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Train Derailment and Toxic Cloud Over Ohio All But Ignored by Mainstream Media
Lobbying and lack of regulation caused a catastrophic environmental disaster— where’s the coverage?
On the night of Friday the 3rd of February, a few miles from Pennsylvania in the small village of East Palestine, Ohio, a massive Norfolk Southern freight train one hundred cars long had a derailment. Almost two weeks later, information is still emerging as to the extent of the devastation. But according to initial reports from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), ten cars came off the tracks, five of which contained the hazardous chemical vinyl chloride — although, I’ve seen other numbers.
Due to a massive inferno and plumes of toxic smoke, there was a shelter-in-place order for the roughly 5000 residents of the sleepy town, and citizens within a one-mile radius of the crash site got knocks on their doors from police shortly after the crash and were ordered to evacuate. Many were reportedly allowed to go back shortly after and experienced symptoms such as headaches mere minutes after returning.
The wreckage burned for days, and images of the flames and dark clouds are extremely ominous.
Officials from Norfolk Southern, the NTSB, and Ohio EPA were on the site assessing the situation. They’re monitoring air and water quality in the area, as inhaling high levels of the toxin can be fatal, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
Some have speculated up to one million pounds of the toxic chemical or one hundred thousand gallons have spilled into the ground and boiled off into the air.
In an attempt to avoid an explosion of the train cars containing vinyl chloride, officials allowed the toxin to spill into trenches where they then did a controlled burn, which people are alleging wasn’t necessary but was simply the faster and cheaper option.
So, while they celebrated avoiding an explosion, they’ve also potentially put thousands of pounds of acid into the air. There are already predictions of acid rain due to the burning of vinyl chloride creating the byproduct hydrogen chloride, which latches onto water molecules and turns into hydrochloric acid.
