A blue-ribbon panel is calling for a dramatic expansion of EPA’s use of “cumulative impact assessments” in gauging pollution’s overall effects, saying that it could help in addressing disasters such as the February 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
While EPA took a traditional approach in sampling for individual chemicals following the fiery mishap, “there was a disconnect” between those risk assessments and the health symptoms reported by community members, a committee assembled by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine said in a report released Thursday.
Against the resulting backdrop of distrust and the perception that health risks were being downplayed, the report says, “a cumulative impacts approach could further identify specific vulnerabilities and needs as well as guide implementation of programs directed at addressing the multiple impacts from the derailment.”
That recommendation is among more than a half-dozen in the report that seek to highlight the potential practical benefits of cumulative impacts assessments, which seek to comprehensively gauge the effects of pollution from different sources on human health and well-being.
