Government’s efforts to downplay Ohio train derailment raise even more questions
Kaylee McGhee White
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Every day since a Norfolk Southern train derailed in Ohio on Feb. 3 has brought more questions than answers, which at least partly explains the government’s refusal to publicly address the accident and its disastrous effects.
Here’s what we know for certain: The train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, not far from the Ohio River, which supplies drinking water to at least 5 million people. At least five cars on the train were carrying vinyl chloride, a hazardous and flammable gas. A decision was made to intentionally release the chemical and burn the cars with vinyl chloride to avoid an uncontrolled explosion, and residents in the nearby area were temporarily evacuated.
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However, the effects of releasing the toxin into the air are still ongoing. Waterways along the Ohio River basin, which is home to about 25 million people, now have traces of vinyl chloride, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate, and isobutylene, all of which can be toxic upon ingestion. Vinyl chloride has been linked to a rare form of liver cancer known as hepatic angiosarcoma, as well as primary liver cancer, brain and lung cancer, leukemia, and lymphoma. Ethylene glycol monobutyl can cause “serious or irreversible chronic health effects in humans,” according to the Environmental Protection Agency, including liver toxicity.
Residents are reporting that their pets have become sick — one East Palestine woman said she woke up one morning to discover all her chickens were dead — and authorities admitted at least 3,500 fish in nearby waterways have died over the past few weeks. People have also started reporting a burning sensation in their eyes, headaches, respiratory problems, and skin irritations.
The question, of course, is what kind of effect these chemicals can have on humans if they’re causing sudden illnesses, burns, and even paralysis in animals. But don’t bother trying to get an answer from government officials at either the local or federal level or you might find yourself charged with trespassing and resisting arrest, as NewsNation reporter Evan Lambert was after he concluded a live report from a press conference on the government’s cleanup efforts last week. (The charges against Lambert have since been dropped.)
In short, we’re dealing with what could be one of the worst environmental disasters in decades. Yet the EPA has denied that residents have reason to be concerned about their drinking water or that the gases in the air could cause problems beyond making the nearby area smell bad.
“Residents in the area and tens of miles away may smell odors coming from the site. This is because the byproducts of the controlled burn have a low odor threshold,” the agency said earlier this month. “This means people may smell these contaminants at levels much lower than what is considered hazardous.”
Meanwhile, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg waited 10 days even to address the matter and then tried to pin fault on the previous administration for the train’s derailment. Because of course. Likewise, the White House offered only a half-hearted note of concern for the affected area’s well-being when asked about the Biden administration’s planned response this week.
I won’t pretend to be a chemist or environmental expert, but it seems obvious that setting nearly 1 million pounds of toxic chemicals on fire and releasing them into the atmosphere is bound to have some sort of adverse effect. The government’s insistence otherwise all but confirms that.