EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — After a fiery train derailment in East Palestine led to the release of multiple chemicals into the air, water and soil in the town of roughly 5,000 people, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency became involved — but not before concerns, misinformation and rumors surrounding the incident abounded online.

There have also been healthy heaps of skepticism flung at elected officials, government agency employees and Norfolk Southern, the company that owns the train that derailed on Feb. 3.

What is the EPA doing about what happened in East Palestine?

The Ohio EPA has released several reports since the Feb. 3 derailment, including data on impacts on water, air and soil in the area around the crash site.

Here's a breakdown of what's been done so far by the agency:

February 3: The train derailment happened around 8:55 p.m. Norfolk Southern reported the incident at 10:52 p.m. to the National Response Center. At the time, it was not known how many train cars had derailed, but it was known that 20 of the cars were listed as carrying hazardous materials. A fire had already broken out at the crash site.

February 4: EPA on-scene coordinators and contractors began conducting both fixed and roaming monitoring while providing assistance to responding agencies, like the East Palestine Fire Department, which battled the fire.

Real-time air monitoring instruments were deployed in 12 different locations surrounding the fire and the neighboring areas to monitor for volatile organic compounds. Handheld monitors were used to check areas of "significant odor," because people are capable of smelling butyl acrylate even at very low levels.

Contaminated runoff was found on two surface water streams: Sulphur Run and Leslie Run. The Ohio EPA oversaw Norfolk Southern's emergency response contractors as they installed booms and underflow dams to restrict the flow of contaminated water and contain and collect floating substances. Water samples collected by Ohio EPA agents were sent to a lab.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Department of Interior were notified of the discovered contamination. Downstream water utilities were also notified.

February 5: Air monitoring performed by the Ohio EPA didn't detect any "contaminants of concern other than particulate matter" in the air around East Palestine. Low levels of volatile organic substances were found during brief periods of time in the community nearest the crash and work zones. Samples shipped off were expected back closer to Feb. 8.

A vacuum truck and sorbent pads were used to recover substances from waterways; aeration pumps were set up at three locations along Sulphur Run and its confluence with Leslie Run.

The East Palestine Water Treatment Plant confirmed the plant had suffered no adverse affects from the crash and fire.

Surface water samples were collected, but results were not due until Feb. 7 or 8.

February 6: Overnight, officials were given word that circumstances within the burning train cars had become dangerous and could possibly result in an explosion with an unknown blast radius. EPA officials moved air monitoring stations to prepare for "a planned burn of affected rail cars," and air monitoring operations resumed in the afternoon.

"Prior to the relocation, air monitoring readings were below detection levels for most contaminants, except for particulate matter," said the Ohio EPA.

The Ohio National Guard's 52nd Civil Support Team — a specialized unit trained in handling chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and high-yield explosive substances as well as natural disasters — were deployed to help collect air samples in the areas around the crash.

February 7: Air monitoring detected particulate matter resulting from the fire during Norfolk Southern's controlled burn, though EPA monitoring didn't detect any chemicals "of concern" in the hours after the burn. The EPA said it was possible residents in the area "and tens of miles away" could smell odors from the site because the byproducts of the burn have a low odor threshold — meaning people can smell them at lower levels than what is considered dangerous.

Flyovers were conducted to help gather additional data on air quality.

February 8: Air monitoring by the EPA continued while the 52nd Civil Service Team conducted air monitoring at three public administration buildings, collecting samples from each site.

Air monitoring and air sampling are two different methods of looking at air quality:

• Air monitoring utilizes devices to provide real-time readings of general levels of airborne contaminants.
  
• Air sampling involves collecting an air sample over a period of time, then sending it to a laboratory for analysis for a wide range of contaminants to more accurately detect, identify and quantify specific chemical compounds. This process takes longer because there are more steps involved (collection, shipment, analysis, validating data, generating reports).

Spilled materials were found in Sulphur Run. "Oily product" was found leaking from a tank car at the crash site and pooling onto the soil. Norfolk Southern was notified and began cleaning it with a vacuum truck.

A complaint was received about odors from the Darlington Township, Pennsylvania fire station, but when a team with air monitoring equipment arrived there they didn't find any contaminants above detection limits.

February 9: The EPA said it continued stationary and roaming air monitoring and planned to continue the practices throughout the weekend. EPA field teams attended voluntary residential air screening appointments offered by Norfolk Southern.

Both the U.S. EPA and the Ohio EPA worked to investigate any remaining soil contamination at the site of the derailment, including impacts to surface water. Samples of spilled chemicals were collected near the derailment site and in Sulphur Run.

February 10: The EPA said 46 homes were screened for air quality, but over 400 requests remained. Norfolk Southern announced it would bring more teams and equipment, with the assistance of the U.S. EPA, to expedite screening.

Ohio EPA continued to take water samples from Sulphur Run and said it planned to take more samples of surface water at several points of other nearby streams.

Norfolk Southern contractors installed a dam and water bypass at Sulphur Run "to prevent further contamination of downstream waters," according to the EPA. The company "have also stopped spillage of remaining spilled product onto the stream."

February 11: The EPA issued a general notice of potential liability letter to Norfolk Southern to document the release of hazardous materials following the derailment. Officials said 105 homes in total have been screened for air quality.

February 12: The number of homes screened rose to 210. No vinyl chloride or hydrogen chloride has been identified, but there are still more than 200 homes left to check. The EPA also released a document from Norfolk Southern listing the cars involved in the derailment and the products they were carrying at that time.

February 13: The EPA said re-entry air screenings are underway. Officials said nearly 300 homes have been screened with 181 homes remaining. Local schools and the city's library were also screened.

The EPA said its network of air monitoring stations throughout East Palestine has not detected anything above the action level.

February 14: 24/7 air monitoring continued. The regional administrator issued a statement detailing the EPA's response. Debra Shore said EPA personnel was on-site of the derailment by 2 a.m. Saturday morning after the crash Friday night.

"Since then, EPA has been boots-on-the-ground, leading to robust air-quality testing — including with the state-of-the-art ASPECT plane and a mobile analytical laboratory — in and around East Palestine," Shore said.

The EPA said it discontinued monitoring for phosgene and hydrogen chloride community air monitoring because the threat would not exist so many days after the fire was extinguished.

100 homes still needed to be screened, the EPA said.

February 15: The EPA said it has sampled 21 drinking water wells in the East Palestine area. Norfolk Southern is providing bottled water to the area.

Officials said 459 homes have been screened with 28 more scheduled.

Shore attended East Palestine's community meeting, which Norfolk Southern did not attend.

February 16: EPA Administrator Michael Regan went to East Palestine to assess the ongoing response. He met with local officials and spoke to residents about their concerns.

Officials also provided more details on the EPA's response, saying eight on-scene coordinators and nine support contractors worked around the clock starting Feb. 4. As of Thursday, there were six on-scene coordinators and 16 contractors in the area.

February 17: Officials said there are now six on-scene coordinators and 16 EPA contractors in East Palestine. Gov. Mike DeWine and the EPA announced the latest samples show the chemical plume in the Ohio River has completely dissipated.

February 18: Officials said to date there have been 525 homes have been screened with "no exceedances for residential air quality standards," and 14 more are scheduled for screenings this weekend.

In Ohio, 45 wells have been tested to date alongside three more wells in Pennsylvania as Norfolk Southern supplies bottled water at their Family Assistance Center. Officials said there have been zero water quality concerns with the samples.

The U.S. EPA continues to support the Ohio EPA at the derailment site, and emphasis is being placed on recovering pooled liquids, heavily contaminated soils and removing remaining train cars.

What is the Ohio EPA and who works for them?

The Ohio leg of the EPA is a state agency with the goal of protecting the environment and public health. Created in 1972, it was born from combining environmental programs that previously fell under other department umbrellas.

The agency's main office is in Columbus, but five district offices are located in municipalities throughout the state: Bowling Green houses the northwest office, Twinsburg houses the northeast office, Dayton houses the southwest office and Logan houses the southeast office.

The position of director of the Ohio EPA is a cabinet position nominated by the Ohio governor and then confirmed by the Ohio Senate. The current director, Anne Vogel, was nominated by Governor Mike DeWine on Dec. 28, 2022 and was later confirmed by the Senate.

This is the same procedure U.S. EPA directors follow; that position is one on a President's cabinet and requires a nomination by the President and subsequent confirmation by the U.S. Senate.

Vogel previously served as policy director for DeWine in his first term, before being nominated to the EPA role for DeWine's second term. Before working for DeWine, Vogel worked at American Electric Power Company for 10 years, according to her biography on the Ohio EPA's website. She has a law degree from Capital University and an MBA from The Ohio University.

Outside of the director's position, however, jobs within the Ohio EPA are applied and interviewed for like any other job. The EPA is continually hiring, though not every average person off the street is likely to snag a job there; some jobs within the agency require a security clearance and applicants have to pass a background check for many positions.

In addition, most positions with the agency require advanced degrees — just a bachelor's degree alone isn't guaranteed to land a person a job at the Ohio EPA.

Tiffani Kavalec, chief division of surface water for the Ohio EPA, has primarily spoken on behalf of the agency during press conferences held by DeWine since the derailment. She has held that same position since 2015, three years before DeWine was elected governor. She's been with the Ohio EPA since 1995, working mostly in the Division of Environmental Response and Revitalization.