Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Marietta, who represents the Mahoning Valley, chairs the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment at a hearing on the government response to the derailment of a train carrying hazardous materials in East Palestine and the aftermath, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 28, 2023. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

It will be “at least two more months” before cleanup efforts in East Palestine, site of a Feb. 3 train derailment disaster, are finished, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency director testified at a U.S. House subcommittee hearing.

“Ohio EPA’s priority is to oversee the removal of contaminated soil and water from East Palestine,” said Anne M. Vogel, Ohio EPA director, at Tuesday’s hearing in Washington. “We expect this work to continue for at least two more months as the railroad removes contaminated soil from under the tracks and works to restore the creeks. The investigation phase is also underway, which will guide long-term remediation plans.”

Vogel joined Debra Shore, regional administrator of the federal EPA, and Dr. Wesley Vins, Columbiana County health commissioner, in testifying Tuesday in front of the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Environment, Manufacturing and Critical Materials during a hearing called “Government Response to East Palestine: Ensuring Safety and Transparency for the Community.”

U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Marietta, who represents East Palestine in the House, serves as the subcommitee’s chairman.

“When I first received this gavel, I never imagined our first subcommittee hearing would be on something that hits so close to home,” Johnson said.

A Norfolk Southern train derailed Feb. 3 in East Palestine. Three days later, Norfolk Southern had a controlled explosion of five cars containing vinyl chloride, a toxic chemical.

SOIL AND WATER

The Ohio EPA has found no soil contamination beyond the tracks and weekly testing of the drinking water in East Palestine also has turned up no contamination, Vogel said.

Chemicals in two creeks, Sulphur Run and Leslie Run, are being removed, she said.

“The steps we are taking right now to remove contamination are designed to ensure that there will not be prolonged chemical exposure to anyone in East Palestine,” Vogel said.

Shore said about 70 percent of the soil beneath the tracks where the derailment occurred has been removed.

“East Palestine is going to be the greatest comeback story in American history,” Shore said.

Johnson said the cleanup “has been a bumpy road to say the least” and that the toxic dirt is “very slowly being trucked out because the proper, legal, certified disposal process was improperly turned into a political football.” He said there are still 23,300 tons of excavated soil from the derailment site that need to be hauled away.

Shore said the federal EPA is working to protect the health of East Palestine residents while holding Norfolk Southern accountable and making sure the cleanup is progressing.

CREDIBILITY

U.S. Rep. John Joyce, R-Pa. and the subcommittee’s vice chairman, said despite residents in and near East Palestine being told the air and water are safe, “there is a perception that there was a rush to judgment that the chemicals levels were safe. I am concerned that our EPA has lost credibility in many of these communities.”

Several people have said they’ve had headaches, rashes, anxiety and other medical issues since the derailment.

Vogel and Shore said their agencies will remain in East Palestine for “as long as it takes” to ensure the cleanup is complete and the community is safe.

Johnson said: “We’ve got a long way to go before this is finished,” and “the long haul is when the people of East Palestine say we’re done. That’s when it s done.”

During his testimony, Vins said “some key initiatives” are needed “to protect the community and improve public trust.”

The first, he said, is improving rail safety. The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure will consider a bipartisan bill, co-sponsored by Johnson and U.S. Rep. Emilia Strong Sykes, D-Akron, to address that issue.

Vins also wants “a medical reimbursement model,” including the establishment of a health and wellness center in East Palestine, “for area residents to utilize to address their long-term physical health concerns, anxiety and stress as well as a central location for local resources and information.”

A health-assessment clinic in the village’s downtown is open now for residents.

Vins called for the creation of a long-term “private well-sampling program for ensuring safe drinking water at the homes in the priority areas where municipal water is not available. I am requesting that the local health district be funded to operate this program with an independent laboratory and local agency staff.”

FULL PICTURE

During the hearing, a number of Democratic subcommittee members complained that the Republican majority didn’t require any Norfolk Southern representative to testify Tuesday.

U.S. Rep. Paul Tomko, D-N.Y. and ranking member of the subcommittee, said without Norfolk Southern’s testimony “we’re not getting the full picture.”

Johnson and U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash. and chairwoman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, said there would be at least one more hearing at which Norfolk Southern would be heard.

“We are here (Tuesday) to get the facts from the government agencies on the ground in charge of the response to this tragedy,” McMorris Rodgers said. “Any efforts to politicize the train derailment and chemical spill will hurt our ability to help the people of East Palestine. They must be our No. 1 priority, and they need to hear from the officials charged with responding to this terrible event that has upended their lives.”

Johnson said Norfolk Southern officials would be heard from “at the right time.”

Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw testified at two Senate committee hearings earlier this month.