A ‘bomb train’ derailed in East Palestine, we’re suffering hit
No matter what we look like, where we live, or how much money we earn, we all deserve to live full, healthy lives free of environmental hazards.
But here we are again. The Appalachian Ohio River Valley is experiencing an environmental nightmare that corporations and elected officials are sweeping under the rug.
From Illinois to Pennsylvania, fast moving trains are hurling through residential neighborhoods of lower socioeconomic status multiple times a day. Trains with harmful, highly flammable substances and radioactive fracking waste are carried on a daily basis through these communities.
We predicted this.
Nearly a decade ago, many collaborative grassroots organizations appealed to the EPA about these trains. We have seen many derailments and close calls throughout the years. In fact, these groups warned the federal government that a disaster was waiting to happen.
Now, as we predicted would inevitably happen, a Norfolk Southern bomb train carrying vinyl chloride and other hazardous materials derailed on Feb. 3 in East Palestine.
Ohioans are suffering up to 30 miles away.
I live a few short miles from the derailment site. I also work with a non-profit, grassroots community organizing group, River Valley Organizing. We have been on the frontline around environmental community hazards in the Appalachian Ohio River Valley for several years.
I can tell you, in this instance, people as far as 30 miles away have experienced symptoms of nausea, headache, teeth pain, vomiting, diarrhea, sinus congestion, and shortness of breath. People well outside the evacuation zone have left their homes because the waterways are polluted with chemical smells and dead fish.
Some people have had to seek medical attention for their breathing. I myself am still wheezing as I write this.
Heroic first responders have been pictured without any hazmat PPE. There are dead foxes, livestock, chickens, dogs, fish, and other wildlife all over Columbiana, Mahoning, and Trumbull counties in Ohio, and Beaver County in Pennsylvania.
The poorly named “controlled burn” of cancercausing vinyl chloride swept four counties and two states as high winds came through the area. Media and elected officials demanded we shelter in place while also telling us we had “nothing to worry about.”
People are debating whether they can afford another night in a hotel or if they and their children have to go back to their contaminated houses. People are being let back in their homes with zero soil or surface testing completed. Those same people must now clean their homes or dispose of contaminated items with no assistance offered.
The National Guard came and went. Kids are expected to go back to school this week. Reporters are being silenced and even arrested for being “too loud” at press conferences.
Every news report and conference has indicated the same thing: there are zero toxins in the air and water, not the normal lingo of “acceptable levels for human consumption.” This has been proven 100% false through photographic and testing evidence.
The governor must ask president for help.
Now, we have a governor that will not ask our president to declare this a federal emergency. He pretends to have it handled while I receive reports of 3 year olds in respiratory distress from asthmatic flares.
He is playing politics with our lives from his comfy governor’s mansion a hundred miles away as residents of East Palestine and neighboring communities look on in horror.
It is the time for our leaders to do the right thing. Quit lying, Gov. Mike Dewine, and call President Joe Biden.
Tell him the short- and long-term health implications for our region. Tell him that vinyl chloride exposure leads to several types of cancer. Tell him people are sick and animals are dying. Tell him to declare a federal emergency so we can get the help that we need.
It is time to put people over politics. Our lives and future depend on it.
Emily Wright is a resident of Columbiana and is the development director at River Valley Organizing.