Last month Rep Joyce (R,OH) introduced HR 1126, the East Palestine Health Impact Monitoring Act of 2025. The bill would require HHS to conduct a study on the health effects of the 2023 East Palestine, OH train derailment. The bill would authorize “such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 2026, to remain available until September 30, 2030, to carry out this Act”.
This bill is essentially the same as HR 8537 that was introduced by Joyce in May of 2024. No action was taken on that bill in the 118th Congress.
Moving Forward
While Joyce is not a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration, one of his five cosponsors, Rep Rulli (R, OH) is a member. This means that there may be sufficient influence to see the bill considered in Committee. I suspect that the Republican leadership will continue to ignore this bill, because of its potential to increase the liability of the railroads and shippers involved in the East Palestine derailment. While some level of bipartisan support is indicated by the sponsorship of the bill, if the bill were considered, it is unlikely that it would receive sufficient support in Committee to move to the floor of the House for consideration.
Commentary
The further removed we are from the incident, the more
problems with the efficacy of a health study due to lack of baseline
information on the affected population. This is one of the problems with trying
to rely on a legislative response to each incident. What should be considered
is making a blanket requirement for DOT and HHS to conduct long-term (five to
ten years) health assessments for every chemical release involved in a major
transportation incident. Such legislation is not something that I would expect
a Republican congress to support, but it is something that should be
considered.
For more information on the provisions of this bill, see my
article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-1126-introduced
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