East Palestine: What Was in the Soil, What Has Been Tested, and What We Know

This page was last updated on October 1, 2026, and an update log is at the end.

On February 3, 2023, a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, about a quarter mile west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania line [1]. Five tank cars of vinyl chloride were vented and burned on February 6 [2]. EPA reports that site-wide cleanup and restoration are complete and that the response is in a monitoring, maintenance and reporting phase [1][3]. Soil results have come from EPA, university researchers and Ohio agencies, and each set answers a different question about a different place and time. This guide lists the sources, what each reported, and how to read them together, without picking between them.

At a glance

• A train derailed and its vinyl chloride was burned in a controlled release, after which EPA directed the response, and large volumes of soil and liquid were removed [1][3].
• Soil testing so far includes EPA’s Phase 1 sampling (2023), EPA confirmation sampling after excavation, an independent peer-reviewed study (2023 samples, published 2025), and plant-tissue testing by Ohio agencies [3][4][5][6].
• This page leaves out court proceedings, settlements and health outcomes, each of which has its own primary sources linked below.

What happened

According to EPA, at about 8:55 PM ET on February 3, 2023, a Norfolk Southern train derailed near the state line, and twenty of the derailed cars contained hazardous materials: vinyl chloride, ethylene glycol, ethylhexyl acrylate, butyl acrylate and isobutylene [1]. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) counts the cars differently. It reports 38 derailed cars, 11 of them tank cars carrying hazardous materials, and found that a failed, overheated wheel bearing on a hopper car caused the derailment [2]. Three DOT-111 tank cars were breached and released flammable and combustible liquids that ignited [2].

Three days later, local officials released and ignited vinyl chloride monomer from five tank cars. EPA designed its Phase 1 soil sampling, described below, to assess contamination from the vent and burn [4].

What was done

EPA’s 450-day report to the President (December 2024) says more than 219,823 tons of contaminated soil and more than 74 million gallons of contaminated liquid were shipped off-site for disposal. After the major soil cleanup was announced complete in October 2023, more than 2,500 confirmation samples were taken, and about 15 small areas of derailment contamination found by that sampling across the 35-acre site were addressed. The report also says 83 homes were cleaned [7].

EPA’s current statement reads: “Site-wide cleanup and restoration are complete. The response is now in a monitoring, maintenance, and reporting phase.” Groundwater, surface water and drinking water are sampled quarterly [3]. In its March 2026 update, EPA reported opening an investigation into sampling discrepancies at a laboratory subcontractor, rejecting that subcontractor’s data, and referring the matter to its Office of Inspector General [3].

What has been tested in soil

The 2025 university study

Lard and colleagues measured dioxins, furans and environmentally persistent free radicals (EPFRs) in soil near the site [5]. In the area closest to the derailment (EPA’s restricted zone), dioxin/furan TEQ averaged 32.8 pg/g, against 10.7 pg/g at the background field. Across all 27 samples, TEQ ranged from 0.2 to 88.2 pg/g. Thirteen of the 27 were at or above EPA’s cancer-based residential regional screening level of 4.8 pg/g, and two were above the non-cancer level of 51.0 pg/g. EPFR levels were also higher near the site than at background, and the two measures were correlated [5].

The authors list their limits: a small sample, especially inside the derailment area; surface-only sampling; and historical industrial sources they could not rule out. They also compared their results with publicly reported EPA and Norfolk Southern datasets, in which 32% and 33% of samples respectively were above the cancer screening level, against 48% in the university samples, and described the proportions as similar [5]. They conclude that more monitoring is needed. A correction notice for the paper was published in March 2025 [8].

The 2023 plant-tissue study

Ohio’s agriculture department and Ohio State compared plant tissue from locations within a five-mile radius of the derailment with tissue from background locations. None of the 26 semivolatile compounds were above reportable limits in the inner-radius samples. One compound, benzo[b]fluoranthene, was above reportable limits in two of 18 background samples [6]. No federal limits exist for SVOCs in plant material, the report notes, so the comparison was against background [6].

Why the numbers differ

These are different measurements and need care to compare.

• EPA sampled residential, commercial and agricultural locations at two depths, while the university study sampled the surface layer, with six samples in the EPA restricted zone [4][5].
• EPA’s Phase 1 sampling was in spring 2023, and the university samples were taken in August 2023, six months after the burn [4][5].
• For background, EPA used 25 sites [4] and the university team used a pre-derailment agricultural field about 10 miles away [5].
• Dioxin results are usually reported as a toxic equivalent that weights each compound by toxicity [9]. Our post on dioxins and furans in soil explains how to read TEQ.
• EPA states that its regional screening levels are not cleanup standards [10].

Open and unresolved

• EPA’s settlement page says the settlement with Norfolk Southern remains pending before the court (page updated May 6, 2026) [11], and we don’t cover the litigation.
• Data quality in monitoring is still open, and EPA’s March 2026 update describes the laboratory investigation noted above [3].
• Health-effects studies are separate from soil work, and we don’t cover them.

The contaminants involved

• Vinyl chloride evaporates quickly near the surface, and university researchers found microbes that break it down in local sediment [12], as covered in vinyl chloride in soil and groundwater.
• Dioxins and furans bind to soil and break down slowly, a topic covered in dioxins in soil, explained and the contaminant profile.
• PAHs and other SVOCs are covered in PAHs explained.

What biology can contribute

Biology helps with some classes of chemicals, slowly: results take months to a year or more, verified by lab testing. It doesn’t replace excavation where a regulator requires it, and how any approach fits a particular site is up to the agencies with authority there. For the broader class of event, see train derailments.

Elm Dirt has product in the ground in East Palestine as part of an ongoing soil-restoration pilot, with independent lab monitoring. More on the East Palestine program page.

Timeline

Update log

Sources

All links checked 2026-10-01.

1. U.S. EPA. East Palestine, Ohio Train Derailment (main page; last updated August 31, 2026). epa.gov
2. National Transportation Safety Board. Failed Wheel Bearing Caused Norfolk Southern Train Derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. Press release, June 25, 2024 (investigation RRD23MR005). ntsb.gov
3. U.S. EPA. East Palestine Operational Updates (March 2026 update). epa.gov
4. U.S. EPA. Phase One Residential, Commercial and Agricultural Soil Sampling. epa.gov
5. Lard ML, Eichler SE, Gao P, Singh K, Ortiz JD, Cook RL, Lomnicki S, Cormier SA, Richmond-Bryant J. Soil contamination by environmentally persistent free radicals and dioxins following train derailment in East Palestine, OH. Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts 27:729 to 740 (2025). doi:10.1039/d4em00609g (open access: PMC11843876)
6. Ohio Department of Agriculture and The Ohio State University. Agricultural Plant Tissue Sampling Results, East Palestine, Ohio. May 16, 2023. PDF
7. U.S. EPA. East Palestine 450-day report to the President, December 2024. PDF
8. Lard ML et al. Correction: Soil contamination by environmentally persistent free radicals and dioxins following train derailment in East Palestine, OH. Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts 27:804 (2025). doi:10.1039/d5em90009c
9. U.S. EPA Risk Assessment Forum. Recommended Toxicity Equivalence Factors (TEFs) for Human Health Risk Assessments of 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin and Dioxin-Like Compounds. EPA/100/R-10/005 (2010). semspub.epa.gov
10. U.S. EPA. Regional Screening Levels (RSLs). epa.gov
11. U.S. EPA. East Palestine Settlement Update (page updated May 6, 2026). epa.gov
12. Chen G, Rosolina S, Padilla-Crespo E, He G, Chen Q, Arosemena A, Rosado-Maldonado BE, Swift CM, Coelho PB, Whelton AJ, Taggart D, Loffler FE. Natural attenuation potential of vinyl chloride and butyl acrylate released in the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment accident. Environmental Science & Technology 58(40):17743 to 17755 (2024). doi:10.1021/acs.est.4c04198