During a CNN town hall on Wednesday night, Ohio citizens expressed health problems they face regularly after the chemical train derailed last month. Three personalities connected with the accident attend the town hall including the head of Norfolk Southern, the train’s operator, and Ohio’s governor.
This hall was organized in East Palestine. Citizens of Ohio distracted and asked questions from Gov. Mike DeWine and Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw regarding water, food, and air safety. Why are they flirting with innocent people’s life by releasing chemicals even after the crash? These toxic chemicals affect their children, friends, and beloved life day to day.
Jim Stewart who is 65 years is very concerned about his hometown as he said, “I don’t feel safe in this town now. You took it away from me.” His residence is near the region train crashed, and he shared the health issues he facing today, like headaches.
“Did you shorten my life now? I want to retire and enjoy it. How are we going to enjoy it? You burned me,” Stewart said, to Shaw. “You’ve made me an angry man.”
And Shaw feels guilty for that and grantee to do everything right as soon as he can. Many residents left the town because of these issues.
Six takeaways suggested during the CNN town hall solve these problems:
Concerns around safety as symptoms worsen
Although some experts declared that the air and water are able to use explained that they feel problems like headaches, dizziness, nausea, and bloody noses after that incident.
The teacher and mother from East Palestine, also said that she is issued with health nowadays.
“I took him to the pediatrician on Friday. I was told they had no guidance from the CDC, the Health Department — there was nothing they could do,” as she said.
Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff stated at this “may not be in the wheelhouse” of many physicians. He also assured them that new resources are prepared for evaluation who feel they need they can. Also ordered to doctors provide patients with expert advice if they need it. Heath department also prepares a hospital for an affected reason to serve citizens.
Officials Promise to Stay in East Palestine and Continue Testing
Nene Stewart, another citizen of that area, said to DeWine she used bottled water because she can’t take risks with her family’s health, while unsure if the water is safe or not. “I’m not trusting what they are saying,” Stewart said. “So, I don’t know who is telling the truth.”
Still, our teams work on it to satisfy people for the water is safe for use. Although some sources are safe, some streams are not good for health, and teams enter them and test their water. “We’re not telling you that everything is perfect,” DeWine said.
During the hall, DeWine said that fish were killed within 24 hours after the chemical release. After that, no harmful effect could be seen on any animal. But you avoid village water till you make sure about its safety. Environment Protection Agency, declares that municipal water is about to use for domestic use, with “no water quality concerns.”
If you are curious to know the Train Crash from the beginning read below:
- Chemicals Spilled in Ohio During a Train Crush Led Several Animals to Death
- Chemicals from the Railway Disaster May Cause Rashes, Headaches, and Other Problems in East Palestine
“Sometimes we don’t know all the information,” he said. “Sometimes we get facts that maybe are wrong – but there’s no way in the world I’m going to convey to you or to any other citizen a fact that I think is wrong.”
EPA Ordered Norfolk Southern to Pay the Cleaning Amount
Norfolk Southern was ordered to pay the amount used during the cleaning after that train crash.
“EPA has special authority for situations just like this where we can compel companies who inflict trauma and cause environmental and health damage to communities, like Norfolk Southern has done, to completely clean up the messed that they’ve caused and pay for it,” EPA administrator Michael Regan said.
Norfolk Southern has to prepare a plan to clean Ohio’s water, air, and soil. EPA also said them to provide Ohio’s citizens a home cleaning services and attend ceremonies to share their agenda with people.
Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw’s tweet regarding the Ohio train crash:
CEO Alan Shaw : “I returned to East Palestine today to meet with local leaders, first responders, and a group of Norfolk Southern employees who live in the area. In every conversation today, I shared how deeply sorry I am this happened to their home.” https://t.co/cjL6P2OXzD pic.twitter.com/VBYybO3mYG
— Norfolk Southern (@nscorp) February 19, 2023
“If Norfolk Southern decides that they don’t want to follow the order, EPA will step in, so that there’s no break in service, perform these duties, while fining the company up to $70,000 a day, and then we’ll recoup our cost on the back end,” Regan said. “And the law gives us the authority to charge Norfolk Southern up to three times the amount that the cleanup will cost us.”
Shaw explains that our company is preparing a plan to work with EPA on a “long-term remediation plan.” And they feel like an “environmentally sound plan based on engineering principles” to clean the soil where the chemical spread. But as the residents were not happy, now they decide to remove the tracks there. Ans this process will start from the next month.
Governor would stay in East Palestine overnight after a resident requested
DeWine said that he would spend a night in East Palestine when a resident request him to do so. That resident was Ben Ratner who said that Dewine stays only for a few hours in this region when they attend any event, now we want them to spend a night here to understand our daily issues because of the train crash. And DeWine stated that he feel safe in that area because the chemicals spilled in that region were cleaned after a few days.
“We will not walk away, East Palestine.”
Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw said the company pledged to pay for the cleanup. It also established a $1 million community fund, $1 million for a new community liaison and $4.19 million to directly assist families https://t.co/GMKwPxyQnS pic.twitter.com/gI2fR3LQcl
— Bloomberg (@business) February 23, 2023
“There’s a concern you will be left on your own,” DeWine said about East Palestine’s future. “We’re gonna stay in there … and do what needs to be done.”
The governor also made a commitment to East Palestine, that “everything we can so that you have a great future and your children have a great future.”
“I understand the skepticism, as a father. I’m a father first and foremost, I understand the skepticism, but what I can tell you is what the science tells us and that these readings are indicating that there are safe levels,” Regan said. “What the science tells us is that we haven’t had any readings that are above certain levels that would cause adverse health impacts.”
Mayor is cautiously optimistic town will bounce back but says it depends on cleanup efforts
East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway, said that he is getting answers yet, “there’s a lot of fears in town,”, mainly for those who lived near the affected region.
Last night Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw went on CNN to hear directly from residents of East Palestine.
And they let him have it. pic.twitter.com/xwH1n0FMba
— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) February 23, 2023
“They’re justified and they need answers,” Conaway said. “And we’ll get those answers.”
“This is going to be a very long process, and you know, eventually, hopefully, it comes to an end and hopefully it goes back to the way it was, and actually better than the way it was. That’s our main goal,” Conaway said.
Residents Leave Feeling Questions Still Unanswered
When residents asked Shaw’s reason behind the derailment he said, “I’m terribly sorry that this has happened to this community,” he said. “What I can do, and what I will do, is make it right.”
“We’re going to get the clean-up right, we’re going to reimburse the citizens, we’re going to invest in the long-term health of this community,” Shaw said. “I’m going to see this through, and we’re going to be here. And we’re going to work with these community leaders to help you thrive.”
Norfolk Southern also plans to review the results of the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation as well as use data to “figure out what we could’ve done better,” adding the company has already implemented new internal safety measures without elaborating on what those entailed.
Those looking for information related to East Palestine can find testing information, contact numbers, and the latest updates on mitigation efforts at https://t.co/QePrDyqPNf. pic.twitter.com/KYRXmhtz8a
— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) February 16, 2023
So these are the advice from the there personality regarding that region or train. Even they asked National Transport Safety Board to review safety results and “figure out what we could’ve done better.” With the hope that Ohio citizens soon be able to get fresh air and water which is our first priority. To know another update on this train derailment case you can follow us on our Twitter handle.
