A year and a half after the catastrophic derailment of a Norfolk Southern train and subsequent chemical fire in East Palestine, Ohio, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has announced plans to monitor the private drinking water wells of state residents living within a one-mile radius of the accident site over the next decade.

Eastern Palestine borders Pennsylvania and a current study found that toxic chemicals from the incident have spread to at least 16 states.

The chemicals released in the spill, including vinyl chloride, 2-butoxyethanol and 2-ethylhexyl acrylate, are used to make plastic. Contact with these chemicals can cause headaches, nausea, neurological problems, liver damage and cancer, among other things. Residents of the surrounding regions have reported persistent health problems such as abdominal pain, headaches and breathing problems as a result of the incident.

“There is no evidence of ongoing contamination associated with the derailment and subsequent controlled burn,” Jessica Shirley, deputy secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, said in a statement, referring to the controlled burning of flammable, toxic chemicals following the derailment that later it turned out that it was unnecessary.

“(We) will continue to monitor private drinking water and groundwater to ensure that if a problem arises later, we can alert residents and take immediate action to correct the problem,” she added.

The water monitoring program is a requirement in the proposed settlement between Norfolk Southern and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that will fund monitoring of private water wells near the site in Pennsylvania and Ohio, and a 20-year community health program that includes ongoing medical monitoring for residents within two miles of the derailment and first responders who were on the scene within one month of the accident. The program includes routine physicals, blood tests, pulmonary function tests, and X-rays, among other things. The settlement also includes mental health services for first responders and individuals who lived in Columbiana County, Ohio, and Beaver or Lawrence Counties, Pennsylvania, sometime between February 3, 2023, and the date of the settlement.

“(We) will continue to monitor private drinking water and groundwater to ensure that if a problem occurs in the future, we can alert residents and take immediate action to correct the problem.” – Jessica Shirley, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection

The details of the water monitoring plans have not yet been finalized, but the agreement says they must include emergency response measures if elevated levels of contaminants are detected. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection will also oversee Norfolk Southern’s testing of three groundwater monitoring wells in Pennsylvania under the agreement.

Norfolk Southern must pay a $15 million fine for violations of the Clean Water Act. The company must also remediate environmental and health damage and make various improvements to its safety measures, which the company estimates will cost $1 billion.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the State Attorney General Submitted comments They criticized the proposed settlement with the federal government and demanded that the agreement include more extensive testing, Norfolk Southern covering the costs of those affected, environmental monitoring within a two-mile radius of the derailment site and that the company take additional safety measures.

Norfolk Southern also recently reached a $600 million settlement with residents living within 20 miles of the site. had to decide whether to accept up to $25,000 per person for personal injuries and in return for losing the right to sue later if someone develops cancer or another serious illness because of chemical exposure.