Days after authorities told residents of East Palestine, Ohio, and surrounding areas that they could safely return to their homes following a Norfolk Southern train derailment that released toxic chemicals, authorities revealed the presence of even more unsafe chemicals at the scene compounds. This the latest discovery does little to quell the storm of questions about responsibility and calls for greater transparency from those who live in and around East Palestine and feel left in the gloomy about the dangers they face after the derailment and in the weeks ahead.
After the derailment, “federal and local officials repeatedly told residents that air quality was safe and water supplies were not contaminated” – The Washington Post excellent. But the locals told WaPo ““wonder whether it’s protected to return to their homes a week after pollutants spilled into local streams and blown into the air,” after hundreds of dead fish were spotted in nearby bodies of water, and other neighboring towns are warning residents to ventilate their homes and washes “all surfaces with diluted bleach.”
“Hundreds of dead fish” were found belly up in the Leslie Run creek in East Palestine, Ohio.
Youngstown, Ohio is just 30 miles north and Pittsburgh is 1 hour south.pic.twitter.com/yXCNLLb9Dg
— Citizens Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) February 13, 2023
In addition to the dead fish, there were also residents living near the derailment site reporting that their chickens suddenly die after a “controlled burn.”
The belief that residents were not told the full story – even as authorities carried out a “controlled burn” of spilled chemicals, which created a dystopian column of smoke perceptible on weather radar and passing planes – was reinforced when three more chemical detections were confirmed more than a week after the train went off the tracks.
A local CBS affiliate near East Palestine in Youngstown, Ohio, reported that three additional “hazardous” chemicals – ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate and isobutylene – were transported in “rail cars that were derailed, damaged and/or on fire.” ”
The affiliate’s report quoted Sila Caggiano, a hazardous materials specialist, officials say “basically bombed the city with chemicals so we could open the railroad.”
Caggiano explained the presence of “ethylhexyl acrylate is of particular concern” because “it is a carcinogen and contact with it may cause burning and irritation of the skin and eyes” when inhaled “can irritate the nose and throat and cause coughing and shortness of breath” and“Sobutylene is known to cause dizziness and drowsiness when inhaled.”
Part of residents’ wariness stems from a lack of transparency from authorities, punctuated by the arrest of a NewsNation journalist during a press conference about the derailment and its aftermath:
BEATING: @EvanLambertTVDC correspondent based in Washington, DC @NewsNationhe was in Ohio reporting on a train crash. During the press conference, he was recording live in the back of the room – the police told him to stop, knocked him to the ground, handcuffed him, arrested him and put him in a police car. pic.twitter.com/RZv6nT7j8o
— NewsNationComms (@NewsNationComms) February 8, 2023
Republican Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has said he does not approve or agree with the arrest, but the development has drawn the ire of Ohio Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown:
Last night’s arrest of a NewsNation reporter who was doing his job at a press conference in East Palestine is unacceptable. Journalists have an inalienable right to report in this country.
Ohioans deserve to know what will change to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
— Sherrod Brown (@SenSherrodBrown) February 9, 2023
The situation has also led to escalating questions for national leaders, including U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, who became celebrated for going out to lunch during numerous transportation crises during his term:
The Biden administration’s lack of attention is even more glaring given their obsessive focus on so-called “green” policies and stated concerns about emissions. Couldn’t the chemicals have been contained or cleaned in a way that didn’t require them to be burned into the atmosphere, which could have had even more potentially harmful effects on those in the immediate vicinity or downwind?
Some observers have pointed out that the controlled burning may have introduced a different chemical – one that binds to water in the atmosphere – leading to the change in that the supposed “clean-up” plan actually produced massive plumes of toxic clouds that could descend acid rain.
So far, the railroad company—Norfolk Southern—“offered a $25,000 donation to help nearly 5,000 area residents who have been ordered to evacuate their homes under threat of death.”
