About Executive Order 14108
Executive Order 14108 on Ensuring the People of East Palestine Are Protected Now and in the Future
On September 20, 2023, President Joseph Biden issued Executive Order 14108 (Executive Order on Ensuring the People of East Palestine Are Protected Now and in the Future). The order directs EPA to submit a report within 30 days on the cleanup efforts and on Norfolk Southern’s compliance with EPA’s February 21, 2023, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act unilateral administrative order to address the imminent and substantial endangerment its derailment caused. Executive Order 14108 also directs EPA to explain the status of air, soil, surface water, groundwater, and drinking water sampling and monitoring, and to submit an updated report to the President every 60 days thereafter until all cleanup, assessment, and monitoring work required by EPA’s UAO has been completed.
EPA’s number one priority has been — and continues to be — the health and safety of the community. Since the disaster, EPA has collected more than 100 million air monitoring data points and more than 35,000 samples (air, water and soil) in and around the community. This data collection continues, and ongoing science-based reviews show that residents of East Palestine are not in danger from contaminated drinking water, soil, or air from the derailment.
Since February, there has been tremendous progress towards removing contamination resulting from the derailment from the community — excavating and disposing of more than 165,000 tons of contaminated soil and shipping more than 35 million gallons of wastewater off-site. The contaminated soil and gravel beneath the train tracks at the derailment location have been excavated and transported off-site for disposal. Excavation of contaminated soil from affected areas near the tracks is complete, and site-wide confirmation sampling is underway to double-check that all contamination resulting from the derailment has been removed.
• EPA Report Submitted Pursuant to Section 2(b) of Executive Order 14108 (pdf)