♪ this is "nightline." >> tonight, disaster next door. >> i never thought this could happen to me. i mean, we see trains all the time. >> the fiery ohio train derailment. >> oh, god. what caused it? >> a train derailed. >> spewing toxic chemicals into the community's air and water. nearly a month after the accident, the government officials say it's safe. why residents are still outraged and afraid. >> we're still not using our water to cook or drink. >> just because we don't know if it's going to be safe or not. >> the political firestorm, whether the government has done enough. how east palestine has become the latest battle in the culture wars.

garcelle beauvais. the actress known for her role in "spider-man." >> hi, peter. you look very handsome. >> and her turn on "the real housewives on beverly hills." >> hi, garcelle, you look beautiful. >> now stepping into a passion project. as star and executive producer >> there's an epidemic, if you will, of black and brown women going missing and young men that no one's talking about. >> how she hopes to change thor intive. jeremy renner. the hollywood action hero on the mend. it only takes a second for an everyday item to become dangerous. tide pods child-guard pack helps keep your laundry pacs in a safe place and your child safer. to close, twist until it clicks. tide pods child-guard packaging. restless nights fogging up your day? tonight, try zzzquil pure zzzs to close, twist until it clicks. sleep plus next day energy, with melatonin to help you fall asleep naturally, plus extended-release b-vitamins.

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call and start saving today. comcast business. powering possibilities. ♪ thanks for joining us. tonight uncertainty is building in the small ohio up to of east palestine. even as federal officials remain on the ground and the cleanup from that train derailment involving toxic chemicals is under way. is their air and water really safe? abc's alex presha is following developments. >> oh, god. what caused it? >> train derailment. >> a train derailed? i never thought this could happen to me. i mean, we see trains all the time. >> reporter: freight trains rolling through east palestine, ohio, used to be part of the

landscape. not a source of fear. >> i never had that thought in my mind that this could happen to my town. >> reporter: on february 3rd, a norfolk southern freight train derailed, spilling untold amounts of hazardous chemicals, casting a dark shadow over the lives of east palestine's residents. ashley mccollum has lived here seven years, less than a mile away from the train tracks. she had to flee her home. >> things are left open because i grabbed what i could right before we left. >> reporter: her home frozen in time. folded laundry waiting to be put away. unwashed dishes piled on kitchen counters. many residents like ashley now terrified about what could be lurking in their town. >> the testing is going to have to continue for years. >> i think the fear, and you know, almost the outrage that the public is expressing and experiencing -- i think it's warranted. >> is it a lie to stand there and say the water, municipal

water, is safe today? no. but it can be misleading about what tomorrow may bring. >> reporter: the tiny town of east palestine, ohio, population just over 4,700, has become the center of a political firestorm over government accountability, railway deregulation, and whether the federal response came soon enough. >> i'm a mayor of a town of 4,700 people. if you think i can fight against a railroad or fight against the epa or fight against anything like that, you're crazy. >> reporter: only 11 of the 38 derailed cars remain at the crash site. days after the derailment, crews preventively released and burned toxic chemicals that were in danger of exploding, creating a massive smoke plume. >> now to the new fight in ohio. the question, where to take the toxic waste? >> reporter: federal agencies have been hauling away truckloads of contaminated soil and over 1.8 million gallons of liquid waste. the epa scrambling to find places willing to accept it before securing sites in ohio and indiana.

>> everyone wants this contamination gone from the community. they don't want the worry, they don't want the smell. >> reporter: federal officials from the cdc, epa, and fema have descended on the town for door-to-door testing of home air quality. >> so people are continuing to report symptoms of not feeling 100%, not feeling well. despite the fact that the epa repeatedly keeps suggesting that the air quality is safe. >> reporter: the ohio state epa says the city's water supply is safe but are continuing to monitor the crash site's groundwater for contamination. but many residents are taking no chances. >> we're still not using our water to cook or drink. >> just because we don't know if it's going to be safe or not. >> reporter: many opting for bottled water at free distribution stations. epa regan was there today. >> let me be clear, epa is testing for all toxic chemicals. there are no gaps in the

testing. >> reporter: environmental advocate erin brockovich says this community will likely need to keep testing. >> this begins a huge water issue. we've seen it play itself out over and over again. >> reporter: the whistle-blower remains skeptical about authorities' transparency and accountability. >> they can sound the all-clear and tell you the water's safe. but that's for that moment. that isn't how these environmental situations usually pan out. >> reporter: ashley mccollum and her family are now living under a cloud of uncertainty. they have been staying with her mother four miles away in pennsylvania, too scared to return. >> just want to go home. it's kind of sad that we have to stay here. but i don't feel safe going home. >> reporter: 6-year-old zane won't even go home to tend to his pet iguana. his mom slips into town to feed it. >> i know whenever i go into town, i'm going to have some kind of symptom. whether it be a headache, dry mouth, or just feel sick.

>> reporter: east palestine is in the heart of ohio trump country. the county voting overwhelmingly for him in 2020. the derailment has become a political flashpoint for the biden administration. >> hello, everybody. i know this menu better than you do. >> last week, former president trump visited, handing on the mcdonald's meals and taking a shot at the current administration. >> they were doing nothing for you, they were intending to do absolutely nothing for you. >> reporter: the next day, transportation secretary pete buttigieg visited the site for the first time, saying trump's administration was responsible for rail deregulation. >> what we've seen is industry goes to washington, and they get their way. they got their way on a christmas tree of regulatory changes that the last administration made on its way out the door in december 2020. >> though there's still a bunch of questions for our residents, i still have a bunch of questions -- >> reporter: mayor conaway has been thrust into the national spotlight, fighting for his small town. we spoke with him last month at

an emergency town hall. >> the reality is your town is under a microscope. epa administrators coming tomorrow? >> yes. >> what is your message for him what do you need? >> i need help. i'm not ready for this. >> reporter: appearing on fox news last week, he was critical of president biden for visiting ukraine but not east palestine. >> that was the biggest slap in the face. that tells you right now, he doesn't care about us. >> reporter: a week later he still wants the president to come. >> my comment was made, you know -- they said, you know -- it was directly towards president biden. like i said, it would have been anybody in the white house. right now, i just hope in the future the president does come to east palestine, and i hope that having the most powerful man in the united states and in the world here, on our soil, to say, hey, it's safe -- if it's safe enough for him to be in our town, then it's safe enough for anybody to come to the town. >> reporter: friday president biden told abc news he was not planning to visit east palestine, but stressed that all relevant federal agencies were on site. >> let's put this in perspective. within two hours of that

derailment, the epa was in there. within two hours. every major agency in the united states government that's got anything to do with rail and/or cleanup was there and is there. >> the last time i saw you was during that town hall. >> yes. >> i remember i asked you, what do you need? you said you needed help, mentioned that you aren't ready for this, you aren't built for this. that was two weeks ago. where are things now? >> right now, i think we have all the help we need. i think. i mean, we have the bodies. we need some answers to some questions. you know. the epa seems to be really working on that with our department of health. >> reporter: some residents have chosen to come together to take action legally against the railway, norfolk southern. >> we were right underneath clouds of smoke and fumes on the property. >> reporter: bob holtzer is one of 11 plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit being filed

accusing the company of negligence, among other things. >> the results of those chemical releases, the impacts might not be understood or even seen for 10, 20, 30 years later. the exact extent of the damage isn't really known. >> reporter: norfolk southern said it cannot comment on pending litigation but the company has pledged millions of dollars to support the community. in an interview with cnbc, ceo alan shaw remained optimistic about cleanup efforts. >> we're fully cooperating with the ntsb and with the fra to come up with the root cause of this derailment. then working with our safety regulators and elected officials to see what we can do to make norfolk southern a safer railroad. >> reporter: like many residents of east palestine, ashley mccollum is wondering if she'll ever regain the peace of mind she once had. >> i really haven't slept as orll. in those downtimes that i have, i do think, where am i going next? what do i do?

and i've cried. i've really thought myself into a corner because there's nothing i can do. just the thought of the unknown is the worst thing right now. >> our thanks to alex. up next, my conversation with garcelle beauvais, the model, actress, author, and beverly hills housewife on her latest role behind the camera. bringing attention to the plight f missing women and girls of color. type 2 diabetes? discover the ozempic® tri-zone. in my ozempic® tri-zone, i lowered my a1c, cv risk, and lost some weight. in studies, the majority of people reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart attack, or death in adults also with known heart disease. and you may lose weight. adults lost up to 14 pounds. ozempic® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes.

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garcelle beauvais has played a lot of very different roles but the one she may be most passionate about is her latest as star and executive producer of the new film "black girl missing" where she hopes to bring attention to a topic she says is often ignored. i spoke with her earlier. i'm so glad you're here. >> i'm so happy to be here with you, juju. >> i can't believe it's been a year since i went to your beautiful home, and we talked about your memoir. >> yes. >> and even back then we were talking about the importance of african american storytelling. >> for sure. that's important to me. >> absolutely. here you are now, starring in and ep'ing this great film. why is it so important for us to talk about black missing girls? >> well, because there's an epidemic, if you will, of black and brown women going missing, and young men, that no one's talking about. like, my character in this movie gets so frustrated because no one's taking her seriously and saying, "oh, maybe she's a runaway."

"she'll be back in a few days." >> there's a disparity between the amount of attention white missing girls get and girls of color get? >> absolutely. that was really important in telling the story, that we wove in another story of a white girl who was getting all the attention. and so you could see the difference. i mean, it was palpable. >> you were telling me it was filming in december. let's take a look at a clip. >> okay. >> my daughter has been missing for 16 days. and ever since, i've been living every parent's nightmare. we didn't feel heard. we didn't feel seen. until now. and i want to thank every single one of you here. and i just want to say that i miss my baby.

>> that is a powerful scene. and i know it goes on to say you wanted to thank the black and missing foundation. >> yes. >> you worked with them to flesh out a lot of these issues? >> we did. they were very instrumental in helping us put this movie together, because this is what they do. the foundation really gives resources and help to families who are looking for their families and not getting any help from media, from the police. and that's why the story's important. >> what can the media do to get it right, to do better? >> show them. show the faces. let's talk about it. let's get it out there. i think that's the most important thing we can do is, you know -- we know the jonbenet ramseys, natalee holloway, gabby petito. what about the blackfaces, what about the brown faces? why don't we know them? >> you do a powerful job, in your element on screen, also executive producing behind the scenes. why is having women at the helm and women of color especially so

important? >> i feel like we have to -- inclusion matters. it's so important. it was important we have a black female writer, we got kale fetterman, a black director, delmar washington. the crew, it was really important, we're telling our story. it's not to exclude an to include us. >> why this story? >> for me, it's about doing something that will serve my community. i have this crazy, amazing platform. i say my platform for three things. showing i still look cute at my age. shading a housewife. and bringing things to life that are important to me. this is one of them. >> this is now going into your fourth season on "real housewives of beverly hills." >> time flies when you're having fun. >> i can't imagine. you said last season was intense and dark. tell me a little bit about what you were thinking. lisa renna is no longer on the show. has the dynamic changed?

>> we've only been shooting about a week and a half. i don't think the dynamic has changed as much as we want to have more fun, we want to get back to the flynns and figuring them out. there will always be drama. you have six independent, strong modern women. there's going to be drama. but it's also important, the world has changed. women are supporting each other. so i think we need to see a little bit of that, not just the takedown. >> one of your fellow housewives, erika girardi, erika jayne, has been writing about the snow in pasadena, "see, i'm not lying after all." >> she wasn't. >> sort of a vindication in way. do you think her legal troubles are still being talked about within the group, and is it relevant? >> it's definitely relevant to her. i think -- we don't want to focus on it, but i think it's hard not to talk about it. but she was definitely right, it snows in pasadena. >> i guess it does. we're talking about the fact that maybe there will be an expansion of the cast? there have been crazy rumors about chrissy teigen, meghan markle.

>> will harry come too? >> that would be amazing. how would you want to join, and would you want megan sitting by your side? >> why not meghan? chrissy teag began would be a lot of fun, jennifer coolidge would be insanely good. i'm not part of casting, see what bravo comes up with. >> we talked about this, your son jackson was subjected to bullying and online hate. how do you deal with that as a mother, how do you deal with that as a public figure? >> it's really tough. it's really tough to balance the two. as a teenager, he wants to do what all the teenagers are doing on his phone. as a mom i want to protect him and go, you don't need to be on this app, you don't need to have this. finding the balance of giving him some freedom, then also trying to protect him and talk about it at home. i can only control how we deal with it, how we talk about it. i can't control what somebody else does. >> you are an author, you are an actress, a former model, you're this. what is the next iteration for you? >> oh, that's a very good

question. >> the next chapter of garcelle? >> the next chapter is probably producing more. spending time with my kids before they go off to college. as you know, i'm dreading that. >> we keep talking about wanting to stop time when it comes to our sons. >> yeah, it would be great to stop time, get a little more time with of this where they actually want to spend time with me. but yeah, i mean, i'm open. i love being open to seeing what's next. i have my home line with hsn, garcelle at home. that comes out in may. i'm open. >> so glad to see you. >> thank you, i love seeing you. >> "black girl missing" premieres saturday at 8:00 on lifetime. when we come back, the news on actor jeremy renner as he recovers from that horrific snowplow accident. i have moderate to severe crohn's disease. now, there's skyrizi. ♪ things are looking up ♪ ♪ i've got symptom relief ♪ ♪ control of my crohn's means everything to me. ♪ ♪ ♪ control is everything to me. ♪

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♪ finally tonight, jeremy renner is making progress as he recovers from a horrible accident on new year's day. renner posting this video showing him using an exercise bike, using a tool to help one leg pedal. he included the caption "whatever it takes." renner broke more than 30 bones and suffered blunt force trauma when his snowplow rolled over him. and that's "nightline." you can watch all our full episodes on hulu. we'll see you back here same time tomorrow. thanks for staying up with us. good night, america.