‘We’re Scared, Too’: Ohio Residents Press for Answers on Train Derailment at Town Hall Meeting

On Wednesday, that was clearly not enough to satisfy the throngs of people gathered in the gym, who shouted demands to know where the company was. Citing the statement from the company, one man stood up and declared, “We’re scared, too.”

The company has faced stiff criticism from elected officials in Ohio and Pennsylvania and on Capitol Hill. In a series of news conferences and letters this week, lawmakers pledged to hold Norfolk Southern accountable and asked agencies to investigate both the potential impact of the hazardous chemicals on the community and how to prevent another derailment.

“I’m just as frustrated,” Mr. Conaway said at one point during the meeting. “I’m trying to get you answers.”

He said he stood by the decision to allow the company to perform a controlled release of chemicals on the train when there were concerns that one of the cars might explode and cause widespread damage, echoing comments from Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio this week as he described it as the lesser of two evils.

People raised questions about how such events could avoided in the future and whether the water was safe to drink, describing their fears for their health after they had found rashes on their children and grandchildren and heard complaints of headaches and other symptoms from others. Earlier Wednesday, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency said it was “confident that the municipal water is safe to drink” after a series of tests did not show contaminants, but the agency encouraged those with private wells to test their water.

But on Wednesday night, residents demanded specifics about the testing process, as some people complained that they had struggled to get their water tested.

“Are we getting answers?” said Linda Murphy, 49, who attended the meeting with her husband, Russell, and pressed officials about the difficulty of getting her water tested. “Not necessarily, but they respected us enough to hear the questions,” Ms. Murphy asked how it could be safe when she could see dead fish in the nearby creek, and the smell of chemicals hung in the air.