EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — One East Palestine mother has taken her message to Capitol Hill.

What You Need To Know

  • Life for many residents of East Palestine remains off track after the Feb. 3 train derailment 

  • Misti Allison is a resident and mother in East Palestine; she has taken her message to Capitol Hill after being asked to testify

  • Allison says many residents are still unsure of the safety in the village 

  • She hopes as time goes on, the village will come back stronger than before the derailment 

Life isn't the same for the people of East Palestine since the Feb. 3 train derailment. Some people aren't the same, either. 

Misti Allison is becoming an advocate for her town, even testifying in Washington, D.C.

“People don't want to come here," she said during her testimony in Washington D.C. "Businesses are struggling. Our home values are plummeting. Even if we wanted to leave, we couldn’t."

Allison believes activism is very important.  

“I was really there to like put a face on this disaster because it really isn't a political issue,” she said. “It's really a people issue. And there are real people here with real stories and that are actually being impacted.”

Many residents of East Palestine are still being affected.

“I would say that the sentiment from the community is still people are just, you know, really, really scared and just still questioning everything,” Allison said.

Recently, Allison said people have new questions about the response to the disaster after an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) statement stated “select handheld devices may not be sensitive enough to detect butyl acrylate at low levels in the air… No long-term effects are expected from potential short-term exposure from butyl acrylate.”

This statement leaves Allison and others who live in East Palestine feeling unsettled.  

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait," she said. "You were saying everything is fine, but now you're saying that the testing instruments that you are using aren't necessarily detecting what it should be detecting or at the levels."

Frustrations continue, even though many of the machines that once filled the East Palestine community park have since gone away. Allison said the fear of what lies ahead is still on her mind.  

“I would say that there is an always an ongoing concern,” she said. “I would say even before this, I was a concerned resident and just wanting the best for Palestine.”