Around 8:55 pm local time on February 3, 2023 A train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. The train was carrying three cars of Diethylene Glycol, one car of Polypropyl Gylcol, one car of Propylene Glycol, two cars of Polyethylene, two cars of Polyvinyl, five cars of Petroleum Oil, five cars of Vinyl Chloride and more according to the released Inventory manifest. Some of these chemicals are highly toxic and or combustible.
On February 6, in an effort to prevent further explosions, Norfolk Southern emergency crews evacuated a 1 mile radius and conducted a “controlled burn” of the trains contents which released copious amounts of Phosgene, Hydrogen Chloride and other toxic fumes into the air.
The evacuation was lifted on February 9 after the U.S. EPA reported that the air inside and outside the evacuation zone had returned to normal levels. Although toxins were detected at the derailment site, they were allegedly not detected outside the area.
“Vinyl Chloride is shipped in liquid form, meaning that when these trains crashed and they started leaking, they weren’t just leaking liquid, they were spewing boiling gaseous VCM (Vinyl Chloride Monomer)”
– Engineer, Nick Drom reported
“These Tanker cars can carry between 25 and 33 thousand gallons or 250 thousand pounds per train car. There’s maybe a million pounds of this toxic chemical spilling into the ground and boiling off into the air. no one is mentioning what the byproduct of burning Vinyl Chloride is, one of them is Hydrogen Chloride. Hydrogen Chloride is really unstable and latches onto water vapor in the atmosphere, and that turns it into Hydrochloric Acid.”
Nick Drom Continues “There were 2 cars of petroleum oil completely gone, and 3 that lost some amount. These kind of tank cars can hold anywhere from 16 to 30 thousand gallons, so what we are really talking about here is an oil spill. One gallon of petroleum oil can pollute up to a million gallons of groundwater.”
Now, what caused this disaster to begin with? The NTSB (The National Transportation Safety Board) reports that a rail car axle issue is to blame. The very train car axle that was caught on a security camera in Salem on fire 20 miles before the derailment site. These civil war-era wheels were suppose to be updated some time ago, but Norfolk Southern helped kill a federal safety regulation that was aimed at upgrading all of their breaking systems. As if that wasn’t bad enough, in 2017 regulators killed provisions requiring rail cars carrying hazardous flammable materials to be equipped with electronic braking systems (which Norfolk Southern boasted about) to stop trains more quickly than conventional air brakes.
While the EPA claims the air and water are safe more and more contrary evidence in the form of dead or sick farm animals, house pets and local fish life emerge. Farmers and residents as far as 10 miles away claim the scent in the air is enough to make their eyes water, making it a safe assumption that the toxic air is the cause of their animals recent ailments.
One resident had all of her chickens die overnight. A few animal rescue centers claim their animals are getting sick. And most notably is the damage to the local fish life, so much so they had to hire people to pull them out and put up barriers in an attempt to catch the iridescent sheen on top of the water.
“We basically nuked a town with chemicals so we could get a railroad open.”
Hazardous Materials Expert, Sil Caggiano
There are claims from locals that the evacuation efforts were abandoned because they were non-existent to begin with. That no humanitarian aid organizations like the Red Cross or FEMA even showed up. You would think this would be a big news story but many are downplaying the severity of this situation or ignoring it entirely.
So severe acid rain followed by widespread soil contamination and health issues may be seen in the locals futures. Hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil, toxic liquid plastics and whatever other chemicals it takes to put a fire like that out will leave a mark for some time. As of 2/12/23 they are still pump filtering the waterways around the area, while claiming it’s safe to disband the evacuation. When NewsNation’s Evan Lambert went to report on the issue at a press conference he was arrested.
If anyone’s curious about how they are even allowed to transport that much toxic chemicals or why such a rash decision was made so quickly or how lobbying seems to come before safety every time, you need only check out who actually owns Norfolk Southern, or any railroad for that matter.
:: 2/22/23 Update ::
As of February 15th, schools have not yet reopened as many are displaced awaiting air quality testing in their homes. The EPA is now finding toxic chemicals in all of the nearby streams, surface soils and storm drains. Guess that’s why Cincinnati is closing its water Intake valves at the Greater Cincinnati Water Works (GCWW).
On the 22ed a Chemical engineer expert investigating the area claimed the methods used by Norfolk Southern where not professionally controlled. A controlled burn would require delicate control over the heat and oxygen in the environment to get maximum burn off and thus less toxic soot.
With the Biden administration putting out this statement then ignoring the Ohio disaster all together, many are taking opportunity to garner some positive reputation by delivering truck loads of supplies to the people of Ohio.
Credits:
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1624051231554510848.html
https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec
https://twitter.com/nicksortor
https://twitter.com/KanekoaTheGreat
https://twitter.com/DC_Draino
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5rhdOTcVs0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuPmV1ivG2Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5rhdOTcVs0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF4GsAUjacw
https://www.wkbn.com/news/local-news/east-palestine-train-derailment/3-additional-chemicals-discovered-on-east-palestine-train-derailment/
https://dailycaller.com/2023/02/16/biden-administration-declines-ohio-aid-disastrous-train-derailment-federal-emergency-management-agency/
https://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/cityofcincinnati/
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