual odors, sickness or a burning sensation in their eyes. Jenna Giannios says she has noticed that her lingering cough has worsened after the derailment.
“I might have had a cough a little bit before this, but it hasn’t gone away. It just seems to be getting worse,” Giannios told NewsNation host Leland Vittert in an interview. “We kept our kids home from school for a day or two … that’s about as long as we could because they need to go to school, right? It doesn’t seem like that anybody really cares that we’re living in such a toxic environment and then the long-term impacts, as well.”
Even with her cough, Giannios is most worried about the drinking water in East Palestine. She says she is keeping her family from drinking the water in an effort to keep them safe, which has made them turn to bottled water.
“My biggest concern right now, it’d be the drinking water. I think the air quality … it is what it is. It’s maybe dissipated into the environment. But at this point, I won’t drink the water. We’re drinking bottled water. But we really don’t have a choice,” Giannios said.
Since Giannios is roughly 10 miles from the derailment site, she says she is receiving little help and having to pay for her own water despite the derailment. She explained that most assistance has gone to residents within one mile of the derailment site.
Vittert questioned: “You’re 10 miles from 10 train cars of toxic waste that spilled out into rivers and the drinking water supply. Norfolk Southern makes a lot of money. Don’t you think they should be paying for it?”
Giannios thinks Norfolk Southern should step up to the plate.
“I think there’s a big opportunity for Norfolk Southern to step up and dictate the outcome of this situation. I think they’ve offered the city, like, $25,000. And residents that are, like, 1.01 miles outside of the evacuation zone don’t qualify for anything,” Giannios said.
In response, she created the “United for East Palestine” Facebook group to gather resources for those more directly effected by the incident.
Giannios’ is just one of the stories of those feeling the aftermath of the derailment.
In wake of the incident, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Tuesday called on Congress to address why people are not warned when trains transporting potentially toxic materials are moving through their communities.
“Even though some railcars had hazardous materials on board, and while most of them did not, that’s why it was not categorized as a high hazardous material train. Frankly, if this is true — and I’m told it’s true — this is absurd,” DeWine said.
Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) says the Ohio derailment shows that more rail regulations are needed across the country and that current regulations are antiquated.
The regulations “simply don’t require that the rail companies provide that kind of information or provide the cars and the system to deal with chemicals of like this, it may not be high hazard until becomes very, very hazardous,” Garamendi said. “So, we (Congress) need to really get at this. I’ve been trying to do it now for almost a decade without success and that is very frustrating to me. But it is also extremely dangerous for Americans that are anywhere near a rail line.”
Garamendi says rail companies and the chemical industry have beaten back any attempt to implement stronger regulations around the transport of hazardous materials.
“Clearly the Department of Transportation, beginning way back in the Obama administration didn’t come forward fast enough to put in place the requirements and regulations that these materials be transported safely. Now the Trump administration totally stopped it. The Obama administration was moving forward. OK, they didn’t get it done. Trump just stopped it. And now here we are with the Biden administration. And we need to get this thing done, we need to have very strict regulations put in place on the transportation of hazardous materials,” Garamendi said.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre backed the administration’s handling of the derailment.
“The administration has been in close touch with local (officials) on the ground to make sure that their concerns are being met,” Jean-Pierre said.
Still, Garamendi believes if stronger regulations were in place at the time of the derailment, the aftereffects could have been significantly weaker.
“There is absolutely no reason except the delay and obfuscation by the rail industry, the chemical and petroleum industries that the material was on a single-walled tank car. It should have and could have if the regulations were in place been a double wall. Yes, it would have been a puncture, but not into the material,” Garamendi said.
He continued: “We absolutely have to have this done. My message to (Transportation) Secretary Buttigieg is: ‘Kick some ass in your department. Get these regulations done.’”
Residents in the East Palestine area are expected to share more of their concerns at the next town hall meeting Wednesday evening in the high school gym.
NewsNation’s Markie Martin and Sean Noone contributed to this report.