A year after a toxic train derailment, cleanup continues and trauma lingers in a divided community

In the 12 months since the derailment, the immediate drama of the massive fire and cloud of burning chemicals has been replaced by uncertainty, anxiety and distrust.

It’s been a year since a Norfolk Southern train skidded off its tracks in the town of East Palestine, Ohio, sending more than a million pounds of hazardous chemicals into the soil, water and air. The contamination from the initial wreck was compounded when five tankers containing cancer-causing vinyl chloride were vented and burned, an event that sent a plume of toxic smoke drifting into nearby Pennsylvania that could be seen from space. In the 12 months since the derailment, the immediate drama of the massive fire and mushroom cloud of burning chemicals has been replaced by what some consider an equally toxic stew of uncertainty, anxiety and distrust. Some residents describe bullying and threats – even a bloody sheep’s tongue left on the porch of a home. “There is a big portion of the population that just wants to move forward,” said Misti Allison, an East Palestine resident who testified before Congress last year and later ran for mayor. “Other people think this was a huge ecological disaster. “There’s still a lot of people who are concerned, and for some, it’s turned their entire lives upside down.” Even with much progress reported in the cleanup – the US Environmental Protection Agency has overseen the removal of more than 174,000 tons of contaminated soil from the site – there are still lingering questions about whether chemicals from the derailment are lurking in East Palestine and whether people who live there may be exposed to them.