DNYUZ
  • Home
  • News
    • U.S.
    • World
    • Politics
    • Opinion
    • Business
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Science
  • Entertainment
    • Culture
    • Music
    • Movie
    • Television
    • Theater
    • Gaming
    • Sports
  • Tech
    • Apps
    • Autos
    • Gear
    • Mobile
    • Startup
  • Lifestyle
    • Arts
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Health
    • Travel
No Result
View All Result
DNYUZ
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Biden White House insisted families were safe after toxic East Palestine derailment — but behind the scenes, admin warned of ‘cancer cluster’

May 31, 2025
in News, Politics
Biden White House insisted families were safe after toxic East Palestine derailment — but behind the scenes, admin warned of ‘cancer cluster’
504
SHARES
1.4k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration admitted possible cancer-causing toxins were spread in East Palestine, Ohio, following the Norfolk Southern train derailment in 2023, explosive new emails show, despite the White House insisting residents were safe.

“The occurrence of a cancer-cluster in EP [East Palestine] is not zero,” FEMA recovery leader James McPherson wrote in a March 29, 2024, email to other public health officials — a little more than a year after the crash.

“As you all are aware, the first 48 hours of the fire created a really toxic plume,” he said in the chain of communications, which were first reported by News Nation.

This video screenshot released by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) shows the site of a derailed freight train in East Palestine, Ohio, the United States. About 50 Norfolk Southern freight train cars derailed on the night of Feb. 3 in East Palestine, a town of 4,800 residents near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, due to a mechanical problem on an axle of one of the vehicles.
“The occurrence of a cancer-cluster in EP [East Palestine] is not zero,” Federal Emergency Management Agency recovery leader James McPherson wrote in a March 29, 2024, email. Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images

Just two months earlier, President Biden had excoriated “multimillion-dollar railroad companies transporting toxic chemicals” for the fiasco — but praised his administration’s “herculean efforts” to resolve the “vast majority” of East Palestine’s problems.

The crash spewed harmful chemicals into the air and resulted in 115,000 gallons’ worth of carcinogenic vinyl chloride undergoing an open burn — displacing residents and leading to reports of strange illnesses as well as the death of livestock in the weeks following the Feb. 3, 2023, disaster.

Michael Regan, the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, showed up on Feb. 22 with TV cameras in tow to capture himself drinking from the local water supply, and months later claimed unequivocally that people in East Palestine were “not in danger.”

President Joe Biden speaks after touring the East Palestine Recovery Site, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, in East Palestine, Ohio.
President Biden excoriated “multimillion-dollar railroad companies transporting toxic chemicals” for the fiasco — but praised his administration’s “herculean efforts.” AP

“Since the disaster, EPA has collected more than 100 million air monitoring data points and more than 25 thousand samples in and around the community,” Regan said in an Oct. 17, 2023, statement.

“This data collection continues, and ongoing science-based reviews show that residents of East Palestine are not in danger from contaminated drinking water, soil, or air from the derailment.”

But a watchdog group that has been investigating the toxic fallout from the train derailment said the Biden administration’s approach was “flawed” from the start — and has now released emails obtained via Freedom of Information Act requests to prove it.

EPA Administrator Michael Regan and Ohio Governor Mike DeWine
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan showed up on Feb. 22 with TV cameras in tow to capture himself drinking from the local water supply. C-SPAN

“They didn’t always test for the right chemicals; they didn’t test in the right locations; they didn’t have the right detection limits,” Government Accountability Project investigator Lesley Pacey told The Post, saying the Biden admin wasn’t “worrying about public health” but, rather “public reassurances.”

“They delayed testing for dioxin, and then when they did the testing for dioxin — and also did the testing in people’s homes for other chemicals — they used Norfolk Southern contractors, and those contractors used equipment that wasn’t correct,” said Pacey, who’s been investigating the incident.

“They completely botched this event from the very beginning.”

So-called “ASPECT” planes that monitor air quality weren’t deployed due to apparent bad weather until four days after the derailment, she added, when they should have been flown within eight hours of the incident.

The federal response also lacked robust monitoring of the water supply and ignored agency policies in order to burn the harmful chemicals, according to Pacey, leaving East Palestine natives “acutely very, very ill.” Bloomberg via Getty Images

The federal response also lacked robust monitoring of the water supply and ignored agency policies in order to burn the harmful chemicals, according to Pacey, allowing East Palestine natives to get “very, very ill.”

The new emails — including batches from FEMA, the EPA, the White House, the National Security Council and the Justice Department, which later settled with Norfolk Southern for $310 million to redress harms to the Ohio community — also show that one year after the chaos admin officials were still discussing the need to develop a “tripwire to identify cancer clusters.”

Biden, who was diagnosed earlier this month with an “aggressive” form of prostate cancer that has already spread to his bones, often claimed that his late son Beau died from a brain cancer possibly caused by exposure to toxic fumes while serving in Iraq.

He also claimed in a 2022 speech that he had cancer due to growing up near oil refineries in Claymont, Delaware, though the White House maintained he was referencing “non-melanoma skin cancers” that had previously been removed.

The post Biden White House insisted families were safe after toxic East Palestine derailment — but behind the scenes, admin warned of ‘cancer cluster’ appeared first on New York Post.

Tags: Cancerenvironmental protection agencyFEMAJoe BidenOhiotrain accidents
Share202Tweet126Share
Molly Gordon’s So Much More Than The Bear’s Dream Girl
News

Molly Gordon’s So Much More Than The Bear’s Dream Girl

by Vanity Fair
June 5, 2025

“I’ve never been in something that people watch,” says Molly Gordon, “which is a very different experience.” She’s talking about ...

Read more
News

The FBI was completely correct to keep an eye on Catholics

June 5, 2025
News

Poland is becoming Europe’s factory for ‘bath salts’ drugs, EU agency warns

June 5, 2025
News

Transcript: Trump Turns Hard on Musk as GOP Bill Hit by Harsh New Data

June 5, 2025
News

Dakota Johnson Is the Best Talk Show Guest, Period

June 5, 2025
Mossad’s Former Chief Calls the War in Gaza ‘Useless’

Mossad’s Former Chief Calls the War in Gaza ‘Useless’

June 5, 2025
Fishing Communities in the Philippines Are Fighting for their Future as Waters Rise

Fishing Communities in the Philippines Are Fighting for their Future as Waters Rise

June 5, 2025
My father-in-law retired at 55 and is now 86. His successful early retirement taught me 4 lessons I plan to follow.

My father-in-law retired at 55 and is now 86. His successful early retirement taught me 4 lessons I plan to follow.

June 5, 2025

Copyright © 2025.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • U.S.
    • World
    • Politics
    • Opinion
    • Business
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Science
  • Entertainment
    • Culture
    • Gaming
    • Music
    • Movie
    • Sports
    • Television
    • Theater
  • Tech
    • Apps
    • Autos
    • Gear
    • Mobile
    • Startup
  • Lifestyle
    • Arts
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Health
    • Travel

Copyright © 2025.