EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — It was Feb. 3 when a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in the middle of town in East Palestine. It burned for days, and was followed by a slow release of toxic chemicals that remained in the tanker cars.
Today everything appears to be normal, but it isn't. For starters, work on the railroad tracks remains ongoing, with contamination still underneath.
At a village meeting outside the library Wednesday, Mark Durno from the United States Environmental Protection Agency told 3News the land underneath the rails is "98% clean." He and other community helpers were there to explain the process.
"There's some cleanup that needs to happen just north of the tracks where those tank cars were staged after they burned," Durno said, "and just south of the tracks where we know some contamination had flowed to."
Leaders also wanted to offer assistance, especially to children.
"There's still a need," Scott Louis from the Brightside Project explained. "We want make sure they have food and they have books in their hands."
But is it enough? Residents want results, what everyone has. They want a safe place to live.
"This is a great, fun event for kids," Robin Seman said of the gathering, "but I think we also have to be paying attention to what's actually happening in the community, too."
Even after four months, there is so much work to do, such as in the local waterways like Sulphur Run. While looks clean and fresh, the EPA says it's still contaminated, so they're telling people — like kids looking for a place to play — to keep out.
"We know there's contamination there," Durno admitted. "We just need to figure out how much."
The summer months here in East Palestine won't be easy, particularly for the kids. Streets are blocked, rivers are deemed chemically dangerous, and the signs of the derailment remain. "Normal" is still years away.
"We need to monitor the groundwater for years," Durno said, "or maybe even decades."
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