Vance Wants New Probe Into Biden Admin’s Handling Of Ohio Train Disaster

Vice President JD Vance and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin are demanding an independent investigation into the Biden administration’s response to the catastrophic 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

In a joint letter sent Friday to EPA Acting Inspector General Nicole Murley, Vance and Zeldin requested a comprehensive review of decisions made by federal and state officials, Norfolk Southern and other private entities before, during and after the disaster.

The request follows new reporting about previously undisclosed environmental testing and years of complaints from residents who say they still lack reliable answers about their health and safety.

“The people of East Palestine deserve a government that is transparent and accountable to them,” Vance wrote on X. “If the Biden administration withheld public health risks from the community, they must be held accountable.”

“Today, I am formally calling for an investigation into who knew what, and when,” he continued. “@epaleezeldin and I will get answers.”

The disaster occurred on Feb. 3, 2023, when a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border.

Twenty of the affected rail cars contained hazardous materials, including vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate, ethylene glycol and isobutylene.

Authorities evacuated thousands of residents before conducting a controlled release and combustion of vinyl chloride from five tanker cars, creating a massive plume of smoke over the community.

The National Transportation Safety Board later concluded that the controversial vent-and-burn operation was unnecessary and based on incomplete information supplied to officials.

Vance and Zeldin now want the EPA’s independent watchdog to examine whether government decisions surrounding that operation, environmental monitoring and public communication unnecessarily endangered residents.

“For over three years, the people of East Palestine and surrounding communities have lived with the fateful decisions of the Biden Administration, State of Ohio, and Norfolk Southern,” their letter states.

“The response to the derailment, subsequent controlled release and combustion of hazardous materials, environmental contamination, and prolonged concerns regarding air, soil, water, and public health warrant continued scrutiny and oversight,” it continues.

The officials asked investigators to review several areas of the disaster response, including possible public-health consequences, environmental sampling, communication with residents, coordination among government agencies and compliance with emergency-response laws and procedures.

They also want investigators to determine whether officials possessed information about potential risks that was not properly disclosed to the community.

That question has become more urgent following a NewsNation report involving industrial hygienist Stephen Petty.

Petty was hired by attorneys representing East Palestine residents in class-action litigation against Norfolk Southern. He tested soil and water after the derailment and analyzed contamination data from the community.

Petty told NewsNation that his results showed dioxins and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, commonly known as PAHs, at levels above certain EPA cancer-screening thresholds.

“Somewhere between 50% and 70% of the data points, whether they be for dioxins or PAHs, exceeded screening levels” for cancer, Petty said.

“You have to do something,” he added. “You have to do further analysis to see what needs to be done from a remediation standpoint.”

Exceeding a screening level does not itself establish that residents will develop cancer or prove that the derailment caused particular illnesses. Screening thresholds are tools used to determine whether further investigation and risk assessment may be necessary.

Petty’s findings nevertheless raise serious questions because residents reportedly did not receive the results before attorneys negotiated a $600 million class-action settlement with Norfolk Southern.

Some residents now argue that they surrendered legal claims without receiving potentially significant information collected by an expert working for their own legal team.

Attorneys involved in the settlement did not respond to NewsNation’s requests for comment.

Nearly 90 residents attempted to withdraw from or reopen the settlement, alleging fraud and misrepresentation by class counsel. A judge denied that effort in April, and the residents appealed.

The EPA maintains that its continuing monitoring has found no ongoing exposure to derailment-related toxic chemicals threatening public health or the environment.

That official position will be among the issues examined if the inspector general accepts Vance and Zeldin’s request.

“The people of East Palestine deserve certainty about their health and the safety of their community,” Zeldin said. “They did not get it from the Biden EPA.”

“The Trump EPA is committed to correcting the mistakes of the past administration,” he continued. “We have done everything in our power since day one to protect human health and the environment in East Palestine, and that work will continue, guided by our commitment to gold-standard science.”

Vance has maintained a close connection to the community since the derailment occurred in his home state.

One of Zeldin’s first official trips after becoming EPA administrator was a joint visit with Vance to East Palestine, where they met residents and viewed the continuing effects of the disaster.

The administration says any shortcomings identified by the inspector general could lead to changes in federal emergency-response procedures, environmental monitoring practices and the way agencies communicate health risks following industrial disasters.

The request also references a separate data-quality controversy involving groundwater testing performed in the fall of 2025.

EPA investigators discovered that two analysts working for ALS Houston, a subcontractor used by the government’s prime contractor Tetra Tech, had altered measurements associated with groundwater samples.

The altered results falsely indicated the presence of 2-butoxyethanol, a solvent used in cleaners, paints and varnishes.

Follow-up testing by EPA and other laboratories found no 2-butoxyethanol and no related groundwater threat. The agency says none of the falsified information was used to make health, cleanup or enforcement decisions.

EPA rejected the subcontractor’s data, referred the matter to its inspector general and issued a formal notice to Tetra Tech. The two analysts involved were fired for violating laboratory procedures.

That episode does not establish that the subcontractor concealed dangerous contamination. The altered measurements created false-positive results rather than hiding the presence of the chemical.

It nevertheless illustrates why East Palestine residents have grown skeptical of environmental testing and official assurances.

More than three years after the derailment, residents continue reporting illnesses and questioning whether the government fully understood the consequences of burning the hazardous material.

Newly public documents have also reportedly shown that some federal officials raised concerns about the possible consequences of the controlled burn and about contaminants remaining in the community.

Vance and Zeldin are now asking an independent office to assemble the full record and determine whether public agencies failed the people they were responsible for protecting.

The investigation request does not itself prove that Biden administration officials intentionally concealed health risks. It begins a process intended to determine what officials knew, what they told residents and whether their decisions complied with federal standards.

For East Palestine, that accounting is long overdue.