East Palestine one year later: local mom becomes environmental advocate

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — It’s been a year since a train hauling hazardous materials down the railroad tracks in East Palestine, derailed in a fiery crash. For days, neighbors were evacuated or told to shelter in place, until the chemicals were vented and the town was told to return to normal.

Channel 11 went back to East Palestine to talk to families, like the Conards, about how different their lives look today. Jessica Conard was in tears reflecting on the day vinyl chloride was released in a “controlled burn” from the derailed rail cars.

“I told the kids ‘pack up your things we have to go, we have to go,’” Jessica Conard told Channel 11 News. “We were just throwing stuff from their drawers into a bag. I had no idea where I was going or what was happening.”

You could call it a mother’s intuition. Jessica Conard says the closer to the vent and burn they got, the more nervous she was. Conard says their family was told to shelter in place, but her gut told her otherwise. The railroad tracks running through the Conard’s backyard are a constant reminder of what went so wrong. Jessica Conard loaded up the kids and drove to a pizza shop in another town.

“The cousins are all gathered together and they’re sharing this seemingly normal, middle-of-the-day meal and we’re showering them with pizza and breadsticks,” Conard recalled. “My heart was really heavy, there was a lot of tension. I couldn’t eat.”

When Norfolk Southern called the vent and burn a success, they returned home.

>> East Palestine Train Derailment: Exclusive sit down with Norfolk Southern CEO nearly 1 year later

“When I pulled into my driveway, I looked up at my town and it was just covered in black smoke, the whole town,” Conard said with tears in her eyes. “We learned from the EPA that day that the smell wasn’t toxic, and we didn’t have anything to worry about. We know now that wasn’t true. A lot wasn’t true.”

Conard said the irritating smell of chlorine hung in the air and everyone felt sick. When the Centers for Disease Control held a meeting, the Conards say they went to learn about medical testing and indoor air monitoring.

“We were told there wasn’t anything they could do for our exposures, but they would treat our cancers.”

Conard said that statement was devastating to her and her family.

Life looks completely different for Jessica Conard today. The speech pathologist of 15 years is now the Appalachia Director for Beyond Plastics, a grassroots environmental group petitioning to ban vinyl chloride, which is used in PVC pipes and plastic products.

“This is not an isolated event,” Conard said. “Petrochemical incidents happen every four days. This is a plague, this is a disease, we need to stop it.”

Her family’s health was part of her career change. Her 3-year-old was diagnosed with persistent asthma and when leaked vinyl chloride was dug up. Conard said his eye became irritated and worsened over two weeks.

“Is he going to go blind from this?” Conard recalls asking her husband. “Do we need to leave? Where do you go? What do you do? We didn’t qualify for relocations assistance, we didn’t even qualify for a filter for our water.”

For Conard, the fiery derailment energized her to do something to prevent another community from experiencing what her hometown had to live through.

“I’m not going to stop,” Conard said. “I’m not going to stop fighting for my community, I’m not going to stop fighting for your community. This will happen again if we do not take collective action. Nobody wants to think of a flaming chemical train anywhere near their loved ones.”

Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW

©2024 Cox Media Group