Erin Brockovich: East Palestine a disaster ‘like one I’ve never seen’

Environmental activist Erin Brockovich has called the derailment of a train carrying hazardous chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio, earlier this month a disaster “like one I’ve never seen.” 

Brockovich, who discovered that groundwater contamination from Pacific Gas and Electric Company was sickening residents in the small town of Hinkley, Calif., in the 1990s, told “CNN This Morning” that the East Palestine incident feels reminiscent of the disastrous Hinkley case. 

“I’ve been doing this for 30 years now, and the lack of information that has not been given to these people, that they’ve been almost left here, not knowing what’s going on, where to go, what to do, who to turn to, their fear — I mean, all of it feels very remnant, to me, of what happened in Hinkley,” Brockovich told CNN.

A large plume of smoke rises over East Palestine, Ohio, following the controlled detonation of a portion of the derailed Norfolk Southern trains on Feb. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Asked where she places the incident against others she’s worked with, Brockovich called it “like one I’ve never seen.”

Among the 38 cars on the Norfolk Southern Railway train that derailed on Feb. 3 were several carrying vinyl chloride, a hazardous substance used in plastics production. Some contents of the cars were set ablaze as part of a “controlled release” to avert an explosion, and residents were temporarily asked to evacuate the area. 

The incident sparked concerns about the environmental repercussions of the crash and burning, including contamination to the East Palestine land and drinking water. Some have said the drinking water is safe, while others have suggested residents avoid it.

“They had an acute immediate exposure when they lit all those chemicals on fire. We’ve had all kinds of soot and chemicals rain out on them,” Brockovich said on CNN of the Ohio residents.

“And what happens in the water is a process that takes time. How this chemical will travel with the water, how long it will take to get to a municipality, to a well water — those are two different conversations,” she said, adding that it feels “a little bit misleading” to tell residents the water is safe when “you cannot give that assurance that that will be the condition tomorrow, or a month from now or two months from now.”

In an interview with NewsNation earlier this week, Brockovich stressed that East Palestine residents are frustrated with “inconsistent messaging” from the railway, their state representatives, the state EPA and the federal EPA. 

“They don’t know who to believe, and at this point, I don’t think they’re trusting anybody […] They feel like nobody’s listening to them,” the activist said, adding that she also doesn’t trust the EPA at this moment. 

“These people and this community are almost a pawn in between some political agency corporate scenario, and they’re just left there to fend for themselves at this point,” Brockovich said.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was in East Palestine Thursday to meet with community members and hear from investigators. His trip comes a day after former President Trump visited the town and bashed the administration over its response to the disaster.