One East Palestine resident is giving the Norfolk Southern Railway CEO an important message after promising to clean up the toxic train derailment site.
"I hope they do," Debbie Foster told "Fox News Live" co-host Arthel Neville on Sunday. "It's something that they're going to have to do long term. This town is going to need long-term testing. There's a lot of people who don't want to stay, and you really can't blame them. They have young kids. I don't know if I had young kids [whether] I would stay, because this is something that's going to affect us long term. And that would be a main concern for me."
Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw met with officials in East Palestine on Saturday, telling reporters that he was there to "support the community" after the rail operator came under scrutiny for its response to the train derailment disaster on Feb. 3.
The train derailment with 50 rail cars, 10 of which were carrying vinyl chloride, caused hazardous chemicals to spill onto the ground and sent a plume of smoke into the air.
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In the chemical spill aftermath, residents living within a one-mile radius were evacuated and many have reported health symptoms like sore throats, headaches and other respiratory issues.
Norfolk Southern had written a letter, saying that it hears the residents of East Palestine and that work was underway to clean up and coordinate with federal, state and local agencies. It did not attend last week's public town hall meeting, reportedly due to concerns about the safety of its employees.
In an updated statement on Friday, Norfolk Southern said it was committed to paying for associated costs.
Foster’s family, which owns a number of rental properties in the East Palestine area and have remained home amid the disaster, recalled experiencing some "really bad" symptoms.
"We are actually right out of the evacuation area, just right on the edge. My husband last week was complaining of headaches. We have rental property, one of our duplexes is right in front of where the railroad is. And I went down there the day after the evacuation, and I was down there maybe 10 or 15 minutes, just checking it out, and I felt like I had sand in my throat. I had a sore throat a couple of days after that," Foster explained.
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Reluctant to move from the area due to their business ties, Foster said her family is "listening" and "hoping" the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other government officials are right when they say the water and air is safe to drink and breathe.
"We're on city water, but we are using bottled water," Foster said. "We're going to get our water tested personally on our own, just for our own peace of mind."
Foster’s "major concern" is water contamination, noting the possibly toxic water can flow into other local communities.
"The other communities like Darlington, they evacuated that. But they don't seem to be helping those different connecting areas," Foster noted, "which I would be very upset about if I lived there."
Multiple lawsuits have been filed against the railroad, which announced last week that it was creating a $1 million fund to help the community.
Sen. Maria Cantwell announced an investigation by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on Friday into railroads’ handling of hazardous materials, saying she had sent letters to Norfolk Southern and six other major railroads.
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Consumer advocate and legal clerk Erin Brockovich said on "Kennedy" last week that East Palestine residents need to trust their own instincts.
"They need to believe what it is they're smelling, what it is they're seeing, what it is they're feeling, what it is they're experiencing," Brockovich said Wednesday.
FOX Business’ Julia Musto contributed to this report.
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