A year after toxic train derailment, Biden visits East Palestine to mixed reception

Geoff Bennett:

It's been more than a year since a toxic train derailment devastated the small Ohio town of East Palestine. The initial fire and controlled burn of chemicals a few days later left residents there concerned for their health and safety.

And after much anticipation and some criticism, President Biden visited the community for the first time today. President Biden met with officials on the ground who updated him on their ongoing cleanup efforts.

Joe Biden , President of the United States: Working with the state, we have tested the air, the water, the soil quality, deployed teams of health experts, provided emergency loans for local businesses. But it's not done yet. There's more to do.

Geoff Bennett:

The president pledged support and assured residents that he is holding Norfolk Southern accountable.

Joe Biden :

While there are acts of God, this was an act of greed that was 100 percent preventable.

Geoff Bennett:

But for former East Palestine resident Lonnie Miller, the president's visit is too little too late.

Lonnie Miller, Former East Palestine Resident:

It's been a year. We needed him last February. He could have stepped up and demanded more help for us and not force us to go beg Norfolk Southern for help.

Geoff Bennett:

The rail line runs across the street from the home Miller shared with her husband and son, who grew up admiring the train. She says her family's feelings changed last year after the fiery train derailment.

Lonnie Miller:

The thing that we once loved watching out front from our living room window is now the thing that I'm most terrified of. I am just terrified that it will happen again.

Geoff Bennett:

She's now packing up the last of her belongings from the house she lived in for 30 years. Her family took out alone to relocate 10 miles away.

Lonnie Miller:

Our house has been on the market now for over 100 days. We haven't had a request for one showing, not one. And that kills me, because I loved it so much, and nobody wants it.

Geoff Bennett:

Miller says she's grown distrustful of Norfolk Southern and resents that her local and federal governments have directed her to ask the railroad for help.

Lonnie Miller:

We are being told to go to them, the ones that did this to us. We shouldn't have to go to them for help.

Geoff Bennett:

Since the derailment, Norfolk Southern has pledged to make it right and says it has given the town over $100 million in community support, including a $25 million upgrade to East Palestine City Park.

Some residents are receptive.

Daniel Mikkelsen, East Palestine Resident:

I think the railroad is doing the best they can. They're putting more money in the park than the whole town is even worth, except for the love of the people and the town. So, you have got to give them credit for that.

Francis Figley, East Palestine Resident:

They haven't left town. They're not leaving town. Could have had somebody and just closed up and got inside that railroad and hid from it all. They didn't do that. Some people spend the rest of their life trying to chastise them.

Barb Kugler, East Palestine Resident:

Some of us want to just move on, and then there's other people who want to fight about everything. And it's very divided right now.

Geoff Bennett:

But for Barb Kugler, a 30-year resident of East Palestine, watching the division in her once-close-knit community play out has been painful. She says she's most concerned about the perception of East Palestine, now best known for being the site of a toxic train derailment.

Barb Kugler:

I don't think this town will ever be the same. I think we're going to be feared for a long time. And I hate to say that, but people are going to believe what they want to believe.

Geoff Bennett:

After the derailment, just blocks from her home, Kugler turned her crafting hobby into a business, selling her wares at a shop just outside of town. But she says she's noticed an uneasiness in her customers.

Barb Kugler:

I have run into some people who say, oh, well, where are you from? And I would say, oh, East Palestine, and then they would put my items back, because they're afraid that there's something in the fabric. And it hurts.

Geoff Bennett:

For Ashley McCollum, the fear is warranted.

Ashley McCollum, Displaced East Palestine Resident:

So, these are the symptoms. So they have experienced almost everything.

Geoff Bennett:

Concerned that her community's health issues were being ignored, she started compiling the symptoms residents said they were experiencing, including her own. She lived two blocks from the derailment site.

Ashley McCollum:

When we first started going back in, I could only last in town for about 10 minutes, before having serious issues. I mean, early February, I was vomiting after I went into my house. So it was that intense.

Geoff Bennett:

For the past year, McCollum has been living in a hotel nine miles outside of East Palestine with her boyfriend and 7-year-old son. She's hesitant to sell her home. She says it's not safe to live in.

Norfolk Southern has been paying for her stay and some of her expenses, but she's not sure if that will continue.

Ashley McCollum:

People are walking into their homes having nosebleeds. They're having chronic problems, memory problems. This should be taken care of differently. It feels like you have to beg the person that did this that's saying, oh, no, it's all in your head, nothing's wrong, to do something for us. And it's just not OK.

Geoff Bennett:

For now, McCollum and her family live in limbo with an uncertain future ahead.