Officials wanted Ohio train derailment to ‘go away,’ expert tells NewsNation

( NewsNation ) — A preeminent expert on chemical exposure hired to review the derailment in East Palestine, Ohio told NewsNation in an exclusive interview that the parties involved now want the situation to go away.

Days after officials in East Palestine, Ohio , burned five tankers and sent 116,000 gallons of toxic vinyl chloride over the city, the law firm Simmons Conroy hired Stephen Petty to conduct testing.

Petty says the parties involved now want the situation to go away. His affidavit filed Monday is one of several statements the Government Accountability Project is issuing to the EPA Office of the Inspector General.

Petty is currently bound by confidentiality but said he would speak publicly about his findings if a judge called on him to testify. Until then, Petty said he must be careful about what he says while a $600 million class-action settlement is pending.

"Enough information suggests that we really ought to try to figure this out and see if everything's OK or not, and I don't think we've done that yet," Petty said.

NewsNation has been covering the East Palestine train derailment and the aftermath extensively. Find more of our coverage here.

Attorneys for East Palestine residents filed a motion in August asking a federal judge to reevaluate the $600 million train derailment settlement . Their complaint focused on allegations that settlement lawyers are hiding Petty's findings about locals' soil and water. They argue the ruling was rushed and lawyers are in collusion with Norfolk Southern , the company whose train derailed.

East Palestine train derailment

In February 2023, a Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio .

Some 1,500 residents were told to evacuate. Fearing an explosion, officials decided to vent and burn five tank cars, releasing the carcinogen vinyl chloride into the air. Minutes later, a toxic plume of smoke smothered the region.

Three days later, the Environmental Protection Agency said it hadn't detected contaminants at "levels of concern" and gave the all-clear for residents to return. Those who did reported developing rashes and feeling ill.

In March 2023, an independent testing expert confirmed residents' fears that carcinogens undetected by the Ohio EPA were in the water. More tests revealed dioxins — the most toxic compounds on the planet — in the soil, water and people's air filters.

Today, those who remain in East Palestine and the surrounding area say their problems are getting worse.

Why is Stephen Petty speaking up about East Palestine now?

"My job initially was to figure out: Was there contamination of the environment, and if so, to what extent?" Petty said.

Residents have complained of rashes, respiratory issues and other ailments since the February 2023 Norfolk Southern train derailment.

Eighteen months later, none of Petty's data or analysis has been publicly available to East Palestine's residents. He's bound to confidentiality, but is choosing to speak out now, Petty said.

"I suspect there'll be some people that are unhappy because it could have an impact on a settlement where the plaintiffs have spent a lot of money," he said.

In his affidavit, Petty spoke in support of Scott Smith — another scientist who has been testing in East Palestine.

Smith has found elevated levels of dioxins and sounded the alarm for residents. The EPA has tried to label Smith as a fake scientist and so has the settlement attorneys' team.

"I wanted to support Mr. Smith because I think he's being smeared and I don't think it's appropriate," Petty said, adding that he believes the data Smith has reported so far is accurate.

A decade earlier, Mark Durno, the EPA coordinator in East Palestine, had only praise for Smith's work in Flint, Michigan.

"He certainly understands environmental sampling," Durno said at the time. "He certainly understands how to use appropriate laboratories... from that perspective he seems qualified to collect samples and share data."

The scrutiny Smith faces now is unfair Petty said.

"It is one of the few times where I've been involved, where I don't think that the information that should get out there is getting out there," he said.

A video of a local toxicologist that plaintiff attorneys brought in to make their case for settlement also compelled Petty to speak.

"There will not be any long-term health impact of chemical exposure from the derailment to community members of East Palestine," the toxicologist, Dr. Arch Carson, said.

Petty interpreted the comments as a "PR sort of event" and said it's too early to declare there won't be long-term health impacts.

"What troubled me was that if he's going to make those statements, then bring the receipts on the exposure analysis and show me the exposure analysis that says we have no issues," Petty said.

He believes Carson was bought in to encourage a settlement. Petty also criticized the EPA for its handling of the derailment and the aftermath. That includes a decision to allow residents to return three days later.

"They're not being transparent in what they know because they're not providing the raw data from the lab to my knowledge," Petty said. "And they're taking that raw data and summarizing it in a way that's misleading."

What does Petty want to happen?

Petty also said something major has been overlooked.

The day of the burn, the wind shifted from the northwest, and the East Palestine evacuation zone to the southeast should have been redefined based on those winds, he said. It never was. Petty also accused the EPA of testing for dioxins in the wrong places.

"Of course, they impugned me for a while, saying that I didn't know what I was doing in February," Petty said. "And I said, 'Well, we have to look.'"

He declined to say why he believes the EPA would might knowingly conduct testing in the wrong area, citing a confidentiality order.

"I've had many conversations about this...that's why I produce some very specific data just for this thing," Petty said. "I will just say that it's either incompetence or it's intentional."

Petty's work was — in part — based on materials under a protective order. That means attorneys disclose certain information without violating the order.

However, Petty said he would break that agreement if the judge asked him to testify.

His research would add to what the public already knows "and people can make their own decisions," Petty said.

"If you're asking at full transparency, should it be out there along with all the other information that's out there — all the railroad stuff, all the whistleblower stuff, etc.? Yeah," Petty said. "Then you put it all in the pot and let people figure out what they what they think."

Neither the EPA nor the plaintiff's attorneys have responded to NewsNation's requests for comment.