An EPA whistleblower has come forward with shocking claims about the government’s response to the toxic train derailment in East Palestine.
Robert Kroutil, a scientist who spent four decades in government agencies, said NewsNation that the EPA deviated from its normal safety procedures by testing for hazardous contamination around the accident site.
It alleged that leaders delayed the deployment of a chemical testing plane for five days, but still decided that evacuated residents were free to return to their homes after just three days.
Residents who returned home quickly reported adverse reactions, such as rashes, breathing problems and nausea.
“That deployment was the most unusual deployment I’ve ever seen,” Kroutil said of the test aircraft. “You just wouldn’t do it that way.”
Former EPA contractor-turned-whistleblower Robert Kroutil has come forward with shocking allegations about the government’s response to the February 2023 East Palestine train derailment.
Authorities told residents they could return home safely three days after the derailment, and Kroutil claimed mismanagement may have overlooked key data about the toxicity levels still in the area at the time.
Kroutil spent his career developing the ASPECT aircraft (pictured), a high-tech aircraft used to detect levels of chemical pollution in the air that he says were delayed in deployment.
Kroutil originally worked for the Department of Defense, where he worked to develop the Airborne Spectralphotometric Environmental Collection Technology (ASPECT) aircraft, a high-tech aircraft used to detect levels of chemical pollution in the air.
He continued this work when he moved to the EPA to work as a contractor, but said that throughout his career he had never seen the plane used the way it was used in the East Palestine disaster.
At the time officials told residents it was safe for them to return home, EPA chief Michael Reagan specifically highlighted the use of the ASPECT aircraft as one of the reasons he made the decision.
“We’ve had troops on the ground, leading extensive air quality testing, including the state-of-the-art ASPECT aircraft,” he said.
However, procedures typically called for the ASPECT aircraft to be deployed within hours, and Kroutil said he is still confused why it was not deployed in a timely manner, believing key data on toxicity levels may have been lost. In the area.
“In East Palestine, we had a big delay,” he told NewsNation. “There was a big delay getting the plane to Pittsburgh.”
When asked why officials might have postponed the flight, Kroutil said, “I’m still asking myself that question.”
After the derailment on February 3, 20203, he said: ‘We should collect data on the 4th, 5th, 6th (of February), and several flights on the 7th.
“We should be there for at least two weeks to control the situation.”
At the time officials told residents it was safe for them to return home, EPA chief Michael Reagan (pictured) specifically highlighted the use of the ASPECT aircraft as one of the reasons why made the decision.
Officials were forced to conduct a controlled detonation of a portion of the derailed train while it was filled with hazardous materials, causing a massive plume of toxic smoke to fill the East Palestine, Ohio, area for several days, pictured in the photo. February 6, 2023.
A girl shows a rash she developed shortly after returning to East Palestine in February 2023.
Instead, Kroutil claimed that the ASPECT aircraft was not even deployed until the toxic smoke plume cleared (and many residents returned home) and collected only a fraction of the data he would have expected.
‘We were only sent on two missions on February 7. By then, the plumes of smoke had died down and the fire was out. “It was after the event and the fire, so it was not the time to use this particular aircraft,” he said.
“The plane only collected data, eight minutes of data with the targets.” Typically, he claimed, he would have collected more than 100 minutes of data.
Although EPA chiefs cited the plane as one of the reasons for telling residents it was safe, Kroutil said scientists determined the data was inconclusive, a point that did not appear in the agency’s final report on the incident.
Kroutil (pictured) began his career in the Department of Defense and spent four decades in government agencies before resigning over his allegations regarding East Palestine.
Kroutil also alleged that the plane turned off its chemical sensors over some streams in eastern Palestine, which he insisted was against normal protocol and no reason was given for the move.
“I’ve made 180 different answers,” he said. “I have never heard the program director tell us to turn off the sensor when we collect data.”
He claims that when he complained to superiors, he never received a response.
In response, NewsNation said the EPA disagreed with Kroutil’s characterization of the response and said the ASPECT aircraft was unable to fly earlier due to weather conditions.
“Within hours of the February 3, 2023 derailment, EPA responders arrived on scene and established a robust air monitoring network at the site and within the community,” the agency said.
“EPA’s ASPECT aircraft was just one component of a comprehensive air monitoring and sampling network that included several instruments to collect air samples and measure contaminants in and around the site.”
Although the EPA reportedly claimed the delay was due to adverse weather conditions, Kroutil disagreed and said it could have flown at a lower altitude.
Images taken immediately after the train derailment showed massive fires and smoke filling the area of East Palestine, Ohio.
For months after the derailment, residents complained of adverse side effects, including breathing problems, rashes and nausea.
Kroutil said that meteorological data contradicted this and stated that the plane would have been safe to fly at 2,000 feet instead of its normal altitude of 2,800 feet.
As his fears grew about the response to the derailment, the scientist said he was also surprised when he was told not to include the words “Eastern Palestine” in his communications with his program director.
This may have been used as a loophole so that those communications were not included in a Freedom of Information Act response about the derailment, Kroutil said.
Because of this, he decided to file his own FOIA request, which he said was quickly responded to with a threat.
“They told me I would be fired within 24 hours if I didn’t rescind my FOIA request,” he said.
Kroutil resigned from his position after rescinding the request and insisted that he is now whistleblowing for a reason: “because it’s the truth.”
The Government Accountability Project (GAO) offers legal protection to the former agency employee as he moves forward with his claims.
Lesley Pacey, a GAP researcher, said of their support: “EPA did not collect the chemical information it could have collected to inform first responders, the community and government officials, to protect the public.”
‘They could have done this and they didn’t. The question is why.