Political games

Regarding “Ohio derailment tests Sen. Brown’s push to buck Dem defeats,” (March 3): The citizens of East Palestine, Ohio, need all the help they can get after the toxic train wreck last month. But the last thing anyone needs is a politician manipulating this tragedy to divide “us” from “them.” Last week, Sen. Ted Cruz blasted President Joe Biden for not having visited the scene of the accident, claiming that “Democrats don’t give a damn about East Palestine because it’s a blue collar, red place.” Not so fast.

On Nov. 27, 2019, a series of explosions ripped through the Texas Petrochemicals Port Neches Operation outside of Houston, spewing carcinogens into the air and requiring the evacuation of thousands living nearby. Did Cruz publicly demand that President Donald Trump show up at Port Neches and confront this disaster? No.

Explosions are terrifying, but environmental catastrophes come in many forms. Emissions from a chemical plant called Denka Elastomer in LaPlace, La., have exposed the predominantly African American citizens to a deadly carcinogen at levels 14 times higher than acceptable risk standards. That outrage has persisted not for days but for many years, although the Environmental Protection Agency finally took action against the plant last week.

Our environmental laws are supposed to protect all Americans, no matter what color, where they live or who they vote for. The citizens of East Palestine are not alone.

Eric Schaeffer, executive director of the Environmental Integrity Project and former director of civil enforcement at the EPA