The Environmental Protection Agency should conduct additional soil testing near the site of a toxic train derailment in Ohio and warn residents that it may not be safe to grow garlic there after independent testing found high levels of chemicals in locally grown garlic, a watchdog group said Thursday.
In a petition to the federal agency, the nonprofit Government Accountability Project argued that the EPA should have already followed up on inspections of gardens and crops in the city where the Norfolk Southern railroad derailment occurred.
“It's unfair that the EPA has not conducted its own testing of East Palestinian garden produce or sampled home garden produce for dioxins,” Leslie Pacey, senior environmental director for the nonprofit, told The Associated Press ahead of the petition. “Yet the EPA is telling residents to continue growing their yards and eating their garden produce as usual.”
The Associated Press sent an email to EPA officials Thursday seeking comment on the petition.
The department is telling people it's safe to garden, based on inspections state agriculture officials conducted at 31 farms in the town and surrounding areas about three months after the February 2023 derailment. Officials tested winter wheat, barley, grass and rye from area farms.
“Soil sample results from residential properties are within normal ranges for the region, and garden plants are generally considered safe to eat,” the EPA told area residents.
Officials have previously rejected independent tests cited by the Government Accountability Project, citing quality-control concerns. The tests were conducted by Scott Smith, a businessman and inventor who has worked to help communities affected by chemical disasters since his company's factory was inundated by contaminated floodwaters in 2006.
EPA officials said they couldn't know whether Smith's data was valid until they saw his full report, which details his methods and results. Smith offered to share his files with the EPA last summer, but only on the condition that the agency share the information. The two sides couldn't come to an agreement.
The EPA said additional testing at individual yards and gardens was not needed because previous testing conducted by contractors hired by the railroad after the initial evacuation order was lifted did not detect high levels of dioxin or other chemicals outside the site of the train derailment.
The only place the EPA reported high levels of carcinogenic dioxins was in the area immediately surrounding the derailment about two weeks after the accident, in soil that was contained in about 179,000 tons (71,668 metric tons) of soil excavated and dumped last year.
But some residents aren't taking any chances.
Marilyn Figley didn't dare plant vegetables after last year's derailment, even though she and her husband do all they can to stay self-sufficient, including gardening and raising chickens for meat and eggs. But she did harvest some garlic she'd planted after the derailment. Smith's tests showed that some of the garlic had dioxin levels more than 500 times higher than samples of garlic grown and harvested in someone else's yard the year before the derailment.
Figley said she decided to plant the garden again this year after using her husband's tractor to remove 3 inches (8 centimeters) of topsoil and replacing it with new soil.
“I would rather eat dioxin than starve to death,” Figley said. “It's very worrying, but there's nothing I can do about it.”
Dioxin has become a major concern for residents of eastern Palestine since authorities decided to blow up five tank cars from the derailed train and incinerate the polyvinyl chloride contained within. The chemical is used in the manufacture of a variety of plastic products, including pipes, wires and packaging materials, and is found in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic. After the derailment, the release and incineration of the polyvinyl chloride created a huge plume of toxic black smoke over the city, forcing thousands of residents to temporarily evacuate their homes.
Last summer, a local farmers market decided to import produce from several states away due to concerns about all the crops grown in the area.
“I would never eat someone else's tomatoes or cucumbers,” said Tamara Lynn Freese, whose freshly grown garlic was also tested by Smith and showed five times higher levels of dioxin than garlic that had been left in the garage a year before the derailment.
Freese said he developed chronic sinusitis and joint pain after the derailment, but that the symptoms seemed to subside if he left the scene for more than a few hours.
Smith has visited East Palestine more than 20 times since the derailment to test for dioxins and other chemicals in the soil and water. Though he is not a trained scientist, he has been visiting chemical disaster sites for years. His results are reviewed by a team of scientific advisers, including a former top expert from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, and he sends all samples to labs that the EPA and others deem reliable.
Smith is also an inventor and holds 25 patents, including one for a special foam that repels water and absorbs oil, which he developed at his former employer, Select Technologies Inc. He has offered to sell the product in some of the disaster areas he visits, but says he is not making a profit from his work in east Palestine.
Smith began his career investigating disasters after chemically contaminated floodwaters flowed into a Select plant, destroying equipment and shutting down operations for months. Since then, he has investigated dozens of environmental and health emergencies, including the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill and the lead-contaminated water crisis in Flint, Michigan.
In Flint, some of Smith's research was used by a nonprofit group affiliated with actor Mark Ruffalo, raising questions about whether it was safe to bathe in the city's water. Smith's actions put him at odds with scientists who were doing their own testing, and with Mark Durno, the EPA representative overseeing the cleanup of East Palestine.
Despite the differences, Dano said Smith “certainly understands proper laboratory use in both the chemical and biological research he conducts.”
“From that standpoint, it seems like he's qualified to take samples and collect data and share it,” Dano said in a video interview for an unfinished documentary about Smith's work.
But in East Palestine, Dano has consistently questioned the quality of Smith's testing. Since last summer, he has refused to meet or test with Smith, because he believes the EPA's testing program makes an objective and reasonable judgment about the levels of contamination already present in the area. He adds that testing individual locations in town, as Smith is doing, won't produce useful data unless it's part of a larger sampling program.
Smith said he had learned from Flint's experience and always had his scientific advisers review all data before publishing it directly.
He argues that even if his test results weren't perfect, they should prompt further investigation by the EPA.
“I'm basically asking for more testing,” Smith said, “I'm not trying to create more panic. My point is, it would be very easy for the EPA to test garlic and report on it. I can't find any evidence that the EPA has tested crops in residents' yards.”
