‘Be vigilant, hold your ground’: Erin Brockovich rallies Ohio town after train disaster

Every seat was taken in the East Palestine high school auditorium on Friday night as America’s most famous environmentalist took to the stage to address a community left traumatised, angry and confused by a railroad disaster that has upended their sleepy little town.

“Good evening, thank you for being here. My name is Erin Brockovich, not Julia Roberts,” she said, triggering a collective roar of laughter.

There has been little to laugh about in the three weeks since a Norfolk Southern freight train carrying vast quantities of toxic chemicals partially derailed and caught fire just a mile away in this small Ohio town close to the Pennsylvania border.

Residents continue to suffer an array of acute medical complaints and mounting anxieties about the long-term risks posed by the contaminated air, soil and water. And despite the opening quip, the message from Brockovich was fiery and sobering.

“I feel your angst, I feel your frustration. You are not alone. Every community I’ve gone to has been given the runaround. You’ll be told that it’s fine, that you’re safe, but it’s not fine. I’ve never seen anything like this in 30 years,” she said to 400 or so people in the main hall, and hundreds more watching a livestream in the gym.

“Please be vigilant, hold your ground. We’re gonna give you as much information as we can, some of it you might not want to hear and could scare you. But the more you know, the better you can prepare as we move forward … There is no quick fix or sweet answer, this is going to be a long game. Don’t let what’s happened here divide you. This is not my first rodeo. You have to band together and protect each other,” Brockovich added.

Brockovich, a legal clerk-turned-whistleblower and environmental activist, was instrumental in building the case against Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) for water contamination in Hinkley, California, in 1993. A Hollywood film starring Roberts won five Oscar nominations.

The site of a derailed freight train in East Palestine, Ohio. Photograph: Xinhua/REX/Shutterstock

There was rapturous applause when Brockovich introduced women from Flint, Michigan, who founded a grassroots organisation after their community’s water supply was switched to save the city money, resulting in dangerous levels of lead and other toxins for thousands of families. “The Moms of Flint have come to help the moms of East Palestine organise. This is going to be about organising,” said Brockovich.

But the biggest cheer of the night was for former NFL footballer Bernie Kosar, an Ohio native and star quarterback for the Cleveland Browns, who waved from the back of the auditorium.

This was billed as a town hall, but it was closer to a legal seminar and call for plaintiffs organised by Brockovich, lawyers and environmental experts who’ve come together under the banner of East Palestine Justice to pursue a class-action lawsuit against Norfolk Southern.

Residents mostly listened in silence as they were taken through a dense PowerPoint presentation filled with data on train accidents, financial reports, scientific papers, case law and news reports, but with audible gasps when details of Norfolk Southern’s dire safety record and rising profits were projected on to the big screen.

“The political blame game doesn’t do you any good,” said Mikal Watts, a trial lawyer spearheading the lawsuit, referring to the warring words by visiting Democrats and Republicans. “The law says that it’s this company’s responsibility to keep their trains from jumping the tracks … What happened here was preventable but not prevented.”

Some residents are making plans to leave East Palestine, but most can’t or don’t want to move away. Robert Bowcock, a water expert who has also worked with Brockovich on multiple environmental lawsuits, didn’t hold back. “You’re in a situation that you’re going to be dealing with for the rest of your lives – if you stay here.”

Lawyers need hard evidence to win in court, and they urged people to get blood and urine tests as soon as possible. But Ohio prohibits lawyers answering specific questions at public meetings, which left many people frustrated.

“This was really interesting but I have so many questions about testing, like who pays, will we get reimbursed, what if my insurance won’t cover it? … We’ll have to do a lot of follow-up ourselves,” said Rita Deem, 55, a cancer geneticist who lives 5 miles downstream from the toxic spill and chemical burn.

There are already multiple lawsuits in the works, but as people filed out of the school into the freezing cold night, some were more inspired by Brockovich’s plea for unity.

“I’m trying to be an active citizen to stand in solidarity with the people here and show my disgust at Trump and Biden, who both had a chance to give us proper safety regulations and instead chose corporate profits,” said Michael Harbaugh from Dayton, Ohio. “There’s a lot of railroads that run through my town too, it’s an issue that affects everybody across America and if we all come together that’s when change happens.”