(NewsNation) — Environmental activist Erin Brockovich is “disturbed” by an East Palestine official admitting to agency mistakes following February’s train derailment.
“I cannot share with you enough how disturbed I am … that this type of oversight, regulatory failure, lack of transparency and flat out lies is happening to communities when it is their life at stake,” Brockovich said during an exclusive interview on “Elizabeth Vargas Reports.”
According to an audio recording obtained by NewsNation, Mark Durno, the EPA official in charge in East Palestine, confided in a resident that the agency “waited too long” to assess the creeks following February’s train derailment.
“I will be first to acknowledge that we waited way too long to do the assessment of the creeks,” Durno told Pennsylvania resident Joy Marie Mann, who recorded their conversation at the local EPA headquarters.
On the recording, Durno, speaking in his personal and not official capacity, makes several troubling statements regarding the federal response.
Three days after officials burned 116,000 gallons of vinyl chloride over East Palestine, the EPA assured residents it was safe to return home. But soon after, community members started reporting strange illnesses.
When asked whether he sees a correlation between the illnesses and the EPA’s all-clear decision, Durno can be heard on the recording saying, “This is just an opinion. This is way out of my lane. … My position on it is I do believe that some of the ongoing health concerns are from early exposures either that weekend or that next week. I do believe that probably is happening.”
Brockovich continued to advocate that the people of East Palestine deserve the truth.
“This is truly a definition of either insanity or stupidity. Because for 30 years, these agencies were watching it play out live — you’re showing it — of what they do to and the links they go to, to cover up environmental disasters. I just cannot believe that we are still acting this way in this country in 2023,” Brockovich added.
NewsNation’s Rich McHugh contributed to this report.
