Doing their job or politics?

Regarding “Opinion: Lina Hidalgo wrong to question Ohio toxic wastewater disposal,” (Feb. 28): They “doth protest too much, methinks.” You couldn’t say it better than Shakespeare’s Hamlet after reading these letters. The writers criticize County Judge Lina Hidalgo and U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee for doing their jobs as elected officials to protect the citizens and unborn of their districts by questioning the risks of shipping and “disposing” toxic waste from East Palestine into their Texas districts. These elected officials didn’t claim they had petrochemical industry expertise, nor did they claim they were biochemical experts in cancer-causing chemicals like vinyl chloride.

They were doing their due diligence as elected officials by asking tough questions and seeking answers from real technical experts, who hopefully don’t put profits before the health and safety of us and our children. It’s exactly what President Reagan said: “Trust but verify.” It looks like we especially need to verify that there is “nothing to worry about” and that it’s “… a very benign waste that is less toxic than the many chemicals trucked around Houston every day.”

Anthony Veneruso, Sugar Land

Congratulations to our local politicians for punishing a local business for doing a job they do well: remediating — not dumping, as one politician described it — a portion of the water run-off that contains diluted vinyl chloride from the firefighting effort at the East Palestine derailment. All because they had not been informed, even though there is no regulation requiring them to be informed. No problem, send it elsewhere. Nothing like a politician sensing some media attention and the opportunity to score political points.

Meanwhile, in excess of 2 billion gallons per year (that’s over 5 million gallons per day) of pure vinyl chloride move through the area safely and in accordance with all applicable regulations each year. Good thing they don’t know about that. Ken Wasilewski, Kingwood