Environmental officials insist air quality in East Palestine remains normal

Environmental officials said Sunday that residential and outdoor air quality levels in East Palestine, Ohio, remained normal, just days after a town hall where frustrated residents and activists continued to demand answers on what chemicals they have been exposed to after the toxic train derailment earlier this month. 

During a news conference on Sunday, Debra Shore, a regional administrator with the Environmental Protection Agency, gave a series of updates, announcing that to date the agency has conducted 578 home re-entry screenings and is continuing air monitoring from 15 stations within the community. Shore said that so far there have been no reported "exceedances" for residential air quality standards and that outdoor air quality remains normal.

Shore also announced that the agency had more identified EPA facilities that will be able to accept some of the contaminated waste removed from the area. Shore said Norfolk Southern will be able to resume shipments of the waste starting Monday after the company was ordered to pause shipments on Saturday.