WASHINGTON, D.C. — During Senate testimony on Wednesday, National Transportation and Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said the decision to vent and burn tank cars maintaining vinyl chloride two days after last year’s Norfolk Southern train derailment was made with “incomplete information.”

Under questioning from U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, at the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation to the United States Senate Report in Washington, Homendy said the tanks were cooling down. The decrease in tank temperatures indicated that polymerization could not occur, meaning there was no risk of a an explosion.

OxyVinyls, the company that owned the vinyl chloride, has continuously the vent and burn after the Feb. 3, 2023, accident was not necessary. OxyVinyls had representatives on the ground in East Palestine, but their input and assessment of the situation did not make its way to Gov. Mike DeWine or incident commander Keith Drabick, the East Palestine fire chief.

“OxyVinyls was on scene providing information to Norfolk Southern’s contractor who was in the room when the decision was made, and when advice was given to the governor of Ohio, to the incident commander, they were not given full information because no one was told OxyVinyls was on scene,” Homendy testified. “They were left out of the room. The incident commander didn’t even know they existed. Neither did the governor. So they were provided incomplete information to make a decision.”

The decision to perform the vent and burn of five tanker cars has been heavily criticized. Drabick and DeWine have tood by the decision, stating that it was the right choice at the time based on what they were told. The vent and burn has been called “the best of two bad options” unified command faced in the hours after the rail disaster.

Vance pushed back at the narrative.

“We were told, effectively, that there were two bad options, the controlled burn or the uncontrolled explosion. And it seems, based on the data that we have, that there was not a ton of reason to do the burn,” Vance said. “And that, of course, is what spread toxic chemicals all over this community and the surrounding region.”

Vance went on to suggest the decision had less to do with safety than it did with clearing the tracks quickly, pointing the finger at Norfolk Southern.

“This town very well may have been poisoned to facilitate the rapid movement of freight, or at the very least, it was poisoned for reasons that we can’t identify,” Vance said. “That should really concern every single person on this committee.”

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, released a statement following Honendy’s testimony, joining Vance in placing blame on the railroad.

“This is outrageous. This explosion, which devastated so many, was unnecessary,” Brown said in a press release. The people of East Palestine are still living with the consequences of this toxic burn. This is more proof that Norfolk Southern put profits over safety and cannot be trusted.”