FILE - A cleanup worker stands on a derailed tank car of a Norfolk Southern freight train in East Palestine, Ohio, continues, Feb. 15, 2023. The National Transportation Safety Board’s daylong hearing on what caused the East Palestine derailment and how to prevent similar disasters gave the community, railroads and policymakers plenty to think about. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

EAST PALESTINE — The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) wrapped up its two-day presence with a second community meeting on Tuesday, allowing residents to question the agency after its findings of an investigation into last year’s Norfolk Southern train derailment was made public earlier in the day.

While NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy explained that it wasn’t the agency’s job to assign liability, many residents expressed gratitude viewing the NTSB’s final findings as holding Norfolk Southern accountable for decisions that led up to and after the derailment — particularly the choice to vent and burn 1.1 million pounds of vinyl chloride.

“We’ve had to struggle to get any answers from anybody along the way – Norfolk Southern, the EPA, you name it, it’s been a battle — so to have you guys come here and share your honesty with us, it’s refreshing, to say the least,” said Linda Murphy.

“Know that your job is extremely important to people like us so hopefully other people don’t have to struggle with what we’ve been dealing with.”

The decision to perform the vent and burn was made under the narrative that the tankers were under a real threat of exploding.

The NTSB presented evidence to the contrary, stating temperatures in the tankers were falling and thus an explosion was not likely.

In order for the tanks to have exploded, polymerization was needed, and that chemical reaction requires both rapidly increasing temperatures and an infusion of oxygen. The NTSB said there was evidence of neither and the pressure release valves on the tankers were functioning as they should.

The NTSB went a step further, charging that Norfolk Southern knew the risks of rupture were ebbing but did not relay that information to Unified Command and East Palestine Fire Chief Keith Drabick, who had the authority to make the decision.

NTSB Hazardous Material Investigator Paul Stancil told residents that polymerization was “not even close to occurring” when Norfolk Southern and its contractors pushed for the vent and burn of five vinyl chloride cars and the railroad could have waited for them to simply cool off.

Homendy added that is what Norfolk Southern did with a different car.

“The isobutylene car was right there,” she said. “So there was another car, different material, just as dangerous and not too far away, and Norfolk Southern allowed it to cool and then took it away.”

The vent and burn dominated the discussion, but the NTSB also fielded questions related to the derailment’s chaotic emergency response, the agency’s recommendations in the wake of its investigation and lessons learned from East Palestine.

Residents also shared their experience living through the derailment, putting an emphasis on the turmoil and trauma caused by the events of Feb. 2, 2023.

“This impacted my life. This has infiltrated every single part of my life,” Lonnie Miller said. “I did not consent to this. None of us consented to this. This is not the life I imagined living.”