We Never Said You Weren’t Exposed: Risk in the Aftermath of the Train Derailment in East Palestine, Ohio

Abstract

This thesis focuses on the cleanup of the February 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, and ensuing concerns over its management. The primary focus is on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) role in the response: did EPA and relevant authorities manage and communicate risk effectively? A particular emphasis is placed on the cleanup of local waterways, a controversy representative of the wider cleanup. This thesis analyzes risk management and communication within the stream cleanup and broader controversy in three manners. First, by a journalistic account of how residents have responded to uncertainty, displaying the narrative of the crisis and psychologies present in town in the aftermath of a crisis: people who can and can not ‘move on.’ This split is often based on personal experience or harm. Second: by analyzing the theoretical grounds for controversy over the cleanup, grounding East Palestine’s events in existing literature on risk perception and assessment. Dispute in East Palestine arose due to incongruities between authorities and residents in risk characterization, leading to a lack of trust between the two. This points to a need for the analytic-deliberative model of risk assessment in crisis situations. Finally, a preliminary risk assessment is conducted for the stream cleanup based on conclusions from previous chapters, employing environmental fate models to analyze authorities’ decisions. All analysis is informed by interviews with EPA officials, residents, and relevant third parties. East Palestine is a cautionary tale: once trust in government is lost, it may not be regained.