Chemical pollution emitting from the East Palestine, Ohio, train crash in 2023 rained down on 16 different states, according to a study released Wednesday.

A Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic chemicals derailed and crashed in East Palestine in February 2023, sending plumes of black smoke rising over Ohio and Pennsylvania. The smoke carried the chemicals and polluted 16 states, spreading over roughly 540,000 square miles of land, according to a new study published in Environmental Research Letters.

Norfolk Southern has agreed to pay $600 million in a class-action lawsuit settlement for a fiery train derailment in February 2023 in eastern Ohio, but local residents worry the money won’t go very far because their potential health needs down the road may be tremendous.

“It’s not nowhere near my needs let alone what the health effects are going to be 5 or 10 years down the road,” said Eric Cozza, who had 47 family members living within one-mile of the derailment.

The company whose freight train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, causing a massive chemical spill last year has reached a $600 million settlement agreement with residents. 

Norfolk Southern will pay $600 million to settle a class-action lawsuit related to last year’s train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, the company announced Tuesday, following complaints from residents who said they were affected by the incident after hazardous chemicals leaked into the nearby water, air and soil.

The settlement, if approved by the court, will resolve all class action claims from a 20-mile radius of the derailment and personal injury claims within a 10-mile radius for those who choose to participate, Norfolk Southern said.

President Joe Biden on Friday surveyed the federal cleanup in East Palestine, Ohio, more than a year after an explosive fire following the derailment of a train loaded with hazardous chemicals and saw up close the lingering hostility from victims still angry that he waited so long to visit them.

The White House has said Biden was waiting for the right moment to make the trip. He visited after being invited by the village’s mayor.

President Biden praised the East Palestine, Ohio, community during a visit to the town Friday, saying it was “absolutely amazing” what it rose to following the 2023 train derailment that caused a toxic chemical spill.

The president also condemned what he described as the “corporate negligence” that led to the derailment, which caused a train operated by Norfolk Southern Railway to spill toxic chemicals including vinyl chloride, a compound used in production of plastics. 

More than a year after a toxic train derailment rattled the small community, President Joe Biden is making his highly anticipated trip to East Palestine, Ohio.

But with East Palestine’s Columbiana County being reliably Republican, Biden’s response has been criticized amid his promise to be a president for all of America.

President Biden will travel to East Palestine on Feb. 16, a little more than a year a since the derailment of a Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic chemicals near the town.

“[T]he President will travel to East Palestine, Ohio to discuss how the Administration is continuing to work with state and local officials to hold Norfolk Southern accountable and support the community as it moves forward,” the White House said in an advisory Saturday.