A previously undisclosed environmental report by industrial hygienist Stephen Petty indicates that soil and water in East Palestine, Ohio, contained carcinogens above federal screening levels following the 2023 Norfolk Southern train derailment. Residents involved in a class-action lawsuit against the railroad company allege that their own attorneys suppressed these findings to encourage them to accept a $600 million settlement. The results, obtained by NewsNation, suggest that 50% to 70% of testing data points for dioxins and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) exceeded Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cancer-screening thresholds.
The report's release follows the February 6, 2023, controlled detonation of vinyl chloride after the derailment. Petty was originally hired by class-action attorneys as an exposure-warnings expert to conduct testing for the residents. However, residents claim that when the $600 million settlement was negotiated, the results were not shared with them. Instead, residents state their lawyers characterized the data as insufficient to support claims of long-term health risks or to justify medical monitoring.
According to residents, attorneys for the class-action suit presented a video by toxicologist Dr. Arch Carson, who stated that chemical exposure levels were too small to expect cancers or long-term health impacts. In contrast, Petty told NewsNation that the suggestion there was "nothing to see" is factually false based on the data. Another independent expert, Scott Smith, stated his own data aligned with Petty's findings, showing 49% of testing exceeded EPA cancer screening levels.
For the residents of East Palestine, the scale of the alleged suppression involves a multi-million dollar legal agreement that covers a wide geographic area impacted by the 2023 fire. The concrete impact for these households is the potential loss of long-term medical monitoring and compensation for chronic illnesses, such as cancer, which Petty and Bish argue are credible risks based on the 50% to 70% exceedance rates found in the data. A resident would notice this in their inability to seek further payment for health bills if they remain bound by the current settlement terms, which the original lawyers reportedly described as "inadequate" for proving long-term diagnostic needs.
The case sets a significant precedent regarding the transparency requirements of class-action attorneys toward their clients during settlement negotiations. If the motion to reopen the settlement is successful, it could disrupt the distribution of the $600 million and lead to new litigation or remediation demands against Norfolk Southern. While a judge denied the initial effort to reopen the settlement in April, the residents have filed an appeal. Neither Dr. Carson nor the original class-action attorneys have responded to requests for comment regarding the allegations of concealment.