What is happening in northeast Ohio is absolutely terrifying.
But what’s more, is the federal government’s sheer absence in the aftermath, and the media’s complete disregard for covering the story.
If you haven’t heard by now, back on February 3, a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous materials derailed in this small Ohio town near the border of Pennsylvania, causing a mess of harmful chemicals, including vinyl chloride. State officials forced the evacuation of hundreds of the town’s 4,700 residents so that the company could intentionally burn some of the chemicals, to avoid a combustion explosion.
This is an environmental emergency. The air, water and soil have been dangerously contaminated, and yet only a few days after the burn, residents were told it was “safe” to return to their homes — and drink the water — after the EPA’s preliminary testing of the water and air in the evacuation zone deemed it not-dangerous. Oh – and in those few days, they also rebuilt the railroad over the contaminated soil, and trains are again running.
But the instructions to return home seem contradictory to what people on the ground are experiencing: dizziness, rashes breaking out on their skin, difficulty breathing and strong odors lingering in the town. And nature is echoing: over 3,500 dead fish have risen to the surface in the waterways around the crash site. Chickens and dogs are just up and dying overnight.
Clearly all is not “all clear.”
Even Ohio Governor, Mike DeWine, urged residents to drink bottled water.
And we, down in Cincinnati (280 miles away) — which is connected via the Ohio River to this crash site — have been warned that a plume of hazardous chemicals originating from East Palestine will flow by Cincinnati on the Ohio River on Friday…”but not enough to harm.”
But the most extraordinary thing about this is that for the first week of this disaster…there was little to no media coverage.
What was the country talking about instead?
The three mysterious “UFO balloons” that the government randomly decided to shoot down in one weekend…the same weekend this environmental disaster happened.
Coincidence?
Look, I’m not one for conspiracy theories, and I am not suggesting that the UFO stint was to detract attention from this absolute nightmare in Ohio.
But what I am suggesting is that this is a terrible situation that is being handled dismally. The federal government has completely abandoned the people of East Palestine in the aftermath. Truly, where are they?
There is so much distrust in East Palestine right now, with new information coming out – seemingly by the news cycle – about new toxic chemicals that were also onboard the train that just happened to not be left out of the report. And particularly as more and more people are developing rashes, and animals are dying — there is so much fear: what are these chemicals going to do to us?
How bad is it really?
People want the straight answer, and they don’t feel that they’re getting it. People are angry. They’re feeling ignored by Biden’s administration. And Norfolk Southern didn’t even send a representative to the town hall meeting that East Palestine residents held earlier this week!
All I know is that it poured all day today, which can’t be good for the ground water and runoff situation. That, and I’ll be drinking bottled water for the near foreseeable future.
One thing is for certain here: and that is that the people of East Palestine — and all of Ohio and Pennsylvania really — need prayers for safety, courage and strength. That, and answers.
There is a lot of fear right now. And for the people of East Palestine, they are in a crisis. Their homes are in the middle of a chemical spill. Governor DeWine has demanded more support and testing from the EPA, but at the end of the day, I’m afraid the ramifications and seriousness of this disaster won’t be seen or experienced until further down the line.
And I just pray God’s protection over the health and wellbeing of those residents in harm’s way.
But the handling of this crisis has really made me upset. Why aren’t the climate activists in Washington throwing a conniption over the gallons and gallons of toxic chemicals that are now in our waterways, air and soil? Why aren’t they demanding, not only answers…but action!
The silence is deafening.
And it makes me wonder why.
I don’t know. I’m really not trying to stir the pot here, I’m just truly trying to make heads or tails of this.
And truthfully, I’m scared for my own safety and the safety of my family and loved ones here in Ohio — is our water safe to drink? Will our food supply be compromised in the spring?
Anyways. Pray for East Palestine. Pray for Ohio and Pennsylvania. May God’s hand of protection be over the heartland, and peace be felt in the hearts of all those who fear.
Until Monday…
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25 responses to “East Palestine, Ohio’s Chernobyl”
The feds gave up on us years ago in my opinion, Caralyn. Biden is the worst thing to happen to America in terms of the presidency. What a joke his administration is! I’m 62 and have seen a lot of stuff to be polite come from that place.
Praying!! 🙏🙏🙏
You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to believe the media’s running interference for the establishment government machine. When the media gets all up in arms over something, I start sniffing around for what they’re NOT talking about. It’s reflexive at this point.
A democracy exists whenever those who are free and are not well-oft, being in the majorif, are in sovereign control of government, an oligarchy when control lies with the rich and
better-born, these being few.
Aristotle. –
At the very minimum, you, your family and loved ones need to get a Berkey water filter. (Berkeywaterfilter.com) It will definitely filter out all harmful components in the water. It is beyond concerning the lack of care from officials, in the face of obvious danger.
Must check on my daughter as she lives in Ohio
The water you drink and use for cooking should always be boiled. Please utilize all possible safety measures. May God bless you, your loved ones, and all afflicted directly by the horror.
Boiling only works for biological contaminants, not chemical poisoning.
It sounds like you “jumped out of the frying pan into the fire,” so to speak! I am praying, sweetie! We have friends in Ohio and fell in love with the people during a long road trip.
Wow…
I’m in Indiana and have found that GoGreenSaveGreen on instagram has been sharing updates on this almost every day – and Devonoship has been coordinating efforts & resources to educate people on soil/air/water testing near and far (I’m hoping to look more into this!). This IG post has more info and links — (https://www.instagram.com/p/Coqb8UjvGAE/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=)
hope some tidbit of it can be useful for you or someone who happens upon this
Louisville, where I live, also gets their water from the Ohio. Louisville has some of the best tap water in the country, like wins awards every year for it, and I’m still only doing bottled water for a while. So scary.
keep your head down, drink bottled water, and perhaps find a few Mark V gas masks on Ebay to keep on hand. Trust God. Man, on the other hand, will likely foul things up entirely.
Unfortunately, if it happens in the Midwest, the news cycle doesn’t care. A few years ago we had a derecho in Cedar Rapids, Iowa – absolutely DEVASTATED the area. So much damage to homes, tree coverage was SIGNIFICANTLY reduced. The entire character of the area feels different even now. And where was this in the news? Nowhere. The FIRST time I heard anything close to national coverage was when Joe Biden mentioned it briefly in the presidential debates. That was it.
So I hate to say it but I’m not surprised that there’s been no news coverage of this.
OMG, I heard that news this morning. It was really bad. Hopefully the government do something asap about it. Pray for Ohio
Respectfully, it’s no use for us to wait on the federal government for help. Trump admin got rid of requirements for electronic brakes on trains carrying hazardous materials. Biden admin hasn’t tried to reinstate it. They don’t care. These huge companies will walk away without consequences unless we band together and demand better. Norfolk are cowards for trying to cover this up and not even showing at the town hall. Rich will get richer while honest, working Americans suffer. Praying the lawsuits bring some justice. And praying for the each person affected by this tragedy.
A truly compassionate, concerned administration would’ve immediately sent a virtual army of specialists and aid-givers into that area. But we don’t have that kind of administration so those folks have been abandoned. Inexcusable.
My heart goes out to these people.
There is a misguided notion that the President and FEMA can immediately respond. The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 5121-5207 (the Stafford Act) §401 states in part that: “All requests for a declaration by the President that a major disaster exists shall be made by the Governor of the affected State.”
So, the Governor of OH must first officially declare a disaster, versus a state of emergency. The main reason I learned that he had not is that he wants Norfolk Southern to bear the bulk of the responsibility and finance the response, versus allocating government funds.
Good point. It is dismal that media isn’t covering it. I heard about it through Instagram from an animal rescue account I follow. Horrifying what those folks are going through up there. I think the governor may have his heart in the right place, but I also think he is chasing windmills. Big business has lawyers out the wazoo and they will weasel out of it. And it will take years regardless of whether they get the company to pay or the give steps in.
I had to go back to one of your recipe posts as a palate cleanser. Your cooking posts are the only ones I remember recently where you don’t take an unnecessary swing at Biden specifically and democrats in general. It’s a good reminder that there is still some unity left in our country, even if it’s only around something simple like a meal.
Too bad we can’t treat politics like we treat grocery stores or other food purveyors: most of them are there for some sort of profit from their efforts, but at the end of the day, the community they serve thriving is in their best interests.
Sadly, that’s clearly not the case with politics in America as there is a party in this country whose concern is remaining in power and the way they do that is telling their constituency what it wants to hear versus actually saying/doing what is best for those who keep them in power in the first place.
Ohio has voted red 67% of the time in presidential elections this century. Maybe look at what that voting record has done for environmental, infrastructure and safety regulations before blaming the people Ohio didn’t vote for in the past for the problems of its present.
Is this scary and sad? Absolutely.
Is this in any way more Biden’s fault than the people it affects? Nope, they created it themselves. It is the classic lack of accountability – like the junk food junkie that won’t exercise complaining about being fat or the pack a day smoker being mad they got lung cancer.
Empathy is the correct response to this disaster. If someone can make the situation better for those suffering, we absolutely should. But making up villains only enables the victims past behaviors. We can empathize with them while still helping them to not repeat the mistakes of the past that got them here.
And remember, anywhere could be East Palestine, because people who vote selfishly instead of for what’s most right for all vote in a way that potentially hurts us all.
But, hey…at least Roe got overturned and you can still buy guns like they’re candy bars.
Ohio.
Jim Jordan looked the other way when students were being fondled.
DeWine looked the other way when Biden offered to help in this disaster.
Must be something in the water there.
I pray that more so than government, that the Lord will watch over the people there at the spill site, as well as Pennsylvania and heal their land. May they waters flow, cleanly, in spite of the contamination, that this man made disaster has created. May your words , Caralyn, create an awareness, that will produce change, in this difficult time. God is still in control, but sometimes, it’s hard to see through the smoke.
Longtime conservative here who is getting thoroughly fed up with the triumvirate of big business, big government and big media, all playing ring around the Rosie with their hands in each others’ pockets.
Thank you for the info!!
I am making a song about the earthquake in turkey and syria and another one song about the
train crash that happened in greece and for the train crash that happened in east palenstine.
So i research those incidents so i understand better the situations.
If you want here is a old song i made about poverty and pollution of the environment ,if you want to hear it.
Hope, you are all well there!!!