Ohio train derailment results in lawsuits, dead animals and lingering questions about toxic chemicals

The fallout continues from the derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border earlier this month, as local residents file lawsuits and some cast doubt on official assurances about air and water quality.

The derailment and evacuation

On Feb. 3, 50 train cars operated by Norfolk Southern derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, a town of about 5,000 people located 50 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. That derailment resulted in a massive fire and Gov. Mike DeWine ordering an evacuation on Sunday, Feb. 5.

"Within the last two hours, a drastic temperature change has taken place in a rail car, and there is now the potential of a catastrophic tanker failure which could cause an explosion with the potential of deadly shrapnel traveling up to a mile,” DeWine said in a statement, adding that those with children in their home who chose not to evacuate would potentially be subject to arrest.

Last Monday, Norfolk Southern released toxic chemicals from five of the derailed tanker cars in an attempt to preempt a larger explosion. One of the chemicals they were most concerned about was vinyl chloride, a colorless gas used in the making of plastic products. According to the National Cancer Institute, exposure to the gas is associated with ​​"with 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." The chemical can also enter water supplies and be ingested.

As they were releasing the chemicals, DeWine and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro issued a wider evacuation order for the area around East Palestine, saying, "The controlled release process involves the burning of the rail cars' chemicals, which will release fumes into the air that can be deadly if inhaled. Based on current weather patterns and the expected flow of the smoke and fumes, anyone who remains in the red affected area is facing grave danger of death. Anyone who remains in the yellow impacted area is at a high risk of severe injury, including skin burns and serious lung damage."

Two days later, DeWine issued a statement that it was safe for residents to return home, saying, "Air quality samples in the area of the wreckage and in nearby residential neighborhoods have consistently showed readings at points below safety screening levels for contaminants of concern. Based on this information, state and local health officials determined that it is now safe for community members to return to their residences." James Justice of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency echoed this, saying, "All of the readings we've been recording in the community have been at normal concentration…Hundreds and hundreds of data points we've collected over the time show the air quality is safe."

The EPA has yet to release a full list of the chemicals potentially released in the crash. Kurt Kollar of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency said that the incident had resulted in the death of fish but that the town’s water supply was safe. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources told Yahoo News Monday that the estimated stream length effected is approximately seven and a half miles and that the spill killed an estimated 3,500 fish.

“Material does and in this case has entered the water way,” Kollar said, “Actions were taken to minimize that. There were detections through laboratory analysis of it, the unfortunate side [effects] of those were immediately toxic to fish but all the information and data to date is that it’s still been protective to drinking water.”

DeWine said Norfolk Southern would pay for testing for private wells supplying rural homes, saying, "It's very understandable you may want that testing done before you go back in your house." The company had initially pledged $25,000 to support "the efforts of the American Red Cross and their temporary community shelters."

“The burden is upon them is to assure the public that what they do everyday is safe,” DeWine said of Norfolk Southern last week.

"We will hold their feet to the fire — Norfolk Southern's feet to the fire, as I say, and make sure that everything is done right," said East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway.

The cause of the derailment is still under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. It is the third freight derailment in the state over the last four months on trains operated by Norfolk Southern. In November, a train derailed in Steubenville, dumping trash into the Ohio River. Officials in Sandusky are still waiting on the company to complete cleanup of an October derailment that spilled paraffin wax and blocked an underpass.

“Engineers from the NTSB Materials Laboratory will examine the rail car wheel and axle that potentially experienced a mechanical issue,” the NTSB told Yahoo News in a statement Monday afternoon. “The tank cars are being decontaminated and NTSB investigators are scheduled to return to Ohio to complete a thorough examination of the tank cars. NTSB investigators continue to review documentation, event recorder data and perform interviews. The preliminary report, which includes all the factual information learned to date, is expected to publish in 30 days.”

Sil Caggiano, a former Battalion Chief with the Youngstown, Ohio Fire Department and a hazardous materials expert, was critical of the response, telling WKBN, "We basically nuked a town with chemicals so we could get a railroad open."

“I was surprised when they quickly told the people they can go back home, but then said if they feel like they want their homes tested they can have them tested. I would’ve far rather they did all the testing,” Caggiano said, adding, “There’s a lot of what ifs, and we’re going to be looking at this thing 5, 10, 15, 20 years down the line and wondering, ‘Gee, cancer clusters could pop up, you know, well water could go bad.’”

Unions have blamed derailments on a new scheduling system and understaffing. Railroad workers attempted to strike last year in order to gain paid sick leave, but the Democratic-controlled Congress passed a law signed by President Biden forcing them back to work, disappointing many labor leaders. Norfolk Southern is one of the rail companies that currently does not offer paid sick leave to its employees.

"They're really just trying to squeeze as much productivity out of these workers as they can," Greg Regan, president of the AFL-CIO's Transportation Trades Department coalition, told the Associated Press. "And when you're focused on timing and rushing, unfortunately sometimes things can fall through the cracks."

East Palestine residents take legal action against Norfolk Southern Railway Co.

Though investigation is still underway, Norfolk Southern is already facing mounting federal and civil class action lawsuits from East Palestine residents demanding accountability – and compensation – for the damages they say they’ve suffered as a result of the accident.

The first of several federal lawsuits was reportedly filed in the U.S. District Court in Youngstown last Tuesday, one day after crews released dangerous chemicals from the derailed train cars that were at risk of exploding. That suit, which is seeking class action status, accuses Norfolk Southern Railway Co. of negligence and seeks at least $5 million in damages from the railroad company for people impacted by the release of toxic chemicals as a result of the derailment.

The plaintiffs include a local business owner, who "suffered damages" as a result of being forced to close up shop during the evacuation, as well as another resident who allegedly "suffered injuries as a direct and proximate result of his exposure to the toxic chemicals and fumes emanating from the accident site," according to WPXI, an NBC News affiliate in Pittsburgh.

Another class action lawsuit filed in federal court last week by two local residents alleges that Norfolk Southern is responsible for causing a decrease in the market value of the plaintiffs' properties which, they contend, may be "uninhabitable for some time" due to the conditions created by the derailment and subsequent evacuation.

In addition to the federal cases, at least one civil class action suit has been filed in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court. The plaintiffs in that case include the operators of two dog kennels in East Palestine. As with the federal lawsuits, the civil complaint accuses Norfolk Southern, as well as personnel aboard the train, of failing to address mechanical issues that appear to have caused the derailment. According to the Steubenville, Ohio Herald-Star, the civil suit accuses the defendants of not releasing the list of dangerous chemicals aboard the train until days after the derailment, noting that chemicals released into nearby waterways caused the death of several fish.

Sick animals raise concerns about possible health effects

Fish aren’t the only animals reportedly suffering in the aftermath of the train derailment. For some, the apparent impact on local wildlife is cause for concern about the potential health effects of the chemicals released in East Palestine.

Taylor Holzer, a registered foxkeeper who runs a dairy farm with his family right outside the evacuation zone, told the local ABC News affiliate WKBN last week that one of his foxes had died following the derailment and the rest have exhibited a variety of unusual symptoms, including lack of appetite, upset stomach and lethargy, as well as rapid pacing and abnormally puffy faces.

"Smoke and chemicals from the train, that's the only thing that can cause it, because it doesn't just happen out of nowhere," Holzer told WKBN. "The chemicals that we're being told are safe in the air, that's definitely not safe for the animals … or people."

The morning after the controlled release of chemicals from the derailed train in East Palestine, a woman who lives more than ten miles away in North Lima, Ohio says she found her rooster and five hens dead, with no sign that they’d been attacked by another animal.

Amanda Breshears told WKBN she believes the chickens were killed by toxins released in East Lebanon, which sent the smell of chlorine and other toxins wafting into the Mahoning Valley.

Though local officials insisted that the unpleasant odor wasn’t dangerous, Breshears argued that the sudden death of her chickens suggests otherwise.

“My video camera footage shows my chickens were perfectly fine before they started this burn, and as soon as they started the burn, my chickens slowed down and they died,” she said. “If it can do this to chickens in one night, imagine what it’s going to do to us in 20 years.”

More than a week after the derailment sent a slew of toxic chemicals into the air and waterways in and around East Palestine, the Washington Post reported that many residents, as well as environmental health experts, were continuing to question whether it was really safe to return home.

Some, like Maura Todd, told the Post they’d decided to relocate to Kentucky temporarily, citing the lingering odor of nail polish remover and burning rubber, as well as the headaches and nausea she and her family had experienced after returning to their house last weekend. But others, like Eric Whitining, aren’t able to move their families, forcing them to take local authorities at their word, despite the lingering smell of chlorine in the air.

“For a small town, we have to trust them, because what else do we have to do?” Whitining told the Post. “We have to trust that they are not lying to us.”