海角大神

Test in Ohio: How to repair derailed trust

Three weeks after tank cars carrying hazardous chemicals tragically derailed in this small Ohio town, a core challenge for the official response is bridging a yawning gap in trust with a wary public.

Federal and state officials appear to be trying. Pressed by a local resident, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said Wednesday that he鈥檒l stay overnight in East Palestine Ohio to partake of what citizens there are experiencing. To some experts, it鈥檚 an example of how building trust hinges not only on delivering help but also on forging personal bonds of confidence.

The trust gap has roots beyond the Feb. 3 derailment itself. Across America, public confidence in a host of institutions for years 鈥� a trend tied in part to forces like rising partisanship and social media鈥檚 ability to spread doubt alongside facts. But the challenge in this case is also hyperlocal: People could see and smell chemical-spill evidence that聽ran counter to what they were hearing from officials.

Even where officials and residents agree on the urgency of cleanup,聽it can鈥檛 happen soon enough for those who live on-scene, and no amount of promises will be persuasive without action to back it up.

Area residents like Daniel McRoberts still don鈥檛 know what to believe about the risks they face or the pledged cleanup. His mother and grandmother live only blocks from where the Norfolk Southern train derailed. Now Mr. McRoberts has questions about the well 鈥� the water source for many of the region鈥檚 households 鈥� for his own home 6 miles from where the hazardous chemicals initially spilled.

鈥淒o I get it tested?鈥� he asks others at an East Palestine pizza joint. Rail yard friends tell him it鈥檚 fine; others say he should leave town altogether. 鈥淭here鈥檚 so many conflicting things. I鈥檓 not educated on that stuff. There are people that say they are,鈥� like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state health and environmental safety officials, 鈥渂ut then everyone says, 鈥楧on鈥檛 trust them.鈥欌��

Remarkably, there were no immediate injuries or deaths after the train鈥檚 initial derailment. But in the days and weeks following, reports of illness among community members have coincided with officials giving all-clear signals on air quality. Similarly, local drinking-water supplies have passed post-accident safety tests, yet many residents worry that chemicals could leach into local water sources over time.聽

鈥淵ou鈥檙e not going to turn things around in a 24-hour news cycle,鈥� says Stan Meiburg, executive director of Wake Forest University鈥檚 Center for Energy, Environment, and Sustainability. 鈥淵ou have to commit yourself to a long-term engagement with the community of being available, being transparent, being patient, recognizing what you鈥檙e dealing with,鈥� including post-traumatic stress.

Officials need to listen as much as speak, says Dr. Meiburg, a former EPA acting deputy administrator.

Building trust: It starts personal

In fact, ultimately restoring trust will be about building relationships.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a marathon, not a sprint,鈥澛燚r. Meiburg says of the work ahead for federal, state, and local officials. 鈥淭he only way to build trust with institutions is to create relationships that are trustworthy, and then the institutions will be trusted because the relationships are trusted.鈥�

Some of those steps may have begun.聽

Governor DeWine has visited East Palestine several times, and on Wednesday he bluntly acknowledged the trust gap.

鈥淪ometimes we don鈥檛 know all the information,鈥� he said in a CNN-hosted town hall meeting with residents. 鈥淪ometimes we get facts that maybe are wrong, but there鈥檚 no way in the world I鈥檓 going to convey to you or to any other citizen a fact that I think is wrong.鈥�

Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw, also at the town hall,聽said the company felt it had an 鈥渆nvironmentally sound plan based on engineering principles鈥� to deal with the tainted soil, but community pushback prompted a shift. The company has decided to rip up and replace the tracks to completely remove the soil underneath them.

Skepticism among residents still runs high. But Mr. Shaw鈥檚 presence stood in contrast to the firm鈥檚 no-show at a similar meeting a week prior.

鈥淲e鈥檙e going to get the cleanup right, we鈥檙e going to reimburse the citizens, we鈥檙e going to invest in the long-term health of this community,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to work with these community leaders to help you thrive.鈥�

Federal transportation officials are also trying to bring clarity to the accident鈥檚 cause. The National Transportation Safety Board provided details Thursday on how an alarm triggered by an overheated axle arrived too late for the train crew to prevent a derailment. The NTSB says its investigation will continue.

Questions about the derailment have also bubbled into national politics, with Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, who visited the town this week, accusing Biden administration officials of being slow to visit the accident site. Federal agencies, in turn, say their emergency responders were quickly on the scene, at a time when cameos by top officials would have hindered action.

In the days immediately following the derailment, state and federal responders managed a controlled burn of vinyl chloride that remained in several tank cars and posed an explosion risk 鈥� prompting a temporary evacuation of nearby residents.

The chemical spill鈥檚 severity was highlighted yesterday, when Ohio officials released a new estimate that about 43,700 small fish and other creatures in a 5-mile radius died from the pollutants in the days immediately following the spill.聽

Late last week, public officials began attempts to sway opinion through social media clips of them consuming local tap water. Through cheers and shared smiles, lawmakers and top health officials downed their own glasses.聽

鈥淒evastating for our little town鈥�

Despite the performance, Kathleen Unkefer continued drinking聽bottled water聽at her workplace, a floral design store in downtown East Palestine. She came into 2023 with a lot to look forward to, including her 50-year reunion at the local high school later this year. It鈥檚 an achievement one earns, she laughs, after a lifetime in a small place like this community of about 5,000 along the Ohio-Pennsylvania border.

鈥淓verybody knows everybody,鈥� she says of the village鈥檚 character.

That goes for the community鈥檚 problems, too.聽

Ms. Unkefer mentions a local friend whose wine and honey business has stopped receiving orders since the incident. Folks stopped buying another friend鈥檚 chickens. Another, a resident of 78 years, came into the flower shop earlier that morning crying.

鈥淚t鈥檚 just devastating for our little town,鈥� Ms. Unkefer says as she wraps a customer鈥檚 flowers. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been through so much. We鈥檙e just trying to survive, and we will. But you just worry.鈥�

鈥淚鈥檓 not worried about me,鈥� she adds. 鈥淚鈥檓 worried about the young people. Will they stay?鈥�

A new health clinic opens

Seth Randolph has served as a volunteer fire department and emergency services personnel member for 13 years. He grew up not far from East Palestine, just miles away in New Waterford.

As an intermediary between aid workers and locals, he鈥檚 felt tensions rise in the community.

He understands the frustrations, and that residents want answers.

If 鈥渢hey don鈥檛 get answers, their first scapegoat, so to speak, is your public safety entities,鈥� Mr. Randolph says, as he walks to a cash register to purchase flowers recently wrapped by Ms. Unkefer. 鈥淩esidents look to the people they pay to make decisions to keep them safe.鈥�

On Tuesday, the EPA announced it would assume control of the site鈥檚 cleanup by enforcing Norfolk Southern鈥檚 complete remediation of it, from soil removal to a full reimbursement of costs to the agency.

鈥淟et me be clear,鈥� EPA聽Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement. 鈥淣orfolk Southern will pay for cleaning up the mess they created and for the trauma they鈥檝e inflicted on this community.鈥澛犅�

That same day, the state opened a health clinic for residents experiencing symptoms potentially linked to the chemical spill and the controlled burn that followed. Ohio officials have also recently requested additional aid and medical assistance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and personnel from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

For now, state officials are advising people reliant on wells to continue consuming bottled drinking water. Governor DeWine on Wednesday stood by the latest聽tests finding that local tap water and air remain clean.

鈥淣ever too late to do the right thing鈥�

Norfolk Southern has also pledged at least $6 million in local assistance.

鈥淚t鈥檚 never too late to do the right thing,鈥� says Andrew Whelton, an environmental engineering and health researcher at Purdue University.

Dr. Whelton has witnessed similar environmental fallouts. The drinking water for more than 300,000 people was contaminated after more than 10,000 gallons of coal cleaning liquid was spilled into West Virginia鈥檚 Elk River in January 2014. during a 50-day emergency in the state.

Dr. Whelton was among those asked to advise the state government on a way forward.

鈥淥nce you lose that trust, you can鈥檛 really get it back鈥澛爓ithout a third party, such as science or health experts from outside federal or state government, he says.

鈥淭his is a time for extreme transparency鈥� from officials, he adds. As in West Virginia, in East Palestine residents 鈥渨ant to know the safety of their water, their soil, their homes. They want to know if it鈥檚 safe or not, are their kids going back to school, are their kids exposed to chemicals that weren鈥檛 cleaned up.鈥�

For Mr. McRoberts, it鈥檚 a sense of community that鈥檚 brought him to the local pizza house on this recent day. In his hand are dozens of signs he made in support of East Palestine. His small company designs logos for products; it鈥檚 his way of giving back to the community that raised him.

For the week after the derailment, his relatives from near the site stayed at his home. Now, their household and his family lack the means necessary to leave town and start over someplace new. As for himself, he鈥檚 not sure if he would want to, or if it will be necessary someday.

It鈥檚 become a matter of 鈥渏ust living with it,鈥� Mr. McRoberts says.

More so, he adds, his family hopes that 鈥渆verything [officials] say is fine, is actually fine.鈥�