In Enon Valley, Rep. Kelly meets with farmers, local leaders to learn more about the impact of the East Palestine train derailment

ENON VALLEY, Pa.  -- On Tuesday, March 21, U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) held a roundtable meeting with officials from the Beaver-Lawrence Farm Bureau, Lawrence County residents, and local officials from to learn more about the impact of the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment on the local agricultural industry. The meeting follows Kelly's visit to Wampum, Pa. in February where he held a roundtable meeting with local leaders to learn more how the E.P.A.'s one-mile radius was limiting air, water, and soil testing in southwestern Lawrence County.

Enon Valley and neighboring municipalities are just a few miles from the site of the February 3 train derailment, in which hazardous chemicals spilled from rail cars and were subsequently burned off, releasing the chemicals into the air.

"The people of Enon Valley and Lawrence County still are receiving limited resources for air, water, and soil testing. What we learned today is simple: more must be done to help local farmers and those in the agricultural industry as we enter the farming season," Kelly said. "I stand with the residents of Lawrence County as we continue to press for answers and make more federal resources available to them."

BACKGROUND

This is Rep. Kelly's second meeting with Lawrence County residents and officials focusing on the East Palestine train derailment and its impact on local residents in the last month. On Feb. 24, Kelly previously hosted a roundtable meeting in Wampum, Pa. in which residents expressed serious concerns about the environmental impact of the derailment. Following the meeting, Kelly wrote this letter to E.P.A. Administrator Michael Regan demanding the agency expand its one-mile radius around the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment site to allow for more Pennsylvanians to receive federal air, water, and soil testing. The one-mile radius allowed for just 22 Pennsylvania homes -- all of which are in Beaver County, Pa. -- to receive assistance in the aftermath of the February 3 derailment, in which hazardous chemicals spilled from rail cars and were subsequently burned off, releasing the chemicals into the air.

Lawrence County, Pa., which is included in Kelly's 16th Congressional District, is just three miles from the derailment site. E.P.A. officials stated they have tested and monitored the water of the Ohio River, which receives water from tributaries potentially exposed to the hazardous materials, for 40 miles. Last month, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources estimated that over 43,000 animals, mostly fish, were killed within a five-mile radius in the immediate aftermath of the derailment.