Risk Statistics 

East Palestine residents Christa Graves and Marina Davis are connected through the shared experience of living in a community brutally affected by an environmental catastrophe. Ms. Davis lives with her many furry companions just 100 feet outside of the 1-by-2-mile evacuation zone. Although she experienced burning her lungs and throat for over a week after the derailment, which she attributes to stepping outside for a few moments the night of the accident, they are the only adverse health symptoms she has experienced thus far. However, she worries about long-term health issues. Ms. Graves also lives right outside of the evacuation area with her two children and grandson. The entire family has experienced symptoms since the incident, from an initial burning sensation to chronic migraines and impaired cognitive function, as well as intestinal issues and muscle cramps that become worse the more time they spend outside. Exactly six months after the derailment, Ms. Graves was diagnosed with a thyroid condition which she believes was caused by dioxin, a known endocrine disrupter. “I thought I was living in the house I would die in,” Ms. Graves remarked, “but this isn’t a place we can stay anymore.” 

Both women have lived in East Palestine for most of their lives. Ms. Davis grew up on a nearby fruit and vegetable farm before moving into town about 16 years ago, while Ms. Graves bought her current home when she was 21 and has lived there ever since. They both expressed that living beside train tracks was never a thought that crossed their minds before, but the derailment has made them staunchly aware of the danger of this proximity. Ms. Graves said that if she can move away in the future, she will never live beside train tracks again. “I’m not a paranoid person,” said Ms. Davis, “and I try to be upbeat, but we all think about it now.” 

While the risks associated with the transportation of toxic chemicals are articulated extensively through evidence, the most meaningful perspective comes from firsthand accounts of their devastating effects. For many East Palestine residents, the derailment was only the beginning of a continuous and ongoing battle for transparency and justice. Ms. Graves explained that the days directly following the disaster were filled with confusion and panic, and many people didn’t know whether to stay or go. Ultimately, Ms. Davis chose to stay while Ms. Graves chose to take her family and go. When she returned to inquire at the assistance center about continued temporary relocation, she was told that since she lived exactly 1.2 miles away from the initial point of derailment, Norfolk Southern would not cover the cost. Residents like Ms. Graves, who were forced to stay, have mixed opinions about continuing to ask for help. “Some people don’t want to ask their abuser for help,” she stated. “They don’t want to beg (Norfolk Southern) for the bare minimum that they deserve.” She compares the company’s tactics of gaslighting and manipulation to psychological warfare. Residents are told time and time again that everything is fine, yet independent citizen science projects, personal testimonies, and continued health issues indicate otherwise. 

Resident experiences underscore an increased awareness of vulnerability to environmental harm and the problematic nature of the ‘fenceline’ distinction creating boundaries between whose vulnerability is recognized and whose is not. Ms. Davis and Ms. Graves now have drastically different views on vulnerability, and it will affect how they view their community for the rest of their lives. 

The Department of Transportation has been working tirelessly to advocate for stricter railway safety laws to prevent other disasters such as the one in East Palestine. Pete Buttigieg has been at the forefront of this bill, addressing rail safety issues and drawing attention to the significant human toll of railway accidents, with seven rail-related employee on-duty deaths and 46 major injuries reported across all railroads in 2023 alone (Buttigieg, 2024). He has highlighted the concerning trend of frequent train derailments in the United States, averaging more than one per day over the past five decades, attributing this pattern, in part, to the railroad industry's lobbying efforts to weaken or delay safety regulations following high-profile incidents. Buttigieg stated, “When good safety rules have been put in place over the years, especially after high profile incidents, we see derailments come down on main line tracks, but as attention faded on those incidents, the railroad industry lobby was consistently able to weaken or delay important safety provisions. Sometimes through legislation in Congress, sometimes by watering down regulations, sometimes getting a regulatory process frozen entirely” (2024). Buttigieg advocates for enhanced worker protections and calls for the implementation of regulations mandating safe crew sizes on trains, with a minimum requirement of two workers per train to ensure adequate safety measures are in place. These proposed measures aim to address the systemic issues contributing to railway accidents and mitigate the risks posed to both railroad workers and surrounding communities. The Department of Transportation’s rail safety bill is one step in the right direction in protecting the people in fenceline communities and preventing another East Palestine disaster from happening again.

The term "invisible harm" describes the effects of chemical disasters that are not easily seen, measured, or recognized but impact human and non-human life, health, and ecosystems (Goldstein, 2017). The concept of "invisible harm" is enigmatic and challenging for environmental justice and health services because it is often difficult to predict or "see." Residents of East Palestine have been undergoing symptoms arising soon after the train derailment, such as headaches, nausea, nosebleeds, skin irritation, and much more. Some residents who experienced symptoms were told that other lifestyle factors could have led to the rise of these conditions. This makes some residents like Misti Allison nervous to mention to a doctor that she lives in East Palestine or that her symptoms could be a possible result of chemical exposure. This deflection has led to feelings of distrust, abandonment, and frustration among some of the residents. Eric Cozza, like many people in East Palestine, started facing more health issues after the Norfolk Southern train derailment. Eric has encountered complications with his health, such as a nodule on his lung and thyroid and a fatty liver condition, which he believes is a consequence of chemical exposure. He mentioned that the doctors told him that it could be caused by excess alcohol consumption or genetics, but he does not drink nearly enough for it to cause his liver problems. Eric gets frustrated that doctors allege that his experienced complications are from other factors, excluding the possibility of chemical exposure causing his symptoms. Unfortunately, Eric was not the only person he knew who suffered from the chemical spill and plume. His 18-year-old niece was hospitalized for a week because she started to have seizures. Another niece of Eric, 14 years of age, experienced burning and irritation in her scalp. As a foster parent, Eric also witnesses some of his foster children having headaches or nosebleeds. 

Because of the symptoms arising from the chemical spill, residents are wondering about the long-term effects of exposure to toxic chemicals. The long-term effect of chemical exposure, especially exposure to multiple chemicals, is difficult to predict. Residents of East Palestine like Eric Cozza and Misti Allison reflect on the possibility of harmful symptoms arising in the future. Eric has begun investigating the potential impact of chemicals and believes "these chemicals affect your children, your grandchildren, it causes infertility, and this is from one chemical." The possibility of returning symptoms in the future reminds Misti Allison of the 9/11 disaster cleanup workers who faced health complications and cancer years later, so she wonders if a similar problem will occur in East Palestine. Symptoms initially not experienced eventually taking effect in the future are a possibility of long-term chemical exposure. This example reflects the concept called "latency time," in which symptoms from chemicals are dormant in the body and do not show any health complications until months or years later. In other words, not only is chemical exposure a threat to current residents, but also to future generations. As one example, vinyl chloride, prevalent in the chemical spill, is an endocrine-disrupting chemical. In this case, "latency is intensified, as endocrine-mimicking chemicals have a particularly intense effect on shaping developing fetal life—life not yet born, and hence future life" (Murphy 2013, 1).  

Latent symptoms do not only cause a threat to humans but to animals as well. Animals were highly impacted by the train derailment, especially fish, as according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, "the chemical spill resulting from the derailment had killed an estimated 3,500 small fish across 7½ miles of streams" (NBC News, 2023). Like humans, animals can hold onto chemicals in their bodies for years, passing them on to the next generation because "toxics have multispecies epigenetic consequences" (Nading 2019, 17). Another concern is the possible harm from human consumption of chemically contaminated animals after long-term bioaccumulation. This unsettles Eric, a resourceful hunter and fisherman who believes in using all parts of the animal. He has a growing concern about the possible repercussions of eating deer liver exposed to the same chemicals as him since there is a possibility that the chemical past of animals may come back "into the food chain, into fish, and then possibly to humans" (Murphy 2013, 1).