Whistleblower: Dioxin Contamination in Roseland, LA Pond 18x Higher Than East Palestine

Independent toxicity expert and Government Accountability Project whistleblower Scott Smith has warned of high dioxin contamination in Roseland, Louisiana, that is more than 18 times higher than the highest reading he got while testing in East Palestine, Ohio, during the first week after the train derailment. Smith said his testing revealed 165 parts per quadrillion in a pond near ground zero of the Smitty’s Supply fire that happened on August 22, 2025, in Roseland.

EPA Region 6 Administrator Scott Mason said 75% of the “oily material recovery effort” is complete. An EPA press release from October 2 said the agency will conduct five rounds of sampling “over the next five weeks in ponds, ditches, and the Tangipahoa River upstream and downstream from the Smitty’s Supply facility.” The agency is sampling for “Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH), Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), Semi-Volatile Organic Compounds (SVOC), Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and other organics and metals.” The EPA said it should have the first set of sampling results no later than October 21.

Smith held a town hall event in Roseland on September 9 to talk about the preliminary results from his first round of testing and has another event scheduled for October 11 to discuss the latest testing data. Smith has been critical of the EPA’s response in environmental disasters and has been on the ground to independently test and offer support to local citizens in areas affected by chemicals, such as East Palestine, Conyers, GA, and Moss Landing, California.

“Clearly the EPA is out of touch and has not been on the ground in the community (in the contaminated ponds, homes, farms, soils, creeks, river, etc.) seeing what we have seen or they would not be putting out public relations pieces saying everything is fine,” Smith wrote on X. Smith said statements from the EPA about being nearly complete are “doing nothing but gaslighting the affected residents in and around Roseland, LA.”

The EPA said it has recovered over 8.6 million gallons of liquid waste, and 4.9 million gallons of liquid waste were removed for disposal. The agency says it has laid over 22,000 feet of containment boom, and over 375 EPA and contractor personnel have been deployed. Smith said oil and other contaminants have spread past the failing booms in the Tangipahoa River and not far from where the river flows into Lake Pontchartrain.

Smith said a contamination expert with over 50 years of experience, who advises his team, warned about rain events in the area and how they will send more contaminants into the Tangipahoa River system. The expert told Smith, “Each event will pulse additional, significant, contaminated effluents from the Smitty Supply ponds and marshlands to the adjacent Tangipahoa River system. This cycle will continue as long as the ponds and marshlands are not totally remediated.”

Residents in the area have experienced short-term health effects, including respiratory issues, bloody noses, brain fog, dizziness, and other issues. Residents have provided documentation to Smith that their doctors have documented the cause of their diagnoses as chemical exposure. Smith said the long-term effects will be similar to those in East Palestine, including higher levels of many different cancers and other conditions.

In February, a lawsuit was filed against Norfolk Southern alleging that the derailment and “controlled burn” of vinyl chloride and other toxic chemicals were responsible for the wrongful deaths of seven individuals. Another lawsuit filed in July alleges the wrongful death of a 62-year-old woman who experienced respiratory difficulties following the chemical exposure.

In an interview on Louisiana Public Broadcasting (LPB), Smith was asked about whether the EPA and government officials are downplaying the contamination in Roseland. “Yeah, it is being downplayed, and I believe it’s being downplayed for a multitude of reasons,” Smith answered. “Some reasons are just lack of education, and some reasons are, follow the money. It’s that simple. There appears to be a lot of undue influence.”

The HighWire reported on the release of a private conversation between EPA official Mark Durno and an East Palestine resident regarding the health effects local residents are experiencing. In the conversation, Durno said, “You had an exposure, right? But you really don’t know what that exposure was. Nobody knows what happened on your property at the time that you were there, right? And the other thing we don’t know is what caused your ailments, right? Was it derailment-related?”

Durno downplayed any connection between the health effects of local residents following the train derailment, because it is not possible to completely rule out other environmental causes and exposures. Still, he admitted that the agency made a mistake by not adequately describing the risk the residents were facing by going back into their homes days after the chemical plume covered the sky above East Palestine.

The EPA is making statements suggesting that high amounts of chemicals and pollutants in their testing samples will not truly show the level of contamination that was caused by the Smitty’s Supply fire.

“While we expect to find some chemicals or pollutants related to the fire (including petroleum by-products, metals, or chemicals related to firefighting activities), we may also find pollutants from previous activities, or from other industrial, farming, and human activities in the area or upstream of the area,” the EPA said. “Results from this sampling effort will help EPA understand the impact of the fire and how best to direct continuing work to protect human health and the environment.“

Smith plans to continue visiting the area to collect testing samples and hold town hall sessions to inform the public about his testing results. “We’re at least able, with preliminary results, to tell people these mixtures of chemicals and what they may have been exposed to,” Smith said on LPB. “The bottom line is you really don’t need my testing or anybody else’s testing to know that none of these reported health symptoms were there from any of the people or the pets prior to the Smitty’s fire and explosion. It’s that simple.”

Smith encouraged residents from chemically-impacted communities to connect with others on social media. “You’re seeing the same unfortunate playbook being executed, irrespective of who’s in office,” Smith said. “I think it’s time for a change. The systemic failure is across all political parties. This is not about politics because you saw East Palestine under a Democrat, and now you see Rosland under a Republican. There is no change, and the EPA has failed the citizens, but there’s an opportunity for improvement here for everybody to work together for the benefit of the impacted community.”