Ohio resident Ryan Scragg, 35, was at home with his girlfriend and two young children when the Norfolk Southern train derailed near his home in East Palestine earlier this month.
Scragg, one of many locals suing the company for the derailment, said he had to leave his home with his family after the evacuation order was sent out in the area, forcing them to move to a hotel for most of the week.
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“It was very hard to explain what was happening to a 5-year-old. … He was very intrigued," Scragg said in an interview with the Washington Examiner. “I had to go to a hotel for four days. I had to uproot my kids and put them in a whole new environment.”
He returned to East Palestine with his family four days later, one day after the evacuation order was lifted, just to be safe. Despite the all-clear by authorities, he and his family have reported experiencing a number of health problems, which has led him to suspect that the town isn't as safe as authorities have claimed.
The Environmental Protection Agency has agents there monitoring the air and water quality. On Feb. 15, the agency said that water testing had shown the municipal water supply was totally free of contaminants and safe to drink.
The air quality, though initially thought to be safe, has recently come under question.
“We could definitely smell the odor in the home, the air felt thicker. My girlfriend spent the entire day just cleaning … as much as she could. The next day, I experienced lightheadedness, dizziness, and extreme fatigue,” he said. "My girlfriend experienced a nosebleed," while the youngest child experienced "fits of vomiting." The whole family has experienced swollen eyes and tingling in the hands and feet.
Scragg purchased a number of air purifiers, which made him feel like there was "some improvement."
He has been in contact with surrounding communities, all of which have reported health problems and conditions of their own. The "general feeling of this entire area is of concern," he said.
“People in Youngstown, experiencing feelings of dizziness because they opened their windows in the days after the controlled release,” he remarked.
In the Struthers, Ohio, area, "their tap water is cloudy … and that’s coming from their city tap," he said. "It looks like someone blew smoke in their water. … To me, it’s highly suspicious.”
Scragg expressed displeasure with Norfolk Southern's behavior around the incident, saying he believes that its primary motive has been profits over the safety of locals. He waved off some measures, such as the company establishing a $1 million fund for residents, as inadequate.
“I would say untrustworthy," he said of the company's handling of the situation. "I don’t feel that the process has been caring … [just] very monetary. They just care about making money. They put soil over the contamination area. They were running trains just hours after the evacuation was lifted.”
"They should not have built new tracks. … They should have prioritized safety," he added. “That has been very hurtful to me, I feel that they don’t care about us.”
Scragg is one of the plaintiffs of Erdos et al. v. Norfolk Southern Corp. et al., the latest of several lawsuits regarding the East Palestine train derailment and the first to include Pennsylvanians as plaintiffs. The lawsuit calls for Norfolk Southern and other defendants to fund court-supervised medical screenings for residents within a 30-mile radius of the derailment, according to a press release from Grant and Eisenhofer.
The defendants are being represented by environmental-toxic tort litigators, headed by Grant and Eisenhofer and joined by Pittsburgh-based Edgar Snyder and Associates and the Cincinnati office of Burg Simpson Eldredge Hersh and Jardine.
While Scragg couldn't comment at length about the lawsuit, he gave praise to his lawyers.
“The only thing I can speak on is that the firm I’ve been working with has been excellent," he said. "They have been very open and empathetic.”
When reached for comment, Norfolk Southern said it couldn't comment on ongoing litigation.
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Despite the harm inflicted on the town in the wake of the incident, Scragg remains optimistic about the future of the community. He said the derailment has brought the already tightknit community closer together.
“I’ve grown up and stayed here my entire life,” he said. “If there’s anything to say about this town, it’s that they always come together.”