Vice President JD Vance and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin have asked the EPA's Office of Inspector General to investigate the Biden administration's response to the February 2023 Norfolk Southern derailment and hazardous-materials release in East Palestine, Ohio.

According to an EPA release issued Friday, Aug. 28, Vance and Zeldin sent a joint letter to the Office of Inspector General requesting the investigation. The request comes in response to a report released last week by the watchdog group Government Accountability Project.

The report says initial Department of Defense modeling projected mass casualties from the vent-and-burn disposal of vinyl chloride — information that was withheld from those at the site. An initial estimate projected that 18,000 people could suffer harmful chemical exposure, with 1,900 people located in a "death possible" zone. Subsequent estimates reduced the at-risk figure to 840 people.

"If the Biden administration withheld public health risks from the community, they must be held accountable," Vance said in a social media post that included the letter.

A National Transportation Safety Board investigation into the derailment determined the vent-and-burn action was "unnecessary" and increased public and first-responder exposure to hazardous materials. The derailment, which involved about 38 cars, prompted a broader federal response: Norfolk Southern agreed to a cleanup and a settlement with EPA, and Congress ultimately passed bipartisan rail safety legislation in the House aimed at strengthening requirements for detectors, inspections, and the handling of hazardous materials.

The EPA's inspector general, Sean O'Donnell, was one of several inspectors general fired by President Donald Trump in January 2025. Deputy Inspector General Nicole Murley, who joined the agency from the Department of Justice in 2021, is currently serving as acting inspector general.

Source: FreightWaves