Tim Whitehouse, a former senior EPA enforcement attorney who is the executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), told Newsweek that there’s “tremendous pressure” for EPA officials to create an “air of normalcy” after an environmental disaster.
He said the government might not be intentionally misleading the public but that there are limitations to air monitoring capabilities in a disaster’s immediate aftermath.
“If I lived in East Palestine, I would be skeptical of claims that it’s safe to return home, and I’d be looking for greater transparency,” Whitehouse said. “Some level of constant monitoring or some level of outside quality control checks of what the federal and state agencies are doing and saying.”
