The Government Accountability Project, a nonprofit whistleblower group, said it has obtained a letter that allegedly shows the Environmental Protection Agency worked with Norfolk Southern to manipulate soil testing data in East Palestine, Ohio.
A freight train belonging to Norfolk Southern had a disastrous derailment in the village near the Pennsylvania border in 2023. It had 11 cars hauling hazardous materials and forced evacuations of the residents in the area.
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The crash sent toxic chemicals into the air, ground and water in and around East Palestine. Some research has suggested it spread pollutants to 16 different states.
The Government Accountability Project has published a letter it obtained through the Freedom of Information Act that shows on March 7, 2023, the EPA changed Norfolk Southern's soil sampling methods to remove testing of several key toxic compounds.
The group also claimed that the EPA collected baseline soil — used as a benchmark to compare for the presence of toxic chemicals — from areas around the crash site that were known to already be contaminated.
"This claim has also been confirmed by several confidential whistleblowers, including a former EPA contamination remediation specialist and a dioxin expert, both of whom reviewed the EPA letter," the group said in a statement.
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The watchdog group said that this shows the EPA was working with Norfolk Southern to get a favorable outcome for the company, which has already settled with the village and the government for its responsibility in the crash.
The scale of the long-term impact on the health of residents near the derailment site is still unknown, but some have already sued the company for wrongful death claims involving seven people.
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