‘Trust the government’: EPA seeks to reassure Ohio residents near toxic spill

People in East Palestine demand answers from Norfolk Southern railroad, which skipped meeting due to staff safety concerns

The head of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) got a first-hand look on Thursday at the toll left by a freight train derailment in Ohio, where toxic chemicals spilled or were burned off, leaving the stench of fresh paint nearly two weeks later.

The EPA’s administrator, Michael Regan, walked along a creek that still reeks of chemicals and sought to reassure skeptical residents that the water is fit for drinking and the air safe to breathe around East Palestine, where just less than 5,000 people live near the Pennsylvania state line.