Upon taking the stage in the East Palestine High School auditorium on Feb. 24, environmental activist Erin Brockovich told a crowd mostly composed of local residents dealing with the aftermath of a toxic train derailment that she was “here with a message you don’t want to hear but maybe you know.”
“Superman is not coming. Nobody is coming to change what has happened to you, magically fix everything, or give you all of the answers,” Brockovich said. “You will become the strongest advocate you have.
“You have the ability to become—and you will become—your own critical thinker. You will vet information. You will ask questions. You will demand answers.”
She told audience members that there won’t be a swift resolution to the issues that are now affecting East Palestine, Ohio, and surrounding communities.
“You want to be heard, but you’re going to be told it’s safe; you’re going to be told not to worry,” Brockovich said. “That’s just rubbish, because you’re going to worry. Communities want to be seen and heard.
“This is not going to be a quick fix. This is going to be a long game.”
An overflow crowd of more than 2,000 people gathered in the village of 4,761, located near the Pennsylvania border, to hear Brockovich speak, with more than 100 media members covering the event.
She was joined by water expert Robert W. Bowcock and trial attorney Mikal Watts. They’re the principles of East Palestine Justice, an organization of lawyers, environmental activists, and scientific and medical professionals providing assistance to eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania residents affected by the derailment.
On Feb. 3, a 151-car Norfolk Southern Railway freight train derailed in East Palestine.
When the train crashed, 38 rail cars derailed, and a fire ensued, damaging an additional 12 cars, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
“There were 20 total hazardous material cars in the train—11 of which derailed,” according to an NTSB statement.
Fears escalated in the immediate aftermath of the wreck. Seeking to avoid an explosion that officials claimed would send shrapnel into the air, vinyl chloride was intentionally released and burned on Feb. 6, sending a massive cloud of black smoke into the sky that could be seen for miles around and was likened to a mushroom cloud caused by a nuclear weapon.
The burn triggered questions about the health effects that could potentially impact the residents of East Palestine.
Vinyl chloride, a chemical used to make PVC pipes and other products, has received extensive attention as part of the emergency. The National Cancer Institute notes that vinyl chloride has been linked to cancers of the brain, lungs, blood, lymphatic system, and liver.
Other rail cars contained ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate, isobutylene, and butyl acrylate, which are all used in the making of plastic products.
Officials from federal and state agencies have repeatedly said that tests show the air and water are safe in East Palestine and surrounding communities. However, residents continue to report headaches, vomiting, burning eyes, skin rashes, and other ailments.
“I’ve never seen anything in 30 years like this and the situation happening in East Palestine,” Brockovich said.
“You all know the story about digging the hole and draining the chemicals in there and lighting it on fire. I don’t think that turned out well for anybody.”
She said she traveled to East Palestine after receiving numerous emails from residents who requested her presence.
“I feel your angst and I feel your frustration. And I want to share something with you: You are not alone,” Brockovich said. “It feels like every community I’ve been going to for 30 years gets the same run-around, and you don’t get clear information.
“You own this narrative, not an agency that wasn’t here, and certainly not Norfolk Southern. You know how you feel. You know if you’re sick. You know if you smell something. You know if the water’s a funny color.”
Communities confronted with an environmental disaster can handle the truth, she said, “but what they can’t handle is being misled and lied to.”
At that moment, the auditorium’s lights turned off, promoting Brockovich to say, “That is how we feel—in the dark—and in the dark, we will continue to talk.”
In a Feb. 24 television interview, she said officials are apparently trying to “gaslight” residents into believing that “nothing’s wrong” and that the water is safe to drink and the air safe to breathe.
“It’s very obvious something’s really gone wrong out here,” Brockovich said. “I’ve been out here down on the ground, and they’re really frustrated. Why? They don’t feel that their agencies or their administration care about what’s happened to the communities.”
She told the story of how, when she spoke out against Pacific Gas and Electric in 1993, she was told: “Why are you here? You are not a doctor, a lawyer, or a scientist. What would you know?”
“All I have to be is a human being to know that the water is messed up, and I am saying something and doing something,” Brockovich said.
From her experience as an activist responding to environmental disasters in communities across the country, she said, “We often find out five and 10 years down the road that, after people were told it was safe, they admit there is a problem.”
Bowcock, who’s a hydrologist, said the derailment’s aftermath will be long term.
“You’re in a situation that you’re going to be dealing with for the rest of your lives if you stay here,” he said.
Brockovich introduced Watts, who delivered a presentation “to tell you the information as it is.”
He shared Norfolk Southern’s history of train derailments, including a 2012 crash in Paulsboro, New Jersey, where trains spilled 23,000 gallons of vinyl chloride. In East Palestine, 1.1 million pounds of the carcinogen were released into the environment.
“We live in a society that chooses to ship its most dangerous chemicals ever made by man in rail cars right through populated cities,” Watts said. “Whether that is a good choice is not for me to say, but if you are going to ship them, you [explitive] sure have an obligation to make sure you don’t jump the tracks.”
Norfolk Southern has reported 3,397 events that could be classified as a derailment over the past 20 years, he explained.
Last year, Norfolk Southern had 770 train car derailments involving hazardous materials, Watts noted, compared to 79 incidents in 2012.
For their own “peace of mind” and as a step for potential legal action, he urged residents to protect their health.
“I’m begging you—for your own good—go get your blood and urine tested now,” Watts said. “If I was in your shoes deciding where I want to raise my family, I would want to know this.”
