The Environmental Protection Agency's handling of the 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, is now under official scrutiny. The agency's inspector general announced Tuesday that it will launch a formal investigation into the federal response to the disaster, a move that comes after sustained pressure from residents of the small border town and Vice President JD Vance.
The probe will assess whether the EPA fulfilled its legal responsibilities during the emergency and in the months that followed, particularly regarding the accuracy of public statements that assured residents their community was safe. The inspector general's office said it will examine whether the agency had "sufficient data to support the agency's public communications" that told people they could safely return to their homes.
The derailment occurred on the night of February 3, 2023, when a Norfolk Southern freight train carrying a mix of hazardous chemicals jumped the tracks near the Ohio-Pennsylvania line. A failed bearing on one of the railcars sparked a cascade of spills and fires. Three days later, emergency officials made the controversial decision to deliberately rupture and burn five tank cars containing vinyl chloride, a highly flammable and carcinogenic chemical. The resulting "vent and burn" operation sent a towering plume of black smoke into the sky, with chemicals drifting across several states.
The National Transportation Safety Board later concluded that the vent and burn was unnecessary, though officials at the time feared the tank cars could explode. Since then, residents have reported a range of health problems, and local organizer Jami Wallace has tracked more than 80 people in the area who have developed cancer. While it is difficult to prove a direct link to the derailment, Wallace said the news of the investigation brought her to tears.
"It's like we've had to push them along the way for every single thing they did, and then they didn't even do it right," Wallace said. "We're not going to stop when you poison our kids."
The investigation was initiated after Vance, who has taken a keen interest in the East Palestine recovery, and the EPA's current administrator formally requested the review. But the inspector general's office also noted that multiple complaints from residents and whistleblowers have been filed in the years since the incident.
At the heart of the inquiry is whether the EPA's testing data gave the public a full and accurate picture of the risks. Several independent experts have questioned whether the agency's sampling methods obscured the dangers of the complex chemical cocktail released in the derailment. Health standards for chemical exposure are typically based on single substances, not the mixtures that residents may have encountered.
The investigation is the latest chapter in a long and contentious aftermath. Norfolk Southern has agreed to a $600 million class-action settlement with residents, but that money has been tied up in legal challenges and questions about the initial settlement administrator's handling of funds. A separate federal settlement—which includes a $15 million fine for the railroad and $55 million to fund decades of medical monitoring and groundwater testing—has been awaiting a judge's approval for over two years.
The railroad is also seeking to merge with Union Pacific in an $85 billion deal that would create the nation's first transcontinental line, though that proposal faces a lengthy review by the Surface Transportation Board. Meanwhile, Wallace said she is not sure how much the new investigation will accomplish, but she believes it will keep the spotlight on East Palestine.
"If nothing else, at least we're getting attention again," she said. "And people know that we're here and that we are not OK."
