Ohio Train Disaster: Initial Tests for Dioxins Show Massive Longterm Cancer Threat

Norfolk Southern's derailment is creating deadly longterm health impacts that are being ignored by President Biden, the EPA, and the media. The people pay the price.

This is a bombshell: initial laboratory tests for cancer-causing dioxins at the site of Norfolk Southern's Ohio train disaster show the deadly chemical at levels 14 times higher than what other states consider legal and 170 or so times higher than the maximum threshold for the chemical that the EPA considers safe. Make no mistake about it: the entire area around the derailment where thousands of people live is a hazardous waste site. This fact is being largely ignored by President Biden, the EPA, and most of the media with disastrous consequences for the thousands of families impacted.

This Guardian article documents the latest developments. Experts say the tests found “dioxin levels hundreds of times greater than the exposure threshold above which Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) scientists in 2010 found poses cancer risks.” Independent scientists say dioxins will persist in the environment around the derailment and in the bodies of those affected for decades. Almost all of the major media have ignored this story. Reporting on the fallout from the train wreck has slowed to a trickle as the Trump show takes center stage yet again on the networks.

The EPA and its Chief Michael Regan know of the mortal danger now facing residents and animals in this area of the country. But they won't acknowledge it for political reasons partly because of “corporate capture” and partly because the agency has no clue on how to manage the political fallout. Plus, to acknowledge the truth would make President Biden “own” the issue and they don’t want that — another example of how the Democratic party repeatedly leaves itself exposed when it comes to working people. As a result, the Biden Administration and the EPA are letting Norfolk Southern get away with a mere slap on the wrist for a mass industrial poisoning of thousands and thousands of families across multiple counties.

Norfolk's derailment happened over six weeks ago and the EPA still refuses to test for the cancer-causing dioxins. Yet the agency absurdly claims the area is "safe" for local residents and has been making that claim without adequate testing since three days after the “bomb train” derailed in East Palestine on February 3. In fact, the EPA still has not designed or implemented any sort of comprehensive testing program as part of what appears to be a policy of willful blindness.

The EPA has all but outsourced the damages assessment and remediation to Norfolk Southern which is a flagrant conflict of interest and a complete abdication of responsibility by the agency. The rail company could give a damn about public health. All it cares about now is managing the public relations and political fallout. Norfolk Southern itself has yet to test for dioxins or phosgene, another deadly gas produced by its detonation of the chemicals in the derailed train cars. To illustrate how bad things have become, the initial tests for dioxins were taken not by the EPA or the rail company but by the state of Indiana given that Norfolk plans to dispose of some of the contaminated soil in that state.

The people of East Palestine and nearby communities know better than to trust the false word of authorities. The dead fish, sick animals, skin rashes, nausea, dizziness, headaches, shortness of breath and other ailments being reported tell them there is a severe danger to public health. These are also the telltale signs — “leading indicators” in health parlance — that there are far worse health problems to come in the coming months and years.

To be clear, this disaster was not an accident. It was a result of Norfolk Southern spending $18 billion on stock buy-backs to enrich Wall Street rather than invest in modernizing the antiquated braking systems on its trains and implementing other safety measures that would have avoided the entire incident. And the spewing of dioxins into the air were the result of a reckless decision by Norfolk CEO Alan Shaw to detonate the vinyl chloride on the train into a giant mushroom cloud which spread over hundreds of miles. The combustion caused by the detonation — a cheaper “disposal” method that allowed the rails to reopen quickly — is what created the dioxins that the EPA is ignoring.

Residents deserve so much better. President Biden has not shown up in Ohio literally and figuratively. But it’s not too late. He should go to Ohio as I’ve been saying for weeks and demand accountability from the company. He needs to insist that Norfolk Southern immediately cancel its stock buy-backs and voluntarily create a $20 billion compensation fund for victims just as BP did after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. (That happened after President Obama raised hell publicly.) If I were President, I'd also find a way to take over the company to ensure it is run safely and until all of those harmed are fully compensated. The federal government temporarily took over General Motors in 2009 to save it from itself; the same needs to happen now with Norfolk Southern.

Does the President have the imagination and courage to make this happen? The people in the affected communities are waiting.