EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — Norfolk Southern and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine responded on Thursday to senate testimony by the National Safety and Transportation Board Chair Jennifer Homendy that called into question the decision to perform a vent and burn of five tank cars of vinyl chloride following last year’s train derailment in East Palestine.

Homendy’s testimony contradicted the narrative that unified command had only two choices: a controlled release or an uncontrolled explosion. Homendy said there was another option — to simply let the tanks cool off — but that alternative never made its way to the room where actions were being weighed.

DeWine’s press secretary Dan Tierney confirmed the third option was never presented to the governor.

“NTSB Chair Homendy testified yesterday that neither Gov. DeWine nor incident command were ever presented with a scenario from experts that a controlled vent and release was unnecessary to prevent a catastrophic explosion. They were also not presented with any scenario where, if officials did nothing, the train cars would not explode catastrophically,” Tierney said. “Gov. DeWine spent hours with incident command and Norfolk Southern contractors on the day of the release and asked numerous questions to understand the facts.

No one — not one single expert — opined that day about there being any other scenario occurring besides either a catastrophic explosion or a controlled release to prevent such an explosion.”

Representatives from OxyVinyls, the company that owned the 1.1 pounds of vinyl chloride that was released, were on the ground in the hours following the derailment. According to Homendy, those representatives, after conferring with the company’s chemical experts in Dallas, determined the tank cars were stable. That determination was made hours before the vent and burn.

However, Norfolk Southern contractor Specialized Professional Services, Inc. (SPSI), pushed for the vent and burn, citing both a 70-minute violent release from a pressure release valve on one tanker and the inability to obtain accurate temperature readings. SPSI spoke to OxyVinyls and was told temperatures were decreasing but that information was not relayed to Gov. DeWine, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro or incident commander Keith Drabick, the East Palestine Fire Chief.

The revelation that came to light under questioning of Homendy Wednesday by U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance.

“My line of questioning, I just want to be clear here, is not a criticism of the incident commander or of the governor,” Vance said. “I think it’s a criticism of the people on the ground who provided inadequate information, and provided inadequate information, I think, to the great detriment of the community on the ground.”

Homendy explained that in order for a BLEVE or explosion to have occurred, a chemical reaction known as polymerization was needed, and polymerization requires “rapidly increasing temperatures and some sort of infusion of oxygen” and there was no evidence of either.

Norfolk Southern stood by the decision to conduct the vent and burn.

“The final decision to conduct a controlled release was made by the incident commander, with input from multiple stakeholders, including Norfolk Southern and local, state, and federal authorities,” Norfolk Southern said on Thursday. “The top priority of everyone involved was the safety of the community, as well as limiting the impact of the incident. The successful controlled release prevented a potentially catastrophic uncontrolled explosion that could have caused significant damage for the community.”

The railroad added that environmental data reflects no significant impacts from the chemicals spilled during the derailment or intentionally released days later.

“To date, continuous environmental testing in coordination with and alongside US and Ohio EPA has shown the air and drinking water in the community are safe,” Norfolk Southern said.

Norfolk Southern maintains that they received conflicting opinions from OxyVinyls concerning polymerization and pointed to testimony by Steve Smith, Technical Manager of OxyVinyls, given during last June’s NTSB field hearing in East Palestine as proof.

During that testimony, Smith confirmed he received a text from a colleague on the ground reporting that temperatures in one tank car had increased by 3 degrees.

“At that point, I made a comment that it could be polymerization occurring,” Smith said. “But I also made it clear during that discussion that I was not a polymerization expert.”

Smith later testified that after speaking to OxyVinyl experts and in Dallas on the evening of Feb. 5, he communicated that “there was no indication of polymerization occurring.”

During the NTSB field hearing, the chain of that communication was explained. OxyVinyl experts in Dallas, including Paul Thomas, the company’s vice president of health, environment, safety and security would communicate with Smith who would then communicate with SPSI. SPSI would then take that information to Norfolk Southern and then it would be passed on to unified command.

Smith testified that after he was told the decision to vent and burn was made despite OxyVinyls’ determination that there was no threat of polymerization, he chose not to break the chain of communication or attempt to speak to other members of unified command.

Drabick has said if OxyVinyls believed that temperatures in the tank cars were cooling off, someone from the company should have made a bigger effort to make sure that information was heard. He also has repeatedly stood by the controlled burn.

“Let’s get something straight. If OxyVinyl felt that and OxyVinyl was sure then they should have walked up and said something, which they did not do. They hid in the background and didn’t say anything to anybody. So shame on them,” Drabick said during a village press conference the day before the one year anniversary of the derailment. “So would I have changed anything? No. Based on the information we had, the scene we had and looking at the safest way to handle that situation for the public, myself and the unified command, including the U.S. EPA, the Ohio EPA and the governor’s office and every other entity that was there decided that a controlled vent and burn was the safest thing to ensure the safety of the public.”

Drabick, along with East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway, maintains the decision to perform the vent and burn had nothing to do with any pressure from Norfolk Southern to clear the tracks quickly and resume operations and everything to do with public safety. They also maintain very little time was given to decide on a course of action.

“We had 15 degrees to make a decision,” Conaway told the Washington Post. “It definitely would have blown up.”