EAST PALESTINE — Instead of looking out for the residents impacted by the 2023 train derailment, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) used resources to look into the social media movements of those residents, a government watchdog group claims.

According to the Government Accountability Project (GAP), the group obtained records through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request that show EPA surveillance of East Palestine residents. The GAP alleges that “records of communication between EPA personnel show a pattern of tracking and monitoring private citizens for the purpose of public relations” and zeroed in on the residents who made the most noise about public health concerns.

Lesley Pacey, senior environmental officer for Government Accountability Project, said the resources used to monitor those residents should have been used to better protect them from the chemicals released during the rail disaster.

“It’s unconscionable that taxpayer funds were diverted not toward safeguarding East Palestine but toward surveilling its residents — capturing their posts, circulating their fears, even mocking their pain,” Pacey said. “These were people whose bodies were literally deteriorating from exposure, yet instead of testing or transparency, they were treated like enemies in a surveillance operation.”

She went as far to accuse the EPA of gaslighting those in the community who reported symptoms.

“These FOIA-obtained emails add insult to injury for residents already harmed by this disaster — only to be lied to, time and again, by the EPA that the health impacts they are suffering are all in their heads,” Pacey said.

The emails monitoring social media posts came from Franciso Arcaute, the Region 5 Community Involvement Coordinator. According to Arcaute’s job description on LinkedIn profile, he is the “senior liaison between technical project managers and the public during Agency Superfund and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) cleanup projects” and his duties “include coordinating public meetings, responding to elected officials, fact sheet/website coordination and emergency response deployment.”

Arcaute sent copies of resident’s social media posts to Jeff Kelley (Region 5 Director Office of Public Affairs), Allison Lippert (EPA Community Outreach Manager) and Rachel Bassler Linduska (Region 5 Media Relations). Among the copied text shared were Facebook posts from residents Carol McKim, Johnny Hill, Michele LaBate-Watterson, Ed Rose and Rick Tsai and a lengthy one from Fred Beer. Beer was especially critical of Norfolk Southern and expressed both fear and anger over the threat he believes the chemicals released pose to public health, posting “that polluter [Norfolk Southern] will never have your best interest at heart nor will they sit at your table with your kids and weep with you as you wonder if your adolescent daughter is gonna watch you die with cancer or is she gonna have reproductive nightmares as she attempts to give you a grandchild and start her family.”

Kelley responded to Beer’s post by replying “Fred Beer has a lot on his mind …”

Other emails obtained by the GAP show the agency regularly monitored community social media posts and followed news reports to put together a document titled “East Palestine Train Derailment Social Listening Report.” The report begins with the disclaimer that “the report is for official use only” and its “intended recipients are emergency management officials requiring information about the immediate impact and needs associated with the event” but at-face value appeared to be a list of bullet points to help responding agencies get ahead of a growing PR nightmare in the days following the derailment.

The report was emailed from Nancy Grantham, Director Of Public Affairs at US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to the EPA public Office of Affairs “non-careers” email address, asking “Did you all get this?”

The report originated from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Office of External Affairs, specifically related to Emergency Support Function #15. ESF 15 is responsible for coordinating federal communications and public information during disaster response.

The report stated that local residents remained skeptical of water and air tests and felt “concern of health issues are being swept aside by responding officials.”

“This is fueling an overall feeling of distrust toward state and federal officials publicly available,” the report determined.

Among the social media posts highlighted in the report were reactions to then Ohio Lieutenant Governor and now U.S. Senator John Husted’s suggestion that East Palestine residents buy bottled water if they felt tap water was unsafe.

“These users countered that many impacted individuals cannot afford bottled water,” the report stated.

The report also made note of the reported health symptoms blamed on the derailment.

“East Palestine residents continue to voice concern about their health in public community groups citing recurring cough, headaches, and sore throats,” it reported. “This is garnering national media attention.”

In addition to the posts by community members, the FEMA document included what media outlets were reporting and photographs of the frontpages and headlines of multiple publications.

In other communications obtained by the GAP, emails focused on the East Palestine Train Derailment Unity Council — a now-defunct grassroots advocacy group founded and formed by residents in derailment-impacted communities.

“It’s deeply unsettling to learn that the U.S. EPA was monitoring private citizens like myself who were simply advocating for transparency and safety in East Palestine,” said Jami Wallace, the president of the Unity Council when it disbanded. “I never imagined that posting on social media about environmental concerns would lead to my name showing up in FOIA documents or receiving direct messages from the U.S. EPA asking me to remove Facebook posts. It feels invasive and inappropriate.”

The government should be focused on addressing the crisis, not monitoring those who are trying to hold them accountable,” Wallace added.

The Morning Journal reached out to the EPA regarding the latest FOIA documents obtained by GAP and was met with what appears to be a canned response that puts the blame on the Biden administration.

“Since Day One, the Trump Administration has prioritized EPA’s role in responding to emergencies, including East Palestine. In his first official trip, Administrator Lee Zeldin traveled to East Palestine, Ohio, with Vice President JD Vance, to mark the two-year anniversary of the train derailment,” an EPA spokesman said. “We are very concerned by claims that have come to light over the past few months. The Trump Administration is committed to maximum transparency and as such we intend to conduct a thorough review of decisions made in the aftermath of the train derailment. We will work to ensure the health and safety of the people of East Palestine.”

The comment was verbatim to the one provided last month when the Morning Journal asked about GAP’s claims that the EPA made changes to Norfolk Southern’s dioxin soil sampling plan in East Palestine to conceal the scope of dioxin contamination after the burn off of vinyl chloride.

Also this week, the GAP accused the EPA of participating in “a systematic ongoing effort to track and discredit independent scientist and GAP whistleblower Scott Smith.”

Smith and his team have conducted hundreds of soil and water sampling in the village and has often found himself at odds with the EPA while reporting different findings.

Smith said he can take what the EPA dishes out but the people of East Palestine shouldn’t have to. He called the EPA’s alleged actions both “unconscionable and reprehensible” that furthered “the mental anguish and duress on the residents.”

“My heart goes out to all the residents in and around East Palestine, Ohio that were surveilled and/or monitored by EPA personnel,” Smith said.