EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — Pride. Tradition. Progress.
That is the village of East Palestine’s new motto for the world, one year after a Norfolk Southern train derailed, causing a fire and chemical spill that still has some people uncomfortable with returning home.
The new motto and logo were unveiled at a press event on Feb. 2 at the East Palestine Community Center where village leaders discussed updates on the derailment clean-up, plans to bring in new businesses and how to remove the stigma of the “derailment town.”
Mayor Trent Conaway said he doesn’t want to forget the events of last year but wants to move forward and take control of the narrative.
“We won’t allow others to use our community for their agenda,” he said. “We believe in East Palestine as a community that is strong. Many others believe in us, too.
Rebranding
According to EPA statistics, 42.8 million gallons of water have been transferred offsite, 176,487 tons of waste soil have been removed, 5,200 feet of impacted waterways have been flushed, 1,221 drinking water wells have been sampled and more than 115 million air monitoring data points have been collected and analyzed.
The latest data indicates the derailment site no longer poses a risk to the village’s water, air and soil, Village Fire Chief Keith Drabick said. But there is still work to be done to get the public perception to match the numbers.
East Palestine recently hired Bricker Graydon, a law firm in Cleveland, through a $500,000 grant to help revitalize the village through an economic development plan called the East Palestine Community Improvement Corporation.
The corporation will allow the village to be able to purchase land and deteriorating buildings to tear down and replace them. It will also work on recruiting and promoting businesses.
The village also hired WRL Advertising, a marketing agency based out of Canton, to rebrand the village with its new logo and enhance communication.
Over the past year, residents have expressed discontent with communication. In response, the village unveiled a new newsletter and social media channels as well as a website that will provide “a single source for factual consistent, easy-to-understand news and information” said Village Manager Chad Edwards.
Change needed
Drabick added communication has been an issue for emergency personnel, particularly when receiving information on what cargo trains were carrying the night of the derailment.
Since the derailment, Norfolk Southern has partnered with RapidSOS to make it quicker and easier for first responders to receive information on cargo and hazardous materials as well as call for mutual aid and receive training. He urged other major railroads to follow in Norfolk Southern’s footsteps.
Additionally, Conaway and Drabick briefly discussed the importance of the Railway Safety Act which is currently stalled in the U.S. Senate.
“It needs to be passed,” Conaway said. “The efforts that we’ve made over the last year should be the key factor in that. I mean, just look what happened to our quiet little community. It changed the whole dynamic of our town and it could have done the same for 10 other towns.”
Despite the stall, East Palestine has not waited for legislation to increase training on derailments involving hazardous materials. The village has already updated its training protocols and is in the process of building a regional training center in cooperation with Norfolk Southern.
However, Drabick notes there needs to be a bill in place to fund nationwide training and give firefighters time off to train. He referred to the National Guard’s training program that gives them paid time off to train. Instead, volunteer firefighters have to take vacation days they would be spending with their families to train to protect East Palestine citizens.
Moving forward
Despite all this work, miscommunication and misinformation is still a problem for East Palestine.
“The fact is you have to talk to everybody. You can’t just talk to a select few that are louder than most,” Drabick said. “It is safe here, businesses are growing here, we are trying to promote things here and part of that is us stepping up to the plate as a community and getting information out and better.”
Conaway said East Palestine has seen a substantial number of houses sold over the past year. Some people complain about smells in their homes who live closer to the derailment site, but the majority of people who complain are those who haven’t been in their houses for a while, he said.
The leaders sympathized with those who still have concerns with the EPA data and are afraid to move back into their homes, but overall emphasized that East Palestine is a safe place to live.
“I feel for them. It’s a mental trauma. Some of them are having medical issues and I hope that we can develop plans, which we are working on, to get medical testing for the long term and to get treatment for the long term,” said Drabick.
(Reporter Liz Partsch can be reached at epartsch@farmanddairy.com or 330-337-3419.)
