DEAR EDITOR:

As the final personal injury checks from the $600 million East Palestine settlement begin to show up in mailboxes, it would seem this would provide a sense of closure.

But for those of us who experienced the 2023 derailment, this isn’t justice.

The personal injury component is a painful example of how our legal and environmental justice systems don’t work. While the base payout was touted at $25,000, many residents are receiving far less due to an incomprehensible formula of multipliers and pretend math that feels more like a game of craps than an actual medical assessment.

The burden was placed entirely on the victims to navigate a system designed for bureaucratic efficiency rather than human recovery. We were expected to be self-aware medical experts, knowing exactly which symptoms to check. If you didn’t know the precise medical language to use or lacked the resources to get a formal diagnosis during those chaotic first months, your point value plummeted.

This is the core of the environmental justice crisis: we are a community that has faced a systemic lack of health care resources for generations.

In a region where specialized care is already a luxury and preventative screenings are rare, a disaster like this doesn’t just create new problems — it preys on old ones. When the system demands perfect documentation from people who haven’t had a consistent primary care doctor in a decade, it isn’t seeking truth; it’s seeking a reason to pay less. We are being penalized for the very systemic neglect that made us vulnerable in the first place.

Let’s be clear: these funds aren’t being used for new porches, home updates or vacation luxuries.

For most, this money is already earmarked for the specialized respiratory screenings, soil testing, air testing and long-term health monitoring, assessment and treatment that the railroad should have been providing directly.

This settlement isn’t a prize. We aren’t cashing out. We are trading our future legal rights for a sum that barely covers the cost of breathing in this ZIP code.

It’s a medical escrow that will be drained by the first few years of specialized screenings. We deserve a system that prioritizes our health over their liability spreadsheets.

JESS CONARD

M.A., CCC-SLP

executive director,

Rail Watch

Youngstown