Columbiana County

Officials from the Ohio Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency say there's no indication East Palestine's agriculture system was impacted by February's rain derailment.

Carnegie Mellon and Texas A&M researchers found high levels of acrolein, a chemical found in manufacturing and formed in combustion. It is considered a hazardous air pollutant.

A handful of people who were planning to buy homes in the East Palestine area have backed out after the Feb. 3 train derailment, and others who were looking for homes in the area have stopped.

Nearly two million gallons of wastewater and thousands of cubic yards of contaminated soil have already been removed from the site, with more to go. Every aspect of removal is governed by regulations.

Concerns about dioxins have been mounting since the company intentionally burned several rail cars’ worth of vinyl chloride.

The news follows the Environmental Protection Agency order to pause shipments from the site of the Feb. 3 derailment in East Palestine to allow additional oversight about where waste was shipped.

The agency heard concerns from residents and officials in Texas and Michigan, where some of the contaminated waste had already been shipped.

Whether or not an Obama administration rule could have prevented the derailment, the Norfolk Southern train was not designated "high-hazard."

Buttigieg called on critics of the Biden administration to step up and help. He also admitted he should not have waited 10 days to comment on the chemical spill.

In October, months before the East Palestine derailment, the company also directed a train to keep moving with an overheated wheel that caused it to derail miles later in Sandusky, Ohio.