Norfolk Southern environmental consultant accused of 'questionable practices'

Three months after the East Palestine derailment, the EPA and Norfolk Southern are telling area residents their air and water are safe.But some residents said they don't believe it.Action News Investigates has learned the company doing environmental testing for the railroad has faced criticism after making similar assurances following previous disasters. Zsuzsa Gyenes' home is a mile from the derailment site. But she's been living at a Cranberry Township hotel because she said she and her son cannot stay in her home even though the Center for Toxicology and Environmental Health, a consultant for Norfolk Southern, has said the air is safe.“All of our air monitoring and sampling data collectively do not indicate any short- or long-term risks to them, their children or their families,” CTEH toxicologist Sarah Burnett said in a video for Norfolk Southern.“I haven't really spent a lot of time in my house because I get very sick, like I'm going to throw up. I get a really bad headache. My chest feels really tight and heavy. I start getting very disoriented and dizzy,” Gyenes said.When a train containing hazardous materials derailed in Kentucky in 2012, CTEH assisted in the cleanup.According to a lawsuit, CTEH declared the area safe for workers two days after the derailment.But when two workers started using blow torches to separate rail cars, there was a flash explosion, causing severe burns to both workers that required skin grafts.CTEH denied any wrongdoing, but the company and two other parties settled the workers' lawsuit for $18.5 million.In a statement, CTEH vice president Paul Nony said, "A proper risk assessment was not conducted by those responsible for the hot work, and spilled chemicals were ignited. CTEH does not authorize or conduct hot work, and we were not responsible for the accident."Gyenes said she was disturbed to hear about the Kentucky case.“It tells me that we probably shouldn't believe what we're being told right now from these agencies, especially if they're the same ones involved in something like that,” she said.A Norfolk Southern spokesperson said the EPA and state authorities in Ohio and Pennsylvania have overseen the testing done by CTEH.When BP hired CTEH to help with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, two members of Congress sent a letter to BP's CEO accusing CTEH of "a long history of questionable practices" and urging BP to "remove CTEH from their role as primary monitor of health issues."The letter cited CTEH's testing during a Tennessee coal ash spill and an investigation into toxic Chinese drywall.Nony of CTEH said suspicion about its testing accuracy and scientific integrity "is unfounded and based on inaccurate media reports."“You’ve got to remember, you can't find what you don't look for,” said Scott Smith, chief sustainability officer for Eco Integrated Technologies.He has been testing for hazardous chemicals in East Palestine since the derailment. His company is independent of Norfolk Southern and the EPA.“We're finding a wide spectrum of dioxins,” Smith said, referring to the toxic chemical that has been linked to cancer.Nony said dioxin levels "resemble what we would expect to find anywhere in the United States," and there is "no indication" that they pose a health risk.But tests done by Smith at Sulfur Run, a creek in East Palestine, found dioxin levels dozens and even hundreds of times higher than the amounts at a creek outside the derailment zone.Smith said CTEH and the EPA are not testing in the right places or at the right levels.“If I lived here, I wouldn't trust it. I would rely on all the truly independent testing,” Smith said.Smith did soil testing at the East Palestine home of Linda Murphy. She has tested positive for vinyl chloride, the chemical released during the derailment.“This is a chemical cocktail, and we're all lab rats. I'm just a lab rat that's now marked. So we'll wait and see what happens to me,” Murphy said.CTEH has another client in Western Pennsylvania – the Shell cracker plant in Beaver County. Shell hired CTEH to review the impact of a sewage plant malfunction that led to the release of benzene, which is a toxic chemical. A CTEH toxicologist told residents they have no need to worry about any effects on their health.