To the editor:

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) claims our air and water are “legal,” yet many doctors argue they are toxic. This dissonance reveals the systemic failure of the EPA to protect our community’s air and water. On February 3, 2023, during the train derailment, 115,580 gallons of hazardous materials were deliberately vented and burned, including vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate, and ethyl hexyl acrylate. I spent 25 years in the U.S. Coast Guard enforcing EPA guidelines regarding oil and chemical dumping, and I have witnessed firsthand the grave implications of regulatory failures.

The root cause of our current crisis is structural. Unlike the Federal Reserve or the FBI, the EPA Administrator serves at the discretion of each administration, leading to a revolving door of leadership every four years. This politicization has weakened the agency’s ability to act against industrial interests. The 2005 Energy Policy Act, often referred to as the “Halliburton Loophole,” is a prime example–it exempted fracking operations from oversight under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Fracking is used to extract the very chemicals contributing to our vinyl chloride crisis; while it may be legal, it is far from safe!

In stark contrast, developed nations such as France, Germany, Ireland, and Canada’s Quebec region have outright banned fracking. Meanwhile, American companies continue to inject unregulated chemicals into our groundwater with little consequence. The repercussions are staggering: PFAS “forever chemicals” now contaminate 1,400 municipal water supplies and are found in 98% of Americans’ blood. This is particularly alarming given that DuPont and 3M were aware of the risks associated with PFAS for more than 54 years.

A particularly telling example is chromium-6, infamously highlighted by Erin Brockovich’s landmark case against PG&E, which resulted in a $333 million settlement. Despite this victory, it remains legal to dump this known carcinogen into our air and waterways at any level, tainting the water for 251 million Americans. As Brockovich documents in her 2020 book “Superman Is Not Coming,” the EPA regulates fewer than 100 contaminants while industry utilizes over 60,000 chemicals. Alarmingly, not a single new contaminant has been added to the EPA’s regulatory list since 2000, despite the administrations of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden.

As Vice President JD Vance visits East Palestine, we must confront these stark realities. I hope he will champion necessary reforms to ensure our health, safety, air, and water quality because we urgently need his leadership. I sure hope Vice President Vance is the Superman we are looking for because we need one.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) water quality report for East Palestine starkly illustrates the disconnect between legal compliance and actual health safety. Notably, according to EWG’s health-based guidelines, the water quality levels prior to the derailment in 2021 showed alarming disparities: East Palestine had 442 times the acceptable level of arsenic, 82 times too much bromodichloromethane, 2.4 times too much bromoform, and additional excessive measures of other harmful chemicals, including chloroform, dibromoacetic acid, dibromochloromethane, dichloroacetic acid, haloacetic acid, and total trihalomethanes.

It is imperative that we address these pressing issues with urgency and accountability. We need to ensure that our air and water are safe for future generations.

Michael Gough

Farmville, Virginia

Port Security Chief

US Coast Guard (retired)