Senators request dioxin monitoring  by EPA

CLEVELAND– U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, announced on Monday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency will send Regional Administrator Thomas C. Sivak and an Incident Management Team to East Palestine to provide resources and support the ongoing operations.

“I spoke to the president yesterday and urged him to work with the state and local governments to get as many federal resources to East Palestine as possible,” Brown said in a news release. “I am glad additional federal personnel and resources from FEMA and the CDC are on their way to better support the residents of East Palestine. Make no mistake – I have made clear to Norfolk Southern that it must ensure the people of East Palestine are properly compensated for experiencing this trauma and this community must be made whole. I will continue to work to make sure everyone affected will have all the resources they need – both now and in the future.”

Brown recently visited East Palestine and has sent several letters advocating for the residents of East Palestine.

On Monday, Brown and U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, sent a letter to the directors of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requesting additional information on plans to monitor East Palestine and the surrounding area for dioxins – a pollutant that can result from combustion of vinyl chloride and can be toxic to humans and animals.

Before his visit, Brown sent a letter to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine asking him to officially declare a disaster in East Palestine and seek the full support of the federal government to bolster the state of Ohio’s ongoing clean-up efforts.

Brown also led letters to NTSB and EPA raising concerns and calling on the agencies investigate and provide assistance to the East Palestine community. He also wrote a letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention requesting the agency act immediately to provide additional assistance and resources to help the community assess and address the public health impacts of the derailment.