Latest / The Moscow Murders and More / Mega Edition: The E. Palestine Ohio Train Derailment (11/3/26)

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Mega Edition: The E. Palestine Ohio Train Derailment (11/3/26) · The Moscow Murders and More

0:00
Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome back to the program. There
0:04
Speaker 1: is currently a gigantic environmental disaster taking place in Palestine, Ohio.
0:12
Speaker 1: This all came about after a train derailed and spilled
0:17
Speaker 1: a bunch of really bad chemicals. And the worst of
0:20
Speaker 1: the bunch is a chemical called vinyl chloride. Now, before
0:25
Speaker 1: we dive into our article that we're going to discuss,
0:28
Speaker 1: I wanted to take a look at what vinyl chloride
0:31
Speaker 1: was and what the people and the wildlife of the
0:35
Speaker 1: area are facing because this is serious stuff. Remember after
0:39
Speaker 1: 9-11 how they told us, oh, the air is fine
0:42
Speaker 1: down there. Everything's all good. You can go down there
0:45
Speaker 1: and help out. Meanwhile, the complete opposite was the truth.
0:51
Speaker 1: And my guess is, with this vinyl chloride in the air,
0:55
Speaker 1: in the water, in the ground, this is going to
0:57
Speaker 1: turn into one of the biggest environmental disasters in the
1:01
Speaker 1: history of our country, if not the biggest. So let's
1:05
Speaker 1: take a look at what vinyl chloride is and get
1:08
Speaker 1: an idea of what we're going to be talking about.
1:11
Speaker 1: So first, what is vinyl chloride used for? Vinyl chloride,
1:16
Speaker 1: also called vinyl chloride monomer, VCM is exclusively used as
1:21
Speaker 1: a precursor to PVC. Due to its hazardous nature, VCM
1:26
Speaker 1: is not found in other products. Polyvinyl chloride PVC is
1:31
Speaker 1: very stable, storable, and non-toxic. Until 1974, vinyl chloride was
1:37
Speaker 1: used in aerosol spray propellant. Vinyl chloride was briefly used
1:43
Speaker 1: as an inhalation anesthetic in a similar vein to ethyl chloride,
1:49
Speaker 1: though its toxicity forced this practice to be abandoned. All right, well,
1:54
Speaker 1: that doesn't sound so good, right? But not terrible. Not yet, anyway.
2:00
Speaker 1: So how is it produced? Vinyl chloride was first produced
2:04
Speaker 1: in 1835 by Justice von Liebig and his student, Henry
2:09
Speaker 1: Victor Renault. They obtained it by treating... dichlorothane with a
2:14
Speaker 1: solution of potassium hydroxide and ethanol. In 1912, Fritz Klott,
2:22
Speaker 1: a German chemist working for Gresham Electron, patented a means
2:27
Speaker 1: to produce vinyl chloride from acyltane and hydrogen chloride using
2:32
Speaker 1: mercuric chloride as a catalyst. This method was widely used
2:37
Speaker 1: during the 1930s and 40s in the West. It has
2:41
Speaker 1: since been superseded by more economical processes based on ethylene
2:46
Speaker 1: in the United States and Europe. The mercury-based technology is
2:51
Speaker 1: the main production method in China. Well, that sounds promising, huh?
2:55
Speaker 1: Because we all know mercury is a fantastic thing to
2:58
Speaker 1: be poisoned by. Approximately 31.1 million tons were produced in 2000.
3:06
Speaker 1: Two methods are employed. The hydrochlorination of acelatine and the
3:11
Speaker 1: dehydrochlorination of ethylene dichloride. Numerous attempts have been made to
3:17
Speaker 1: convert ethane directly to vinyl chloride. All right, still, doesn't
3:23
Speaker 1: sound that terrifying yet, right? Well, now the bad news,
3:27
Speaker 1: the health effects. Vinyl chloride finds its major application in
3:31
Speaker 1: the production of PVC. It is volatile, so the primary
3:35
Speaker 1: exposure is via inhalation, as opposed to the consumption of
3:40
Speaker 1: contaminated food or water, with occupational hazards being the highest.
3:45
Speaker 1: Now that's all bad. There's a lot of farmland where
3:48
Speaker 1: this happened, and you know this is going to get
3:50
Speaker 1: into the food supply, it's going to get into the soil.
3:53
Speaker 1: And in the article we're going to read in a second,
3:55
Speaker 1: they're already talking about how fish are dying in some
3:58
Speaker 1: of the rivers. So there's already contamination happening. Prior to 1974,
4:05
Speaker 1: workers were commonly exposed to 1,000 ppm vinyl chloride, causing
4:10
Speaker 1: vinyl chloride illness such as acrosteliosis and Raynaud's phenomenon. The
4:17
Speaker 1: symptoms of vinyl chloride exposure are classified by ppm levels
4:21
Speaker 1: in ambient air with 4,000 ppm having a threshold effect.
4:27
Speaker 1: The intensity of symptoms varies from acute 1,000 to 8,000
4:30
Speaker 1: ppm's including dizziness, nausea, visual disturbances, headache, and ataxia, to
4:38
Speaker 1: chronic above 12,000 ppm, including narcotic effect, cardiac issues, and
4:44
Speaker 1: fatal respiratory failure. RAD's reactive airway dysfunction syndrome may be
4:50
Speaker 1: caused by acute exposure to vinyl chloride. Okay, so that's
4:54
Speaker 1: what's in the air right now over Ohio. So how
4:57
Speaker 1: is the EPA going to get out here and tell
4:59
Speaker 1: anybody that this is safe? If I lived here or
5:02
Speaker 1: if I had family members here, I'd be terrified. In fact,
5:06
Speaker 1: I don't even know anybody in the region and I'm
5:08
Speaker 1: terrified reading this. Can you imagine what kind of health
5:11
Speaker 1: effects we're going to see from all of this? Have
5:13
Speaker 1: you seen what the sky looked like? It legitimately looked
5:17
Speaker 1: like there was a nuclear bomb dropped on this place.
5:21
Speaker 1: And if you go back up to the beginning where
5:23
Speaker 1: we started here with health effects, one of the primary
5:26
Speaker 1: exposures is via inhalation. So if it's in the air,
5:30
Speaker 1: If that big-ass explosion happened and it got up into
5:33
Speaker 1: the atmosphere, then that would mean that people who are breathing,
5:38
Speaker 1: that would be everybody, well, they're sucking down all of
5:41
Speaker 1: this horrible shit. Vinyl chloride is a mutagen having clasteogenic
5:48
Speaker 1: effects which affect lymphocyte chromosomal structure. Vinyl chloride is a
5:54
Speaker 1: group 1 human carcinogen posing elevated risks of rare... angiosarcoma,
6:01
Speaker 1: brain and lung tumors, and malignant hematopoietic lymphatic tumors. Boy,
6:08
Speaker 1: all of that sounds fantastic. When you're getting a disease
6:11
Speaker 1: that I can't even pronounce, a form of cancer that
6:14
Speaker 1: I can't even pronounce what it is, you know that
6:16
Speaker 1: you really drew the short straw. And I was looking
6:19
Speaker 1: at some pictures earlier and you see some of these
6:22
Speaker 1: workers from who knows what agency or from the company maybe,
6:26
Speaker 1: they're out there without any protective gear on. How in
6:30
Speaker 1: the hell are you out there with no protective gear on?
6:33
Speaker 1: Even in one of those suits, you couldn't pay me
6:36
Speaker 1: enough money to go there right now. Never mind live there,
6:39
Speaker 1: what about the poor folks who live there? If anybody
6:42
Speaker 1: out there is from Palestine and they'd like to talk
6:45
Speaker 1: about this, shoot me some email and I'll get you
6:47
Speaker 1: on the podcast and we'll talk. Chronic exposure leads to
6:52
Speaker 1: common forms of respiratory failure, emphysema, pulmonary fibrosis, and focused hepatotoxicity.
7:00
Speaker 1: Continuous exposure can cause CNS depression, including euphoria and disorientation.
7:06
Speaker 1: Decreased male libido, miscarriage, and birth defects are known major
7:11
Speaker 1: reproductive defects associated with vinyl chloride. Vinyl chloride can have
7:16
Speaker 1: acute dermal and ocular effects. Dermal exposure effects are thickening
7:22
Speaker 1: of skin, edema, decreased elasticity, local frostbites, blistering, and irritation.
7:29
Speaker 1: The complete loss of skin elasticity expresses itself in Raynaud's phenomenon.
7:36
Speaker 1: So this is the shit that was on that train, folks, okay?
7:40
Speaker 1: And this is what's in the air now, in the environment,
7:43
Speaker 1: down there in Ohio. So you would think that this
7:46
Speaker 1: would be a much bigger issue and that all of
7:49
Speaker 1: the alarm bells would be ringing, but they're not even
7:52
Speaker 1: really evacuating people anymore. And they're saying it's okay and
7:56
Speaker 1: safe for people to be there. But man, oh man,
7:59
Speaker 1: I have my doubts. And I have a sneaking suspicion
8:02
Speaker 1: that the people that are making those decisions and saying
8:04
Speaker 1: that it's safe for the people of Palestine to be there, well,
8:08
Speaker 1: they wouldn't be making those decisions if their families were there.
8:12
Speaker 1: All right, so now that we have a little bit
8:14
Speaker 1: of an idea of what the hell spilled out there,
8:17
Speaker 1: let's dive into this article from Newsweek and let's see
8:21
Speaker 1: what's going on. Headline, hundreds of dead fish found after
8:25
Speaker 1: Ohio train releases toxic chemicals. This article was authored by
8:31
Speaker 1: Anna Skinner. Hundreds of fish were discovered dead in a
8:35
Speaker 1: stream running through East Palestine, Ohio, after a Norfolk Southern
8:40
Speaker 1: Railway train derailed more than a week ago. Officials decided
8:44
Speaker 1: to conduct a controlled burn of the toxic chemicals contained
8:49
Speaker 1: within the train cars to prevent an explosion that could
8:52
Speaker 1: potentially cause more harm. The burn released an ominous plume
8:56
Speaker 1: of black smoke in the air. Five of the train
8:59
Speaker 1: cars contained vinyl chloride, a human carcinogen. An evacuation order
9:05
Speaker 1: has since been lifted, but residents are still recognizing the
9:08
Speaker 1: devastating effects of the derailment, specifically the impacts on wildlife.
9:14
Speaker 1: So what makes you think if wildlife is dropping dead
9:17
Speaker 1: that humans are A-OK? Remember the whole canary in the
9:22
Speaker 1: coal mine? There was a reason they did that. So
9:25
Speaker 1: I don't want to be the canary, and I'm sure
9:27
Speaker 1: the people of Palestine don't want to be the canaries either.
9:31
Speaker 1: So whoever the person is who's saying it's safe for
9:34
Speaker 1: the people to stay there or go back or whatever,
9:37
Speaker 1: that person should be held responsible if anybody gets sick.
9:41
Speaker 1: You're the one giving the order, right, Mr. Smart Guy?
9:44
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it's safe to go back to your home.
9:46
Speaker 1: As he hops on a plane and goes back to Washington, D.C.,
9:49
Speaker 1: I would think that if an overabundance of caution was
9:53
Speaker 1: ever necessary, it would be in a situation like this.
9:56
Speaker 1: But let's be very honest. The milk has already spilled.
10:01
Speaker 1: All of these chemicals, they're in the air already. And
10:04
Speaker 1: according to this report, not just in the air, but
10:07
Speaker 1: they're in the water. Two days after the controlled burn
10:11
Speaker 1: began on February 6th, Pittsburgh news station KDKA reported that
10:16
Speaker 1: hundreds of fish were found belly up in the Leslie
10:19
Speaker 1: Run stream. KDKA shared a clip of Ohio officials speaking
10:25
Speaker 1: at a press conference where one official admitted that there
10:28
Speaker 1: were impacts to wildlife after the chemical spill. Oh, no shit, huh?
10:33
Speaker 1: After what we just read from the entry in Wikipedia
10:37
Speaker 1: about what this chemical does to people? Yeah, I would
10:40
Speaker 1: think that there's a threat and an impact to the
10:43
Speaker 1: wildlife in the area. The impact of the fish, yes,
10:47
Speaker 1: there was an impact to those, he said. The official
10:50
Speaker 1: went on to say that groundwater was safe to use,
10:53
Speaker 1: but environmental mitigation tools were being used to sift out
10:57
Speaker 1: any potential chemicals that made their way into the stream.
11:01
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I'm really confident that they're going to be
11:03
Speaker 1: able to do that. I mean, are they for real
11:06
Speaker 1: right now? That shit is in the stream, forget it,
11:09
Speaker 1: good luck. I don't care what chemicals you're using. That
11:13
Speaker 1: stuff has already made its way into the stream, into
11:16
Speaker 1: the water system, and God knows where else from this
11:20
Speaker 1: origination point. The fish aren't the only animals fatally impacted.
11:25
Speaker 1: One wildlife rescuer's fox died in his arms after the
11:28
Speaker 1: chemicals plumed into the air, and another fox broke its
11:32
Speaker 1: leg when fleeing after the train derailment caused a loud noise.
11:36
Speaker 1: Taylor Holzer, who lives near East Palestine, but keeps his
11:40
Speaker 1: foxes and other exotic animals at a property, inside the
11:43
Speaker 1: evacuation zone, told Newsweek that he was unable to evacuate
11:47
Speaker 1: the animals in time. He brought four of the sickest
11:51
Speaker 1: foxes to the vet. One has since been released. Holzer
11:55
Speaker 1: said the other animals have been impacted as well, such
11:58
Speaker 1: as coyotes and wild birds. So if all of these
12:01
Speaker 1: animals are being impacted, There's no way that human beings
12:05
Speaker 1: aren't being impacted as well. Now, we have a little
12:09
Speaker 1: bit of a different immune system, right? So our symptoms
12:12
Speaker 1: will take a little bit longer to present. But when
12:14
Speaker 1: you're one of these small little animals, that shit hits
12:17
Speaker 1: you different. But if you think it's not going to
12:19
Speaker 1: creep up on humans, I don't know what to tell you.
12:21
Speaker 1: This is really bad. And I'm not in the business
12:24
Speaker 1: of fear-mongering. Not really my thing. But when I look
12:27
Speaker 1: at what's going on here... I have a lot of
12:29
Speaker 1: concerns about the environmental impact that this is going to
12:32
Speaker 1: have on not only the direct area, but areas surrounding it.
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Speaker 1: Many residents took to social media to learn the detrimental
12:41
Speaker 1: effects of vinyl chloride burn. Norfolk Southern Railway Regional Manager
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Speaker 1: Hazardous Materials Scott Deutsch defended the decision and said by
12:50
Speaker 1: burning the chemicals during the day, fumes could disperse more quickly,
12:55
Speaker 1: according to Cleveland.com. Uh, what? I don't even know about
12:59
Speaker 1: this whole controlled burn thing. Obviously, look, I'm not an
13:03
Speaker 1: engineer or a hazardous material specialist. I didn't even stay
13:08
Speaker 1: at a Holiday Inn Express last night. But burning chemicals
13:11
Speaker 1: and launching them into the air when they're this dangerous
13:15
Speaker 1: doesn't seem like a great idea to me. Officials monitored
13:20
Speaker 1: the air quality and eventually lifted the evacuation order. However,
13:24
Speaker 1: residents are posting on social media saying they are concerned
13:27
Speaker 1: about the lingering effects and are unsure if they should
13:30
Speaker 1: trust government officials when discussing water quality. I mean, it's
13:35
Speaker 1: not like the government has a great track record in
13:38
Speaker 1: situations like this. Hell, the water in Flint is still bad,
13:43
Speaker 1: and there's no great travesty or catastrophe that happened there
13:46
Speaker 1: besides mismanagement and people not giving a shit about the citizens.
13:51
Speaker 1: Never mind when there's an actual disaster, and I won't
13:54
Speaker 1: say natural because that's not what it is. This is
13:57
Speaker 1: a man-made disaster, and the people responsible for it, Norfolk
14:01
Speaker 1: Southern Railway, they need to be held accountable here. And
14:05
Speaker 1: there better not be any kind of nonsense where they're
14:07
Speaker 1: wiggling out of liability. University of Notre Dame associate professor
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Speaker 1: Kyle Dudrick told Newsweek that the extent of the harmful
14:16
Speaker 1: effects depends on how much vinyl chloride was released. Vinyl
14:20
Speaker 1: chloride is mobile in water, which means it does enter
14:23
Speaker 1: the ground or surface water that it can easily move downstream,
14:27
Speaker 1: Dudrick said, noting that vinyl chloride has a short half-life
14:31
Speaker 1: in the atmosphere, so much of the concern will be
14:34
Speaker 1: regarding short-term impacts rather than long-term. Both the aquatic life
14:39
Speaker 1: and atmospheric impacts would depend on the amount that was spilled,
14:43
Speaker 1: he said. Newsweek reached out to Norfolk Southern Railway for comment. Well,
14:48
Speaker 1: we know that it was 14 cars that were spilled.
14:51
Speaker 1: They had 14 of those rail cars filled with this shit.
14:57
Speaker 1: So how much of it is in 14 cars? I
14:59
Speaker 1: don't know, but you do the math. Certainly way too
15:02
Speaker 1: much for my liking. So here we are, folks, another
15:06
Speaker 1: environmental disaster unfolding, and this one is serious business. So
15:11
Speaker 1: hopefully they're able to mitigate the effects and clean up
15:15
Speaker 1: the mess that they've caused already, but I have my doubts.
15:19
Speaker 1: So we're going to keep an eye on this, and
15:21
Speaker 1: we're going to see where it all goes. All right, folks,
15:25
Speaker 1: that's going to do it for this one. All of
15:27
Speaker 1: the information that goes with this episode can be found
15:30
Speaker 1: in the description box. What's up everyone and welcome back
15:35
Speaker 1: to the program. What's going on in East Palestine, Ohio
15:40
Speaker 1: is an absolute tragedy. And the fact that this rail company,
15:45
Speaker 1: Norfolk Southern, is in charge of this cleanup is just
15:48
Speaker 1: bananas to me. How is it that the EPA isn't
15:51
Speaker 1: in there already pushing these dudes out of the way
15:54
Speaker 1: and taking control of the situation? Meanwhile, residents of the
15:58
Speaker 1: town are not very confident in what they're being told.
16:02
Speaker 1: And do you blame them? Honestly, do you blame them
16:04
Speaker 1: considering all of the stuff people have been told in
16:07
Speaker 1: situations like this in the past that hasn't been true?
16:11
Speaker 1: Just take a look at what happened during 9-11. Oh yeah,
16:13
Speaker 1: it's safe to come down here and help out. You're
16:16
Speaker 1: not going to have any sort of problems because of that. Bah,
16:19
Speaker 1: you don't need a filter. Fast forward to today, and
16:23
Speaker 1: was that good advice? Of course it wasn't. And I'm
16:26
Speaker 1: guessing the same thing can be said down here. We've
16:30
Speaker 1: talked about vinyl chloride previously, and that is some bad shit.
16:33
Speaker 1: Never mind when it gets in the air and connects
16:36
Speaker 1: to aerosol droplets. So, of course, there's a lot of
16:41
Speaker 1: fear-mongering going on surrounding this issue, but this is a serious,
16:45
Speaker 1: serious issue that needs attention, and the people of East Palestine,
16:50
Speaker 1: they deserve answers. Today's article is from CNN, headlined, A
16:56
Speaker 1: week after evacuations near the toxic Ohio train wreck ended,
17:00
Speaker 1: anxious residents packed meeting to express doubts about safety. This
17:05
Speaker 1: article was authored by Christina Maxoris and Alicia Ibrahimji. Nearly
17:13
Speaker 1: two weeks after Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous materials derailed
17:18
Speaker 1: in the eastern Ohio village of East Palestine and sparked
17:22
Speaker 1: a massive days-long blaze, Residents packed a high school gym
17:26
Speaker 1: Wednesday for a meeting with officials, all demanding the same thing. Answers.
17:31
Speaker 1: An odor of chlorine has lingered long after the February
17:35
Speaker 1: 3rd derailment that prompted crews to manage detonations to release
17:40
Speaker 1: vinyl chloride, which can kill quickly at high levels, and
17:43
Speaker 1: increase cancer risk. That's not really giving you the right information.
17:48
Speaker 1: Increase cancer risks? Extremely increase cancer risks. and get that
17:53
Speaker 1: cancer and die, like, in two months. And although an
17:58
Speaker 1: evacuation order was lifted last week, some residents are staying
18:02
Speaker 1: elsewhere amid fears the water, air, soil, and surfaces in
18:06
Speaker 1: the village of 5,000 still are not safe. So residents
18:11
Speaker 1: packed the gym's bleachers for Wednesday's community meeting after forming
18:15
Speaker 1: a line that wrapped around the block before doors opened.
18:19
Speaker 1: You blame them? If I lived in this town, I'd
18:21
Speaker 1: be going there demanding answers as well. But honestly, if
18:26
Speaker 1: I had the means to get out of Dodge, I'd
18:28
Speaker 1: be getting out of Dodge. I really don't trust anything
18:31
Speaker 1: the government has to say when it comes to stuff
18:33
Speaker 1: like this, and I certainly don't trust Norfolk Southern Rail
18:37
Speaker 1: to do the right thing. Is it okay to still
18:41
Speaker 1: be here? Are my kids safe? Are the people safe?
18:45
Speaker 1: Is the future of this community safe? Resident Lenny Glavin,
18:49
Speaker 1: who was at the meeting, told reporters on Wednesday. The event,
18:53
Speaker 1: hosted by East Palestine officials, was supposed to include officials
18:57
Speaker 1: from Norfolk Southern, but the company, which said it had
19:00
Speaker 1: hoped to provide updates on cleanup efforts and results from
19:04
Speaker 1: air and water tests, backed out earlier in the day,
19:07
Speaker 1: saying it was concerned about a growing physical threat to
19:10
Speaker 1: our employees and members of the community around this event,
19:14
Speaker 1: stemming from its belief that outside parties would participate. Oh,
19:19
Speaker 1: give me a break. You're going to crash your train
19:22
Speaker 1: here and throw all this chemical bullshit into the air
19:25
Speaker 1: and then not even come and face the people who
19:28
Speaker 1: you're poisoning? You know all of those commercials for Camp
19:33
Speaker 1: Lejeune we're seeing all over the place? Yeah, get ready.
19:36
Speaker 1: You're going to see a bunch of those about Palestine
19:39
Speaker 1: at some point. Instead, local leaders took questions from emotional
19:43
Speaker 1: residents who expressed distrust of officials' accounts and anger, including
19:48
Speaker 1: at the transport company's decision. to skip the event. Now
19:51
Speaker 1: put yourself in their shoes. How would you feel if
19:54
Speaker 1: this company, this freight company, Norfolk, decided not to come
19:59
Speaker 1: to this meeting? And your house was poisoned? You had
20:01
Speaker 1: this big-ass cloud outside of your backyard? And these guys
20:04
Speaker 1: can't be bothered to show up using the excuse, oh,
20:08
Speaker 1: we might be in danger. Well, bitch, we're all in danger.
20:12
Speaker 1: Where is Norfolk Southern? Some yelled. Residents questioned how safe
20:15
Speaker 1: their village is, the validity of air and water tests,
20:19
Speaker 1: and how the potential long-term health effects will be monitored
20:23
Speaker 1: in the community. The meeting came on a day when
20:26
Speaker 1: the governor's office announced state officials again determined water coming
20:31
Speaker 1: from the municipal system was safe to drink. Test results
20:34
Speaker 1: from five wells that supply the system, covered by steel casing,
20:38
Speaker 1: showed no contaminants, the Ohio governor's office said. I don't
20:42
Speaker 1: believe any of it, sorry. Do you truly believe that
20:47
Speaker 1: there is no contamination after a spill like this? A
20:52
Speaker 1: spill so bad, by the way, that they had to
20:54
Speaker 1: engage in a controlled burn. But there is no contamination
20:59
Speaker 1: to groundwater or the soil or anything else. Everybody should
21:02
Speaker 1: just go on living their lives. Still, the state's Environmental
21:06
Speaker 1: Protection Agency encourages residents who get water from private wells
21:10
Speaker 1: to get that water tested because those wells may be
21:13
Speaker 1: closer to the surface than the municipal wells. The governor's
21:17
Speaker 1: office said, oh, this is such BS. Governor DeWine, you
21:21
Speaker 1: got to do a better job, bro. This is terrible.
21:24
Speaker 1: This whole response, all of it is just bad. The
21:28
Speaker 1: evacuation order was lifted February 8th, five days after the derailment,
21:32
Speaker 1: after earlier air and water samples results led officials to
21:36
Speaker 1: deem the area was safe. You know what? If it's
21:39
Speaker 1: so safe, why don't the Norfolk executives bring their whole
21:43
Speaker 1: families to live in Palestine for a little while, along
21:46
Speaker 1: with Governor DeWine? You guys go live there for a
21:48
Speaker 1: good three months, drink the water, shower in it, wash
21:51
Speaker 1: your clothes in it, and then tell us how safe
21:53
Speaker 1: it is. Yet other points of contention are emerging, including
21:58
Speaker 1: a newly public document that says Potentially contaminated soil was
22:03
Speaker 1: not removed from the site, a critical step experts say
22:06
Speaker 1: should be completed quickly so that toxic materials are not
22:10
Speaker 1: further dispersed into the environment and the groundwater. And look,
22:14
Speaker 1: we're not talking about something that is just like kind
22:17
Speaker 1: of bad for you. Vinyl chloride is absolutely positively terrible
22:23
Speaker 1: for you. All sorts of cancers, all sorts of issues,
22:28
Speaker 1: and that getting into the groundwater or the soil? Why
22:31
Speaker 1: don't we take a look at all of the food
22:33
Speaker 1: that's grown in Ohio? Are you comfortable getting that on
22:37
Speaker 1: your plate in your home? I'm certainly not. I don't
22:40
Speaker 1: trust these people. I'll just be very clear. Mayor, I
22:46
Speaker 1: want answers. Speaking to reporters inside the gym before Wednesday's
22:50
Speaker 1: community meeting. East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway sent a message
22:54
Speaker 1: to federal EPA leaders. I need help. I have the
22:58
Speaker 1: village on my back and I'll do whatever it takes,
23:01
Speaker 1: whatever it takes to make this right. I'm not leaving,
23:04
Speaker 1: the mayor told reporters. I'm not going to sell my house.
23:07
Speaker 1: I'm not going to move my kids out of the school.
23:09
Speaker 1: I'm here to stay. And look, I understand the gusto
23:13
Speaker 1: and I respect that. But if there is health issues here, buddy,
23:16
Speaker 1: you got to you got to get your kids out
23:17
Speaker 1: of there at least. The mayor said he's in touch
23:21
Speaker 1: with Norfolk Southern officials every day. But much like the
23:25
Speaker 1: residents in his town, he too is concerned. The people
23:29
Speaker 1: want answers. I want answers, Conaway said. My greatest concern
23:34
Speaker 1: is that my citizens feel safe. That's what I care about.
23:37
Speaker 1: I don't care about anything else. I live two blocks
23:40
Speaker 1: from the train tracks, he added. I'm concerned just like
23:43
Speaker 1: everybody else. Since the derailment, some residents like Nathan Velez
23:48
Speaker 1: have been spending small fortunes to try to keep their
23:50
Speaker 1: family safely away from the place they used to call home. He,
23:55
Speaker 1: his wife, and two children have been staying at Airbnb rentals.
23:59
Speaker 1: And if you have the money to do that, great.
24:01
Speaker 1: But how many people have that kind of extra discretionary
24:05
Speaker 1: fundage laying around? My wife is a nurse and is
24:10
Speaker 1: not taking any chances exposing us and our two young
24:13
Speaker 1: children to whatever is now in our town, Velez wrote
24:16
Speaker 1: on Facebook. When he visited the town Monday, he smelled
24:19
Speaker 1: chlorine in the air, burning his throat and eyes, he said.
24:23
Speaker 1: The risk and anxiety of trying to live in our
24:25
Speaker 1: own home again is not worth it, he wrote. Look,
24:29
Speaker 1: I would be the same way. I would have that
24:31
Speaker 1: same kind of caution if it was my family. I
24:33
Speaker 1: wouldn't have my family here. I'm just going to be
24:35
Speaker 1: very clear. And I don't care what the government has
24:38
Speaker 1: to say about it. There needs to be all kinds
24:41
Speaker 1: of tests done, all kinds of soil sampling, and it
24:44
Speaker 1: needs to go on for a period of time. before
24:47
Speaker 1: I'd be confident in bringing my family here. Long-term effects
24:52
Speaker 1: stoke residents' anxiety. The 100-car freight train that derailed February
24:57
Speaker 1: 3rd was carrying hazardous materials including vinyl chloride, ethylene glycol
25:02
Speaker 1: monobutyl ether, ethylexacol acrylate, isobutylene and butyl acrylate, the U.S.
25:10
Speaker 1: Environmental Protection Agency said. Of those, the vinyl chloride gas
25:15
Speaker 1: that caught fire could break down into compounds, including hydrogen
25:19
Speaker 1: chloride and phosgene, a chemical weapon used during World War
25:23
Speaker 1: I as a choking agent, according to the EPA, and U.S.
25:27
Speaker 1: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But everything's fine down there.
25:31
Speaker 1: It's not like you're in a trench in World War
25:35
Speaker 1: I with the Germans lobbing mustard gas at you or
25:38
Speaker 1: anything when you're outside doing laundry now. Vinyl chloride, a
25:43
Speaker 1: volatile organic compound, or VOC, and the most toxic chemical
25:48
Speaker 1: involved in the derailment, is known to cause cancer, attacking
25:51
Speaker 1: the liver, and can also affect the brain, Maria Doa
25:55
Speaker 1: of the Environmental Defense Fund told CNN. Cleanup and monitoring
26:00
Speaker 1: of the site could take years, Kurt Kohler of the
26:02
Speaker 1: Ohio's EPA's Office of Emergency Response said February 8th, vowing
26:07
Speaker 1: after the emergency response, Ohio EPA is going to remain
26:11
Speaker 1: involved through our other divisions that oversee the long-term cleanup
26:16
Speaker 1: of these kinds of spills. The federal EPA, too, will
26:19
Speaker 1: continue to do everything in our power to help protect
26:22
Speaker 1: the community, Administrator Michael Reagan said Tuesday. Norfolk Southern is
26:28
Speaker 1: responsible for cleaning up the site, according to a February
26:31
Speaker 1: 10th notice sent to the company by the federal EPA. Yeah,
26:35
Speaker 1: that's going to work out well. They're not going to
26:37
Speaker 1: cut any corners. They're not going to look to try
26:39
Speaker 1: and save money. They're not going to look to try
26:42
Speaker 1: and pay people a small amount of money right now,
26:44
Speaker 1: hoping they'll accept, knowing that later on there's going to
26:48
Speaker 1: be a large-ass lawsuit. None of that's going to happen.
26:52
Speaker 1: In a document sent to the EPA and recently made
26:54
Speaker 1: public by the agency, a company contracted by Norfolk Southern
26:58
Speaker 1: for cleanup efforts did not list soil removal among completed activities.
27:04
Speaker 1: Removal of the soil that has come into contact with
27:06
Speaker 1: hazardous chemicals is a key cleanup action at spill sites,
27:10
Speaker 1: experts say. So they didn't remove the soil. So that
27:14
Speaker 1: means all of the shit seeps in the soil and
27:17
Speaker 1: goes down into the ground. Then from there is dispersed
27:19
Speaker 1: through water and other means. But don't worry, folks. Norfolk
27:24
Speaker 1: Southern has it all under control. Just ask them. Contaminated
27:29
Speaker 1: soil will continue to leach contaminants both up into the
27:32
Speaker 1: air and down into the surrounding ground. Richard Peltier, an
27:37
Speaker 1: environmental health scientist at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst,
27:42
Speaker 1: told CNN in an email. Every time it rains, a
27:45
Speaker 1: flood of new contaminants will enter the ecosystem. But don't worry, folks.
27:50
Speaker 1: Everything's safe. Just ask the railroad and just ask the EPA.
27:55
Speaker 1: It's fine to bring your kids home. No worries. The
27:58
Speaker 1: railroad reopened the rail line on February 8th after taking
28:02
Speaker 1: steps including a controlled release of a toxic chemical from
28:06
Speaker 1: certain cars. It is not yet known what significance or
28:09
Speaker 1: impact the soil that was not removed prior to the
28:12
Speaker 1: rail line reopening may have on the surrounding areas. Yeah,
28:16
Speaker 1: so when the wind picks up or the rail goes
28:18
Speaker 1: by and disperses that soil into the air, that's all good.
28:22
Speaker 1: No worries, guys. Everything is fine here. There is nothing
28:25
Speaker 1: to see. Have you heard about those balloons that got
28:28
Speaker 1: shot down? CNN asked Norfolk Southern why it had not
28:32
Speaker 1: removed contaminated soil before reopening the site and if they
28:36
Speaker 1: had filled the areas of contaminated soil and chemicals in
28:40
Speaker 1: order to reopen the rail line. The company's spokesperson said
28:44
Speaker 1: some soil has moved around during the initial response phase.
28:47
Speaker 1: The company is continuing to remediate the site, including by
28:51
Speaker 1: removing soil, spokesperson Conan Spielmaker added. The federal EPA and
28:57
Speaker 1: Ohio EPA have not responded to repeated questions from CNN
29:01
Speaker 1: about the removal of contaminated soil. And should anyone be
29:05
Speaker 1: shocked that these agencies are dragging their feet? They know
29:09
Speaker 1: how bad this is, and they know that this is
29:11
Speaker 1: a disaster of epic proportions. Reagan, the federal EPA's administrator,
29:18
Speaker 1: will travel to East Palestine on Thursday to assess the
29:21
Speaker 1: ongoing response and hear from the community about on the
29:25
Speaker 1: impact of the crisis, the agency said. East Palestine resident
29:36
Speaker 1: Ben Ratner and his family worry about the longer-term risks
29:39
Speaker 1: that environmental officials are only beginning to assess, he told
29:43
Speaker 1: CNN this week. The Ratner home, for instance, was tested
29:47
Speaker 1: and cleared for VOCs, he said. So far, no chemical
29:50
Speaker 1: detections were identified in the air. of the 291 homes
29:55
Speaker 1: screened by the EPA for hazardous chemicals, including vinyl chloride
29:59
Speaker 1: and hydrogen chloride, it said on Monday, with schools and
30:03
Speaker 1: the library also screened and 181 more homes to go.
30:08
Speaker 1: But the Ratners still are feeling an ever-changing mix of
30:11
Speaker 1: emotions and feelings just from the outset, just the amount
30:15
Speaker 1: of unknown that was there, said Ben, who owns a
30:18
Speaker 1: cafe a few towns over and isn't sure he still
30:21
Speaker 1: wants to open another in East Palestine. It's hard to
30:25
Speaker 1: make an investment in something like that or even feel
30:28
Speaker 1: good about paying our mortgage whenever there might not be
30:31
Speaker 1: any value to those things in the future, he said.
30:34
Speaker 1: That's something tough to come to grips with. And how
30:37
Speaker 1: many people are feeling that uncertainty right now? Because again,
30:41
Speaker 1: you have to weigh it, right? If you have the
30:43
Speaker 1: means to move or get out of here, I don't
30:45
Speaker 1: know why you wouldn't at this point. But there's a
30:48
Speaker 1: lot of people that don't have that choice. and they're
30:50
Speaker 1: going to be stuck living amongst these fucked up chemicals.
30:55
Speaker 1: Norfolk Southern said Wednesday it was creating a $ 1 million
30:58
Speaker 1: charitable fund to support East Palestine, saying it was committed
31:02
Speaker 1: to the community today and in the future. We are
31:05
Speaker 1: cleaning up the site in an environmentally responsible way, reimbursing
31:10
Speaker 1: residents affected by the derailment and working with members of
31:13
Speaker 1: the community to identify what is needed to help East
31:16
Speaker 1: Palestine recover and thrive. Norfolk Southern President and CEO Alan
31:21
Speaker 1: Shaw said no release. Does anyone believe that? Does anyone
31:25
Speaker 1: really believe that Norfolk Southern cares about what happens to
31:28
Speaker 1: the people here? They care they don't get sued. They
31:31
Speaker 1: care that they can continue to collect that bag. That's
31:35
Speaker 1: all they care about. Why does it hurt me to breathe?
31:38
Speaker 1: The EPA with the Ohio National Guard and a Norfolk
31:41
Speaker 1: Southern contractor also has collected air samples, check-in for vinyl chloride,
31:46
Speaker 1: hydrogen chloride, carbon monoxide, phosgene, and other compounds in the
31:51
Speaker 1: East Palestine community. It has said, error monitoring results posted
31:56
Speaker 1: Tuesday at the EPA's website include more than a dozen instruments,
32:00
Speaker 1: each with four types of measures, and each stating its
32:03
Speaker 1: screening level had not been exceeded. But when Velez returned
32:07
Speaker 1: Monday for a short visit to the neighborhood where his
32:09
Speaker 1: family has lived since 2014 to check his home and
32:14
Speaker 1: his business, he developed a nagging headache. If it's safe
32:18
Speaker 1: and habitable, Then why does it hurt? He told CNN,
32:22
Speaker 1: why does it hurt me to breathe? Air quality does
32:25
Speaker 1: not appear to be the source of headaches and sore
32:27
Speaker 1: throats among people or deaths of the animals such as
32:31
Speaker 1: cats and chickens in and around the derailment zone, Ohio
32:34
Speaker 1: Health Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff said on Tuesday. Volatile organic
32:39
Speaker 1: compounds share, with a host of other things, the ability
32:42
Speaker 1: to cause very common symptoms in the lower levels, so headache,
32:46
Speaker 1: eye irritation, nose irritation, etc., he said. I think what
32:51
Speaker 1: we have to look at, the measured facts. And the
32:54
Speaker 1: measured facts include the fact that the air sampling in
32:57
Speaker 1: the area really is not pointing toward an air source
33:00
Speaker 1: for this. Same was said at 9-11. So I really
33:04
Speaker 1: just don't trust it. As to odor, residents in the
33:09
Speaker 1: area and tens of miles away may smell odors coming
33:11
Speaker 1: from the site. Ohio EPA spokesperson James Lee told CNN
33:16
Speaker 1: on Wednesday. This is because some of the substances involved
33:20
Speaker 1: have a low odor threshold. This means people may smell
33:23
Speaker 1: these contaminants at levels much lower than what is considered hazardous.
33:28
Speaker 1: If you experience symptoms, Columbiana County Health Department recommends calling
33:33
Speaker 1: your medical provider, the EPA said. Gee, thank you for
33:37
Speaker 1: that sage advice. That's really going to make me feel
33:39
Speaker 1: comfortable going to bed tonight in this polluted-ass town. Wreck
33:44
Speaker 1: and spill blame for thousands of dead fish. The Ratner
33:47
Speaker 1: family is limiting its water use because of unknown effects,
33:51
Speaker 1: Ben Ratner said. Velez worries every time we turn on
33:54
Speaker 1: the water or give my daughter a bath could potentially
33:57
Speaker 1: be hazardous, he wrote on Facebook. Some waterways indeed have
34:01
Speaker 1: been contaminated, but the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency is confident
34:07
Speaker 1: contaminants are contained, said Tiffany Kowalik, the agency's division chief
34:12
Speaker 1: of surface water. No vinyl chloride has been detected, in
34:16
Speaker 1: any down-gradient waterways near the train derailment, she said Tuesday.
34:21
Speaker 1: But an estimated 3,500 fish across 12 species are estimated
34:26
Speaker 1: to have been killed by the derailment and spillage, said
34:29
Speaker 1: Mary Mertz, director of Ohio's Department of Natural Resources. Fire
34:34
Speaker 1: combustion chemicals float into the Ohio River, but the Ohio
34:38
Speaker 1: River is very large, and it's a water body that's
34:41
Speaker 1: able to dilute pollutants pretty quickly, Kavlich said. The chemicals
34:46
Speaker 1: are a containment plume the Ohio EPA and other agencies
34:50
Speaker 1: have tracked in real time and is believed to be
34:52
Speaker 1: moving about a mile an hour, she said. The tracking
34:55
Speaker 1: allows for potential closing of drinking water intakes to allow
34:59
Speaker 1: the majority of the chemicals to pass. This strategy, along
35:04
Speaker 1: with drinking water treatment, are both effective at addressing these
35:07
Speaker 1: contaminants and help ensure the safety of the drinking water supplies,
35:12
Speaker 1: Cavalich said. adding their pretty confident low levels of containment
35:16
Speaker 1: that remain are not getting to customers. Pretty confident, huh?
35:22
Speaker 1: Not 100% confident, though? Well, those aren't odds that are
35:25
Speaker 1: good enough for me. If it's my family's life on
35:27
Speaker 1: the line, I need an assurance that it's okay to
35:30
Speaker 1: come here and drink the water and have a shower.
35:34
Speaker 1: Even so, authorities strongly recommend people in the area drink
35:38
Speaker 1: bottled water, especially if their water is from private sources,
35:41
Speaker 1: such as a well. And that tells you everything you
35:43
Speaker 1: need right there, folks. If you're in this area, do
35:46
Speaker 1: not drink this water, please. At least not yet. Get
35:50
Speaker 1: yourself some bottled water and just give yourself a peace
35:53
Speaker 1: of mind. Velez also worries about unknown long-term effects of
35:59
Speaker 1: the burn train contents and what will happen next for
36:02
Speaker 1: his family. Rental options and their finances are running out,
36:06
Speaker 1: he said, and a friend set up a GoFundMe to
36:09
Speaker 1: help them. Many of us residents are stuck in the
36:11
Speaker 1: same situation, and the sad truth is, is that there
36:15
Speaker 1: is no answer. Well, folks, this is just the very
36:17
Speaker 1: beginning of all of this, and there's going to be
36:20
Speaker 1: a lot more problems coming down the pipe. I have
36:23
Speaker 1: no doubt that there's a lot more contamination than we're
36:27
Speaker 1: being led to believe. Now, is it to the extent
36:30
Speaker 1: that some people are talking about? I don't know. I'm
36:32
Speaker 1: not a scientist, but I know this much. If it
36:35
Speaker 1: was me and my family, we'd be leaving Palestine as well.
36:41
Speaker 1: That's going to do it for this one. All of
36:43
Speaker 1: the information that goes with the episode can be found
36:47
Speaker 1: in the description box. What's up everyone and welcome back
36:51
Speaker 1: to the program. The situation in Ohio with the train
36:56
Speaker 1: derailment is getting worse by the day. And the more
37:00
Speaker 1: we learn, the more concerning it all becomes. We heard
37:04
Speaker 1: on Friday that the Ohio EPA hasn't even really tested
37:08
Speaker 1: the soil yet. And that's going to be one of
37:11
Speaker 1: the biggest contaminants is the soil. That shit stays there
37:15
Speaker 1: forever and not only stays there, but it seeps into
37:18
Speaker 1: the ground and it also gets blown up into the air.
37:22
Speaker 1: But why do we need to test the soil? And
37:26
Speaker 1: then to let the rail company take the lead here
37:28
Speaker 1: is just bananas to me. Sure, they should pick up
37:31
Speaker 1: the bill, but we're going to let these dudes be
37:34
Speaker 1: the ones in charge of cleaning up and testing. Yeah,
37:37
Speaker 1: that's a great idea. Today we have an article from
37:41
Speaker 1: the Huffington Post and the headline, Water Testing After Ohio
37:46
Speaker 1: Derailment Led by Rail Company Itself Condemned as Sloppy. The
37:51
Speaker 1: state used preliminary results from railroad-funded sampling to declare that
37:56
Speaker 1: East Palestine's drinking water was safe in the wake of
37:59
Speaker 1: the toxic spill. Like I said in the episodes yesterday,
38:03
Speaker 1: if I was in Ohio, I would not be showering
38:05
Speaker 1: in this water. I wouldn't be drinking it. I wouldn't
38:08
Speaker 1: be putting it in my coffee. None of that. Because
38:12
Speaker 1: there's no way you're going to convince me that there
38:15
Speaker 1: are no contaminants in this water. All you have to
38:18
Speaker 1: do is take a look at it. Oh, well, it's
38:21
Speaker 1: going to go through the purification process. Okay, cool. You
38:25
Speaker 1: guys come down here and you can drink it to
38:27
Speaker 1: your heart's content. But the people of East Palestine, They
38:31
Speaker 1: deserve a lot better than they're getting from the government.
38:34
Speaker 1: And they certainly deserve a lot better than they're getting
38:37
Speaker 1: from this fucking rail company. This article was authored by
38:42
Speaker 1: Chris D'Angelo. The testing that Ohio authorities relied on to
38:48
Speaker 1: declare the municipal water in East Palestine safe to drink
38:52
Speaker 1: after a disastrous train derailment was funded by the railroad
38:55
Speaker 1: operator itself and did not initially comply with federal standards.
39:00
Speaker 1: HuffPost has learned. Well, that's comforting, huh? You see, the
39:04
Speaker 1: moral of the story here is these companies, these politicians,
39:08
Speaker 1: they don't care about people. They don't care about the
39:10
Speaker 1: community that's being destroyed. They don't care about any of that.
39:15
Speaker 1: All they care about is the bottom line, securing the
39:17
Speaker 1: bag and making sure that they don't get blamed for
39:20
Speaker 1: this disaster. But everybody who was involved from the rail
39:24
Speaker 1: company to the government in Ohio, everybody should be on
39:29
Speaker 1: the clock at this point. Because what's unfolding here is
39:34
Speaker 1: really bad news. And we're not going to know the
39:38
Speaker 1: true scope of this for a little while. Remember, there's
39:41
Speaker 1: going to be long-term effects from all of this. Ohio
39:45
Speaker 1: Governor Mike DeWine on Wednesday afternoon announced that new testing
39:49
Speaker 1: from five wells that supply the town's municipal drinking water
39:54
Speaker 1: showed no evidence of contamination after a Norfolk Southern freight
39:58
Speaker 1: train loaded with tons of hazardous material derailed in the
40:02
Speaker 1: area on February 3rd. Yep, everything's fine here, folks. It
40:07
Speaker 1: is all good. Come and have yourself a nice refreshing
40:11
Speaker 1: glass of water. Oh, don't mind that film on top
40:14
Speaker 1: of it. That looks like there was just a rainstorm
40:16
Speaker 1: in Las Vegas with all of the oil floating to
40:18
Speaker 1: the top. With these test results, Ohio EPA is confident
40:24
Speaker 1: that the municipal water is safe to drink, DeWine's office
40:27
Speaker 1: wrote in a news release. On its webpage about the derailment,
40:31
Speaker 1: Ohio Environmental Protection Agency links only to railroad-funded preliminary test results,
40:37
Speaker 1: which it said so far confirmed that there is no
40:40
Speaker 1: indication to risk to East Palestine public water customers. Um, what?
40:48
Speaker 1: No risk, huh? Furthermore, how much money did good old
40:52
Speaker 1: Mike DeWine get from this rail company for his campaign?
40:56
Speaker 1: I know that's a cynical way to go about things,
40:58
Speaker 1: but folks, remember who we're dealing with. These elected officials,
41:02
Speaker 1: these politicians, these bankers, these CEOs, They don't care one
41:07
Speaker 1: bit about you, they don't care about your family, and
41:10
Speaker 1: they don't care if you're drinking corrupted-ass water. They'll do
41:15
Speaker 1: some kind of settlement later on that'll absolve them of
41:18
Speaker 1: all fault, they'll wash their hands clean of it, and
41:21
Speaker 1: they'll keep it moving. Meanwhile, your family member will either
41:24
Speaker 1: pass away or have lifelong problems because of the water
41:28
Speaker 1: and what happened here. And nobody will be held responsible.
41:32
Speaker 1: That's only for poor folks like you and I. The
41:36
Speaker 1: Columbiana County General Health District separately sampled East Palestine's public
41:40
Speaker 1: water system last week. But as of Friday, the county's
41:44
Speaker 1: testing results had not been made public. Well, I wonder
41:47
Speaker 1: why that is. Don't you think transparency at this point
41:50
Speaker 1: is very important? You got people's whole ass lives at stake.
41:54
Speaker 1: We're not talking about, you know, a little issue here.
41:57
Speaker 1: Did you guys see that cloud that was formed above
42:00
Speaker 1: those cars that were turned over for that controlled burn?
42:04
Speaker 1: And don't even get me started on that controlled burn. Now, obviously,
42:07
Speaker 1: I'm certainly not a scientist or somebody that deals with
42:11
Speaker 1: hazardous chemicals, but burning all of that shit like that
42:14
Speaker 1: does not seem like the best way to go about it.
42:17
Speaker 1: You mean to tell me there's no other option besides
42:21
Speaker 1: coming in and basically letting off a nuclear bomb of chemicals?
42:26
Speaker 1: Laura Foss, the public information officer for the Columbiana County
42:30
Speaker 1: General Health District, told HuffPost, It did not receive preliminary
42:35
Speaker 1: results of its sampling from the lab until about 5 p.m. Wednesday,
42:39
Speaker 1: approximately two hours after the governor's office sent out its
42:43
Speaker 1: water quality update. Well, that's nice. Good old Governor DeWine
42:47
Speaker 1: out here doing the Lord's work, huh? Here's an idea.
42:51
Speaker 1: Don't seek to reassure people, okay? Make sure people are safe.
42:56
Speaker 1: Then you could start with the reassuring. DeWine's office did
43:01
Speaker 1: not respond to HuffPost's request for comment Friday, other than
43:04
Speaker 1: to send links to the governor's press conference that day
43:07
Speaker 1: and the Ohio EPA website. Although the drinking water in
43:11
Speaker 1: East Palestine may indeed be safe, as officials have repeatedly
43:15
Speaker 1: stressed in the recent days, independent experts argue the initial
43:19
Speaker 1: batch of samples that a consulting firm hired by the
43:22
Speaker 1: rail company collected and submitted to the lab should not
43:26
Speaker 1: have been used to make such a determination. Yeah, it
43:28
Speaker 1: was initially, right? We didn't know the scope and we
43:31
Speaker 1: don't know how much the water has traveled since then,
43:34
Speaker 1: where it's at. You know, all of this is touch
43:36
Speaker 1: and go. So anyone who's out here talking about this,
43:40
Speaker 1: that or the other thing confidently about who's safe and
43:43
Speaker 1: who's not, they should probably shut up with all of
43:45
Speaker 1: that shit because they don't know. The lab report on
43:51
Speaker 1: the railroad funded sampling indicates the samples were not handled
43:55
Speaker 1: in accordance with federal Environmental Protection Agency standards. Sam Bickley,
44:02
Speaker 1: an aquatic ecologist at Virginia Scientist Community Interface, an advocacy-focused
44:08
Speaker 1: coalition of scientists and engineers, alerted the HuffPost to the
44:13
Speaker 1: sampling errors and called the report extremely concerning. Yeah, you think?
44:18
Speaker 1: I'm certainly not a scientist, and I didn't even stay
44:20
Speaker 1: at a Holiday Inn Express last night. But yeah, this
44:23
Speaker 1: shit here is extremely concerning. Their results that claim there
44:28
Speaker 1: were no contaminants is not a reliable finding. he said
44:32
Speaker 1: via email. I find this extremely concerning because the results
44:36
Speaker 1: would not be used in most scientific applications because the
44:40
Speaker 1: samples were not preserved properly. And this is the same
44:43
Speaker 1: data they are now relying on to say that the
44:46
Speaker 1: drinking water is not contaminated. One sample also contained a
44:51
Speaker 1: large air bubble in its vial, while the EPA method
44:55
Speaker 1: requires that sample bottles should not have any trapped air
44:58
Speaker 1: bubbles when sealed, the report states. David Erickson, a hydrogeologist
45:04
Speaker 1: and the founder of Water and Environmental Technologies, an environmental
45:08
Speaker 1: consulting firm in Montana, called the sampling sloppy and amateur.
45:13
Speaker 1: That's exactly what you want to hear if you're living
45:15
Speaker 1: in this area, right? And for all of the morons
45:19
Speaker 1: out there talking about how people are overblowing what's going
45:22
Speaker 1: on over here, stop it. This is serious business. And
45:26
Speaker 1: the people of East Palestine, they deserve a fair shake.
45:31
Speaker 1: Due to the improper sampling protocols, there could have been
45:34
Speaker 1: more contaminants in the sample than what showed on the analytical,
45:38
Speaker 1: Erickson said, explaining that a bubble in a sample is
45:42
Speaker 1: problematic because contaminants can move into the airspace and go undetected.
45:48
Speaker 1: Norfolk Southern dismissed the issue as a recording error at
45:51
Speaker 1: the Eurofins lab that ultimately did not affect the test results.
45:56
Speaker 1: It said it directed a second analysis of the same samples.
46:01
Speaker 1: Why is Norfolk Southern in charge of all of this?
46:04
Speaker 1: They should pick up the bill, but it should be
46:07
Speaker 1: federal agencies that come in and do the job here.
46:13
Speaker 1: Though the initial data was valid, we wanted to ensure
46:16
Speaker 1: compliance with EPA standards and proactively asked the lab to
46:20
Speaker 1: rerun the samples with the remaining preserved vial from each sample.
46:24
Speaker 1: Connor Spielmaker, a spokesperson at Norfolk Southern Corp., said in
46:28
Speaker 1: an email, Reanalysis of the samples ensured method compliance, and
46:33
Speaker 1: again produced a result indicating safe water. The lab did
46:37
Speaker 1: not update the comments to note the retesting and erroneously
46:41
Speaker 1: included the comments from the initial test. It's always everybody
46:45
Speaker 1: else's fault, right? You're never going to hear anyone from
46:48
Speaker 1: Norfolk Southern taking any real responsibility. A final lab report
46:54
Speaker 1: of AECOM sampling was expected as soon as Friday and
46:59
Speaker 1: would include updated information on the retesting, Spielmaker said. James Lee,
47:05
Speaker 1: a spokesman for Ohio EPA, acknowledged ACOM samples were not
47:11
Speaker 1: properly preserved or acidified, but said they were acceptable due
47:15
Speaker 1: to the next day processing at the laboratory. The report
47:19
Speaker 1: shows the samples were received at the lab the same
47:21
Speaker 1: day as collection and first analyzed three days later, and
47:25
Speaker 1: then again two days after that. Laboratory validation reports will
47:29
Speaker 1: be prepared and will address this issue, but the results
47:33
Speaker 1: are valid, he said. For all drinking water wells sampled,
47:36
Speaker 1: the Columbiana County Health District accompanied the contractor and collected
47:41
Speaker 1: their own split sample that was sent to a separate lab.
47:45
Speaker 1: We have received those results, and they are consistent with
47:48
Speaker 1: the contractor's results, both showing no contaminants associated with the derailment.
47:54
Speaker 1: Lee acknowledged Ohio EPA didn't receive the county results until
47:58
Speaker 1: after the state declared the municipal water safe to drink.
48:02
Speaker 1: Our decision to announce the all-clear was based on the
48:05
Speaker 1: samples we received earlier in the day, but it was
48:08
Speaker 1: great to have additional confirmation from Columbiana County Health Department.
48:13
Speaker 1: Lee said, I don't trust any of this. I'll just
48:15
Speaker 1: come out and tell you folks, I don't trust one
48:17
Speaker 1: word any of these people are saying. The federal EPA
48:22
Speaker 1: said has not done its own sampling of municipal water
48:26
Speaker 1: in East Palestine. During a press conference with Reporters Friday,
48:30
Speaker 1: an official in the Biden administration said all of the
48:33
Speaker 1: sampling that's been done in Ohio has been joint, not
48:36
Speaker 1: Norfolk Southern alone. It's been with the Columbiana County Health
48:40
Speaker 1: Department collecting samples along with Norfolk Southern and sending those
48:45
Speaker 1: as split samples to two different labs for verification. The
48:50
Speaker 1: messy collection and rollout of preliminary water quality data is
48:54
Speaker 1: likely to further frustrate the residents of East Palestine as
48:58
Speaker 1: they deal with the aftermath of the toxic train disaster.
49:02
Speaker 1: As if they don't have enough to worry about, they
49:04
Speaker 1: can't even get quality solid data from the government or
49:07
Speaker 1: the rail company. Many have expressed distrust in local, state,
49:13
Speaker 1: and federal authorities as they search for answers about how
49:17
Speaker 1: the derailment has and will continue to affect human health
49:21
Speaker 1: and the environment. And I think that's the biggest key here.
49:25
Speaker 1: It might not have any effects right away, right? But
49:28
Speaker 1: moving forward a couple of months, a couple of years, whatever,
49:32
Speaker 1: what sort of health issues are going to pop up then?
49:37
Speaker 1: The primary concern in the disaster has been the spill
49:40
Speaker 1: of hundreds of thousands of pounds of vinyl chloride, a
49:43
Speaker 1: common and highly flammable organic chemical that is used in
49:48
Speaker 1: the production of plastics and has been linked to several
49:50
Speaker 1: types of cancer. Fearing a catastrophic explosion, authorities conducted what
49:55
Speaker 1: they described as a controlled burn of the vinyl chloride
49:59
Speaker 1: three days after the crash. In recent days, Ohio officials
50:04
Speaker 1: have repeatedly said testing of East Palestine's municipal waterway system
50:09
Speaker 1: show no detection of contaminants. The analytical report of Norfolk
50:14
Speaker 1: Southern's testing, however, shows very low levels of Dubatil, a
50:20
Speaker 1: common chemical used to make plastics, more flexible in three
50:23
Speaker 1: well water samples. Erickson said it is possible. that the
50:27
Speaker 1: chemical could have been in the air, the result of
50:31
Speaker 1: incomplete combustion during the controlled burn, and entered into the
50:35
Speaker 1: water sample containers when they were collected. I can't say
50:39
Speaker 1: that with any conviction, but that is not a contaminant
50:43
Speaker 1: that we typically see in drinking water wells, he said. Lee,
50:46
Speaker 1: at Ohio EPA, said the dibutyl is associated with chlorination,
50:52
Speaker 1: is not unexpected, and that low-level detection is common in
50:56
Speaker 1: due to cross-contamination at the lab. You know, are any
51:00
Speaker 1: of you comfortable with any of this? Because I'm not.
51:03
Speaker 1: Maybe I'm just being extra worried or something here. But
51:07
Speaker 1: history has shown us that it's not about cleaning stuff
51:09
Speaker 1: like this up or making sure the people are okay.
51:12
Speaker 1: It's about the rail company looking to shun responsibility and
51:16
Speaker 1: then the government, locally and federally, fumbling the ball. Eurofins
51:21
Speaker 1: declined to comment, citing contractual obligations. and confidentiality for its clients.
51:28
Speaker 1: Dibutyl is not linked to cancer in humans, but exposure
51:32
Speaker 1: can cause headaches, dizziness, eye and throat irritation, nausea and seizures.
51:38
Speaker 1: It has been shown to cause reproductive harm in animals.
51:41
Speaker 1: Now we know a bunch of people down in Palestine
51:43
Speaker 1: have eye and throat irritation as we speak. So what
51:47
Speaker 1: do you mean nothing's contaminated? Erickson and Brickley argue the
51:53
Speaker 1: municipal water in East Palestine should have been immediately resampled
51:56
Speaker 1: when the lab flagged the samples were not preserved in
51:59
Speaker 1: accordance with EPA's handling method. They should go out and resample,
52:05
Speaker 1: Erickson said. Do it right. As of Friday evening, the
52:08
Speaker 1: only publicly available data on the quality of water in
52:11
Speaker 1: East Palestine's municipal system was collected by the railroad's contractor.
52:16
Speaker 1: The county health district said it would post final results
52:19
Speaker 1: from its sampling to its website on Once they come in, yeah,
52:23
Speaker 1: you know, don't make that stat or anything. People are
52:25
Speaker 1: just out here drinking vinyl chloride water, no big deal.
52:30
Speaker 1: And listening to Governor DeWine, ah, come on, folks, you
52:33
Speaker 1: run into this kind of stuff every day. Your everyday life.
52:37
Speaker 1: It is all so absurd. But these politicians and these
52:41
Speaker 1: corporate executives from this company, well, they don't have to
52:44
Speaker 1: live here, right? They can come here, they can grandstand,
52:47
Speaker 1: talk about how they're going to make sure everything's safe,
52:49
Speaker 1: the drinking water's fine. And then they'll go back to
52:52
Speaker 1: their beautiful home with their purified water and their nice,
52:55
Speaker 1: comfortable living conditions. Meanwhile, the people of East Palestine are
53:00
Speaker 1: just beginning their nightmare. All right, folks, that's going to
53:05
Speaker 1: do it for this one. All of the information that
53:08
Speaker 1: goes with the episode can be found in the description box.