NewsNation obtained EPA communications from the Government Accountability Project that were sent following the train derailment and controlled burn of tankers containing hazardous chemicals.
An email between EPA attorney Robert Kaplan and EPA public relations discussed whether documents telling Norfolk Southern to clean up the contamination should include anything about medical benefits.
The EPA made the decision not to declare a public health emergency on Feb. 20, 2023, less than just three weeks after the burning of the tanker cars and after they had already found dioxins at the site of the burn.
W.R. Grace operated the mine from the 1960s until it closed in 1990, but no public health emergency was declared until 2009 after lobbying from former Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., who said the decision could serve as a model for East Palestine.
NewsNation contributor Rich McHugh asked Lesley Pacey, with the Government Accountability Project, why the EPA would have been reticent to declare a public health emergency.
No government agency, including the EPA and CDC, has tested residents' health.
"Within a mile of the derailment, 80% of the respondents reported an upper respiratory symptom." The EPA responded to NewsNation's request for comment with the following statement.
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