EAST PALESTINE, Ohio—Until Feb. 3, most Americans had never heard of East Palestine, a village of 4,700 residents in eastern Ohio about a mile from the Pennsylvania border. Most people couldn’t even accurately pronounce its name, lifelong resident Gregory Mascher said.
“East Pali-steen, not East Pali-stine,” he said with a grin.
When people in this close-knit community woke up on Feb. 3, they didn’t know that life would abruptly change that evening when a 151-car freight train operated by Norfolk Southern derailed.
Eleven of the 38 cars that derailed contained hazardous chemicals, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
Fears escalated in the immediate aftermath of the wreck. Seeking to avoid an explosion that officials claimed would send shrapnel flying around, 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.
The burn triggered questions about the potential health effects on the residents of East Palestine.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine lifted an evacuation order on Feb. 8, saying it was safe for residents to return to their homes.
Officials from federal and state agencies have repeatedly said tests show that the air and water are safe in East Palestine and surrounding communities.
Gregory and Traci Mascher
Gregory Mascher is married to Traci Mascher, who’s also a lifelong East Palestine resident. They live downtown, within a mile of the derailment site.Since the disaster, they’ve stayed at friends’ and family members’ homes in West Virginia and Virginia, hoping that there will be a time when they feel like it’s safe to return for good instead of just a check-in at their house.
“I loved that few people could point to East Palestine on a map. I loved life in this tiny little village before the derailment. Now, the landscape has dramatically changed with all the government agencies, elected officials, reporters, and cleanup crews here,” Gregory Mascher said.
“Perhaps there will be a time when everyone leaves and East Palestine gets back to being a place where only locals walk and drive on the streets, but will this ever be the safe place it was before Feb. 3? There is no definite answer to that question.”
On April 15, a Norfolk Southern statement reported that the company had completed its excavation of the impacted soil beneath the derailment site’s south track and will replace the track in the upcoming days.
Norfolk Southern followed U.S. Environmental Protection Agency protocol to determine that all contaminated soil has been fully removed from the site, according to the statement.
Uncertainty About Future
Like many East Palestine residents affected by the aftermath, Gregory Mascher has little interest in legislative actions, comments from government officials, and promises from Norfolk Southern and its CEO, Alan Shaw.“All of that is understandably news that is reported for people to read and see, and it makes sense that a disaster of this level would cause so much attention at the state and federal levels, but for those of us here, we are just thinking about today and what might happen tomorrow, months from now, and years from now,” he said.
“Is it safe to take a shower? Is it safe for kids to play in the creeks, and is it safe to eat vegetables grown in our gardens?
“Elected officials, government officials, reporters, activists, Norfolk Southern’s CEO—they all get to go home after being here. This is our home, and we don’t know if it’s safe to stay.”
Before the derailment, Gregory Mascher coached his granddaughter’s basketball team, and their house was a popular gathering spot for their granddaughters and neighborhood children playing in the backyard and riding bikes.
“Our eight grandchildren have grown up together and are like sisters, but my daughter and her husband are thinking about moving out of town because they are afraid to stay,” he said.
“We hope to return, but we just don’t know. It’s not a good feeling waking up in the morning and not knowing whether your home is safe.”
His family owned a jewelry store in East Palestine for decades, and he managed a grocery store when he met Traci Mascher.
“I saw him, and 36 years later, here we are,” Traci Mascher said with a smile in the living room of their East Palestine home.
They dated and eventually settled in East Palestine for the long term in a “place where you leave your doors unlocked and everyone looks out for each other’s families,” she said.
The Maschers said they’re positive people and that they would like to think that East Palestine can rebound and return to the inviting hometown it was before Feb. 3.
“Many people here would love it if that happened, but if people move away and new people don’t move in, businesses won’t survive,” Gregory Mascher said.
“And if businesses don’t survive, and people are hesitant to move here because of the stigma and not knowing if it is safe, then the village won’t be the way it was.
‘What Ifs’
Many people in East Palestine share Mascher’s concerns.Sil Caggiano, a hazardous materials specialist who lives in the area, said, “There’s a lot of ‘what ifs,’ and we’re going to be looking at this thing five, 10, 15, 20 years down the line and wondering.
“Gee, cancer clusters could pop up. You know, well water could go bad.”
Jami Cozza has lived in East Palestine for 46 years and has 47 family members who live in the community.
Cozza’s home is located about a mile away from the derailment site alongside Sulphur Run creek, which is one of the contaminated waterways in the area.
When officials alerted locals of the planned release of toxic chemicals from the derailed railcars, she evacuated with her family.
Cozza told The Epoch Times that Norfolk Southern initially conducted air testing and told her it was safe to return home.
“I asked for additional water and soil testing, and [Norfolk Southern] agreed and sent a senior toxicologist,” she said. “He told me that my house was not safe and that I shouldn’t return.
“I’m vocal, and had I not used my voice and thrown a fit, I would be sitting in that house with my 3-year-old daughter breathing the toxic chemicals.
“How many children—how many people—are inside their homes and are in danger? How can any of us trust the railroad? I don’t trust them.
“It’s not about the money. It’s about our house. It’s about our town. This is our home. This is our life, and we are not getting the help that we need.
‘My New Reality’
Since they evacuated, Cozza and her family have lived in hotels and an Air BnB.“I realized last week that this is going to be the rest of my life,” Cozza said.
“This is when I should be sitting on my porch, sipping coffee, watching my grandkids play. I’m going to be fighting this until the day I die. This is my new reality.
“I pray that we’re the biggest comeback story in history, but in my heart, I don’t feel like my daughter will ever get to play in that creek like I did when I was a kid.”
East Palestine resident Misti Allison testified at a U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing in March addressing the derailment and Norfolk Southern’s safety record.
“This is about people. This is about a community that no one had ever heard of before becoming ground zero and a small town being destroyed overnight,” she told lawmakers.
“Everyone who lives in East Palestine is aware of the trains that pass by, but we’ve never really thought about them. Now, we can’t think about anything else.
“My 7-year-old has asked me if he is going to die from living in his own home. What do I tell him?”
Allison said that the accident “has resulted in tumbling home values and financial strain for the village.”
“This preventable accident has put a scarlet letter on our town. People don’t want to come here,” she said.
‘There’s a Stigma There’
Northeast Ohio real estate agents have admitted that selling a house in East Palestine is difficult.“How are they going to sell? There’s a stigma there,” said Marlin Palich, a Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices agent in Columbiana County, where East Palestine is located.
Michael Stevens, board president for the Youngstown Columbiana Association of Realtors, told a northeast Ohio newspaper that home sales will suffer until remediation is successfully completed.
Uncertainty about the short- and long-term effects has left homebuyers afraid, Stevens said.
Jessica Helpy
Jessica Helpy grew up in East Palestine, and she lived in the village a short walk from her parents’ house when the derailment happened.The mother of two loved her Cape Cod-style home, which was surrounded by flowers during the warmer months.
Helpy used to live in northern Kentucky, but a house fire caused her to return to East Palestine a few years ago.
After the crash and the release and burn of the vinyl chloride, Helpy and her children evacuated. Upon their return, they experienced health problems, she said.
“One of my kids was throwing up with an extreme headache on the way to school. Both of my kids have felt emotional distress because they have been uprooted from their home and there is no comfortable routine,” Helpy said.
“I had rashes on my arms just from going back inside my house.”
She told The Epoch Times a few weeks after the derailment that “most people here don’t have a lot of savings, and really, when you think about it, how many people anywhere could afford to suddenly pick up and leave their home without having financial challenges?”
“These aren’t million dollar homes we have, but this is the home that means a million dollars to me because it is where we lay out in the grass and sunbathe, it is where we grow our garden, it is where my cats play. It is where our lives are lived, and we like life here,” Helpy said.
Days after the interview, she left her home again and stayed in a hotel before deciding to return to northern Kentucky to live with a family member until she can find another home of her own.
“Everybody wants to return to normal because that’s comfortable, but what’s not comfortable are the potential effects, five years and 10 years down the line,” Helpy said.
“Will there be a group of people getting together for a lawsuit saying we all have the same aggressive cancer that is directly associated to the chemicals that were spilled?
“Local, state, and federal government agencies can tell us that everything is safe, but years down the road when people have life-threatening health problems, they will say, ‘We’re sorry,’ but that won’t help the people whose lives are lost.
‘I Am Deeply Sorry’
On April 18, Shaw testified before an Ohio Senate rail safety panel and mirrored remarks he has delivered at several other federal and state legislative hearings.“I am deeply sorry for the impact this derailment has had on the people in the region. I am determined to make it right,” he said. “We are making progress every day as we clean the site safely, thoroughly, and with urgency.”
According to Shaw, Norfolk Southern has earmarked more than $30 million to support East Palestine’s residents, community organizations, and first responders—$13 million of that is intended to help more than 7,600 families in the region.
As of early April, 31 lawsuits representing about 11 East Palestine residents and approximately 12 businesses in the village had been filed since the derailment occurred.
Three dozen people and five businesses outside East Palestine have also filed legal action.
The lawsuits were filed in federal court, and U.S. District Judge Benita Pearson ordered that the cases be consolidated to streamline proceedings.
Pearson’s ruling doesn’t affect lawsuits filed by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office and the U.S. Department of Justice against Norfolk Southern over environmental damage and other issues caused by the derailment.
Multiple federal and state railway safety bills have been introduced since Feb. 3.
Ohio U.S. Sens. J.D. Vance, a Republican, and Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, have frequently visited East Palestine and have conducted multiple media interviews.
Vance and Brown crafted the Railway Safety Act of 2023, one of the bills designed to address the rash of derailments by Norfolk Southern and other railroad operators.
The NTSB and the Federal Railroad Administration continue to investigate the East Palestine derailment.
Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg was widely criticized for not publicly acknowledging the disaster for 10 days and then visiting the village only after former President Donald Trump announced his own trip to the village.
President Joe Biden has issued numerous federal disaster declarations since Feb. 3.
He visited Rolling Fork, Mississippi, after that town was destroyed by a tornado, among other disaster sites, but he has yet to appear in East Palestine.
Norfolk Southern awaits the final NTSB report, Shaw said. The company is focused on the long-term needs of residents, such as health care, real estate value recuperation, and water monitoring, he said.
“We’re going to do more than the norm on the environmental remediation, we’re going to do more than the norm on the community response, and I am personally going to be more involved than the norm,” he testified on April 18.
“You have my personal commitment that we'll get the job done and help this community thrive.”
