Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

ROYCEKrispy OP t1_ja0ij0h wrote

Article:

Weeks after a train derailment near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border left hazardous chemicals burning from railcars, fears of the potential impacts are being felt in places far from the accident.

Grocery chain Giant Eagle, with hundreds of stores in five states including Ohio and Pennsylvania, pulled bottled water off shelves out of an “abundance of caution” because it was bottled 25 miles from the derailment.

Two high school basketball teams elsewhere in Ohio forfeited games rather than venturing to the region to play.

More than a thousand miles away, Houston-area politicians rushed to assure residents anxious about firefighting wastewater from the derailment site set for disposal in Texas.

The Feb. 3 derailment occurred when 38 Norfolk Southern Corp. railcars fell off the track in East Palestine, Ohio, some of those with hazardous materials catching fire. Three days later, the railroad burned vinyl chloride from five tanker cars to avert a potential explosion. The incident has raised concern from residents about the long-term health risks near and around the village of 4,700 people.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan said on Tuesday that the agency will order Norfolk Southern to pay for the necessary cleanup in East Palestine, Ohio, after one of its trains carrying hazardous materials derailed. Photo: Matt Freed/Associated Press

The Environmental Protection Agency has said the region’s air and drinking water are safe and that monitoring will continue. Earlier this week EPA Administrator Michael Regan and other government officials drank water from the East Palestine municipal water authority in a show of confidence in the federal and state environmental testing that has shown that the village water supply is safe. 

Some of the reaction in recent days to more far-reaching chemical impacts has come amid people raising concerns on social media.

On Facebook, a handful of people posted questions about whether Giant Eagle water bottled south of East Palestine was safe to drink and said they had called the company to ask. The grocery chain put out a statement Tuesday that it would pull water products bottled in Salineville, Ohio, about 25 miles from East Palestine, from store shelves.

The company said its water comes from a protected spring not near any affected ground water sources and that third-party lab testing had revealed no abnormalities. Still, it said it would pull the water sourced from the Salineville facility, which makes up its gallon-size or larger bottled water options, until further notice, while health officials continue to review the impacts of the derailment.

Marguerite Parker, a 66-year-old retired nurse in Vermilion, Ohio, 100 miles west of the derailment, said she wasn’t personally concerned about its impacts until she saw a news report about Giant Eagle. She checked six gallons of water she had recently purchased for cooking and drinking on her farm and saw they had been bottled three days after the incident.

Giant Eagle grocery stores pulled bottled water off shelves because it was bottled 25 miles from the derailment.

“Who would think it’s going to reach out this far, the problems?” Ms. Parker said. “I’m not using that water.”

Meanwhile, concerns about breathing in the air around East Palestine led two high school basketball teams to decline to play games there or elsewhere in Columbiana County, according to the Ohio High School Athletic Association. Teams from Beachwood, near Cleveland, and Bristolville, forfeited end-of-season tournament games when the host schools declined to move them.

The Bristol school district attributed the decision to the concerns of families. “The safety of our athletes, families, and the community comes first and foremost,” it wrote on Facebook.

In the Houston area, some residents of Deer Park, Texas, posted online that they were rattled to discover firefighting wastewater from the incident was headed to a hazardous waste disposal facility there.

Lina Hidalgo, an elected executive whose role is akin to that of a mayor, said in a news conference Thursday that she was taken aback to learn that some 30 trucks a day of the water had begun arriving in Harris County last week. She told residents her office is researching the transportation and disposal of the water to make sure it meets regulations.

Texas Molecular, the company handling the firefighting wastewater, has been disposing of similar hazardous water for over 40 years, said Jimmy Bracher, vice president of sales. 

“When you have an emergency, it is prudent to call on an expert,” he wrote in an email. “We are proud that our expertise, developed over many years, can help both the country and the environment recover from this tragic accident.”

263

s_ngularity t1_ja1wlu7 wrote

This is neither here nor there, but I’m curious what an “elected executive whose role is akin to that of a mayor” actually means

29

silversatire t1_ja1z2jo wrote

She’s the county judge. It’s an elected position that exists for all Texas counties, but it’s at the head of a commission that votes on decisions so it’s not quite like a mayor. It has nothing to do with court judging, which is confusing outside of Texas and probably why WSJ skipped it.

44

OhMy-Really t1_ja2h8ta wrote

I liked the part where they drank the “local water”, you bet that pulled water is relabelled and sent somewhere else.

19

THETRILOBSTER t1_ja1ycyh wrote

>EPA Administrator Michael Regan and other government officials drank water from the East Palestine municipal water authority

Sure they did.

12

Misophoniasucksdude t1_ja2opis wrote

The state EPA did, federal EPA put out a list of chemicals of concern and wrote about the superfund program. Superfund sites are highly contaminated areas that get specific federal funding. East Palestine isn't declared one yet but the fact they mentioned it means it very well could be one, in my opinion.

12

Curi0usClown t1_ja2tqsk wrote

Watch the video. They didn't actually drink the water. Assuming it's the same video I'm thinking of. Only one guy out of three drinks.

9

pentaquine t1_ja3amn1 wrote

“Drink” you meant he took one sip. Local people “drink” this water day in day out, because this is their water source.

9

Randomwhitelady2 t1_ja2nvqa wrote

Ultimately I Squared Capital, a private equity company, is responsible for the water cleanup. They ultimately own Texas Molecular.

3

ishitar t1_ja2ssfw wrote

The company does deep well injection for toxic water disposal. They claim thousands of feet down, below any water table. Would take a thousand years to come back up blah blah. The whole business model is like that episode of Futurama where earth launches its trash into space and it comes back hundreds of years later.

Edit: You know what, this libertarian, corporatist hellscape is what Texans voted for. I support all manner of toxic and radioactive waste, PFAS, heavy metals and such being disposed of by deep well injection under Texas.

8

cowghost t1_ja3mcf7 wrote

And in other news East Palestine high school basketball and football teams are expected to go to state as all other teams have forfeit to avoid going to East Palestine.

2

NeatlyCritical t1_ja0qj9f wrote

As they should because GOP wants to deregulate every single thing in every single industry, nationwide, so this type of shit will happening daily everywhere and you will just have to live with it.

142

whiznat t1_ja1bs0o wrote

This is the wrong attitude. What matters is corporate profit and CEO salaries. You need some perspective.

/s <- for the sarcasm-impaired

39

ROYCEKrispy OP t1_ja0j67e wrote

Related story: Texas and Michigan officials say they didn't know water, soil from Ohio train wreck would be transported into their jurisdictions

Edit: Fixed link title

94

onikaizoku11 t1_ja2pq8z wrote

First off, rate up for cp'ing the article. Thank you.

I hope outrage and scrutiny continues to grow about this derailment. I won't forget the offensive $25k initial self imposed fine Norfolk Southern trial-ballooned right after the initial accident and I hope no one else does either.

27

babysinblackandImblu t1_ja0eejd wrote

And there was just a metal plant explosion in Ohio as well.

23

burnzie1390 t1_ja19dxz wrote

Ya don’t say? eyes roll so hard I’m now blind

20

Drak_is_Right t1_ja2rjgx wrote

If only people cared this much about fracking plumes

19

zombiebane t1_ja2zlwe wrote

Rarely do we care enough, or have enough time and resources, to be proactive about issues that we don't see as directly impacting our own lives.

Unfortunately it's gonna require the whole world being on fire for anyone to give a shit.

14

Interesting_Reach_29 t1_ja1wwfo wrote

What worries me too is what is in the air after they burned the chemicals (especially since wind currents go north). I’m in Upstate NY and am wanting to know if anything was effected — since so many things are being covered up by the company online.

10

Jamjams2016 t1_ja5xs4p wrote

Why haven't I seen a single word from NY about this? They need to say something and do some testing as well. It's maddening to see them sit this out.

3

Interesting_Reach_29 t1_ja67p2b wrote

It’s a corporate state. No matter the party, the corruption is bad. The oil company that caused this has friends and other companies who invest in their stocks that won’t do a darn thing but lie and cover stuff up.

−2

Michael_Blurry t1_ja1bxz9 wrote

Not that I want more peoples’ lives at risk, but maybe this will get the necessary reaction from the local govt.

7

SiriusBaaz t1_ja1wrm4 wrote

It should. Norfolk Southern is a gigantic company on its own. And that’s not including every other train line that is currently operating under the same rules whether they admit to it or not.

6

shewy92 t1_ja3ckw7 wrote

Well yea, the wind and water doesn't care about invisible lines.

4

[deleted] t1_ja17izk wrote

[deleted]

3

RunningNumbers t1_ja1kxin wrote

That is nonsense thinking.

You are getting exposed to worse things locally.

14

iamthelouie t1_ja2n8hl wrote

It’s already hitting. Did you not get a head ache when it rained last week? Lots of people were reporting loss of concentration during the rain and also a “sweet” smell. Also also, the plum is going right over the Catskills and over the NYC water supply. Remember, the NYC water supply is treated, but not filtered.

2

SableShrike t1_ja2j6qm wrote

coughPlum Islandcough

But yeah, it was a complete shitshow on Plum during the Dubya years.

1

robertoandred t1_ja1u6bx wrote

There is no fallout. This happened three weeks ago. Everything has either burned off or broken down.

−7

dq9 t1_ja1ufnr wrote

That sounds like corporate speak. Bring receipts please.

3

HouseOfSteak t1_ja23b6c wrote

I believe they meant that whatever was up there has literally 'fallen down' by now. While that would mean that the threat is no longer present in the air to fall further.....it's now contaminating wherever it landed.

Future evapouration of already-fallen, contaminated water that was mixed with whatever those chemicals were shouldn't cause the contaminants to come back up with it.

3

OhMy-Really t1_ja2gocl wrote

Whoa, who would have thunk it.

2

The_Istrix t1_ja2irkj wrote

Wait, you mean their monumental fuckup didn't even respect city or stat lines?

2

janjinx t1_ja5quui wrote

I hope that the residents don't pay attention to Tucker Carlson who wants to politicize the derailment to criticize Biden. He actually said something like, East Palestine is mostly white and so Biden will ignore or forget them. That is so sad.

0

Aazadan t1_ja6t9zb wrote

Hate to break it to you, but check the voting demographics there. The only reason the people might not listen to Tucker Carlson is that he's on Fox, and they think Fox is too liberal and that it's Newsmax and Infowars that give them the real truth.

1

onesockyboi t1_ja6q9iz wrote

Nobody gives a shit about these people. Trump clowns himself by buying McDonald's and saying he's helping when quite possibly it was his deregulation that enabled this whole mess. And Biden nor any other politician in office seems to care to do anything. Fuck this timeline

0

Error_404_403 t1_ja209zu wrote

Does "fears" really belong to the topic name?

−1

DeliciousIncident t1_ja3p6zg wrote

Thought that was about the Asian country Palestine for a moment.

−4

heystephanator t1_ja1xd33 wrote

EPA is a joke. It’s a patronizing Pat on the head that doesn’t actually do much to help people when help is clearly needed, like in this situation.

−5

conker223 t1_ja24nev wrote

The EPA can only act with the authority it’s given and issue fines in accordance to laws. I agree that the EPA needs to be more diligent, but the laws need to change and penalty structures replaced to actually reflect the cost of these disasters.

13

heystephanator t1_ja3ogae wrote

Agreed, but it’s a government agency nonetheless that is simply here to placate people. It has no power to actually DO anything, which is why I think it’s a joke.

−4

heystephanator t1_ja488b5 wrote

Not sure the downvotes. Please tell me what the EPA has actually down to mitigate this situation? I’ll wait. Bottom line is that it is a powerless government arm. How is that even being disputed?

0

User2079 t1_ja33ibh wrote

Is this going to affect places like Hocking Hills? I have plans for summer.

−6

MpVpRb t1_ja1ke7v wrote

Fear, not actual measured danger, fear, probably stoked by the media and political opportunists

−23

ITwerkForALiving t1_ja0fh5v wrote

Oh my god its going to kill us all. This is the single greatest disaster in all of American history.

−119

46_notso_easy t1_ja0s0mb wrote

I mean, this particular incident might not be the worst in US history but it is genuinely horrible and part of the reason it has so much staying power in the news is because it is so directly traceable to recent deregulation and greed.

Every single disaster that happens is either A) totally ignored, B) nominally mentioned then dropped between other news items to keep the cycle going, or C) actually covered with moderate interest, but played down with pleas from industry shills and conservatives that it’s being overblown.

This same cycle applies to mass shootings, except replace step C) with “actually covered with moderate interest, but played down with pleas from the NRA/ other Russian funded GOP orgs that it’s too soon to discuss (until next week’s mass shooting).

Rinse and repeat this placative media cycle until the rich have figuratively stripped all the copper wiring from the walls and bailed on the shithole they’ve created in the depleted husk of this country, and the rest of us are left holding the bag.

40