Thoughts on the East Palestine, Ohio Train Derailment and Toxic Chemical Explosion

And why history tells us not to trust the authorities

While toxic fumes spewed into the East Palestine, Ohio sky, the corporate press distracted Americans with balloon stories and speculation over extraterrestrials. The timing of these propaganda pieces served the purpose of diverting the attention of those living outside the disaster zone during one of the worst environmental catastrophes in American history.

Indeed, the silence of mainstream sources on the crisis in East Palestine these past two weeks actually speaks volumes to the severity of the situation in that part of The Buckeye State and beyond. One reporter was even arrested for simply trying to cover the unfolding story.

In the days following the chemical explosion, residents of East Palestine have not stopped voicing their concerns over carcinogenic vinyl chloride entering their town’s atmosphere, seeping into the soil, and contaminating the water.

Locals in the small Ohio village and in the surrounding area have reported seeing dead fish floating in creeks, chickens dropping dead, and pets vomitting. Residents have stated they feel a soreness in their throat and have vomited, too. Some say they can feel a burning sensation on their skin when exposed to the polluted air, and others continue to suffer from intense migraines.

In the words of a hazardous materials specialist: “We basically nuked a town with chemicals so we could get a railroad open.”

Of course, Norfolk Southern officials decided to skip a recent town hall meeting, preferring to steer clear of East Palestine. Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, has also avoided visiting the area that some have referred to as America’s Chernobyl.

Nevertheless, even though cancer causing chemicals have permeated the surrounding area, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) quickly claimed the air safe to breathe, and Governor Mike DeWine said residents can drink the water without worry.

Those of us who are awake to the nefarious nature of our “representatives” and government bureaucrats can point to recent history to legitimize our skepticism when we are told “all is well.”

Consider the former head of the EPA, Christine Todd Whitman’s response, in the days following the attack on the Twin Towers on 9/11, when she “reassure[d] the people of New York… that their air is safe to breathe and their water is safe to drink.” Whitman apologized officially in 2016 for her “mistakes,” which caused much human suffering in the ensuing years.

According to The Guardian’s 2016 report:

“More than 37,000 people registered with the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP), a federal organization set up in 2011 to oversee those affected by exposure to the toxins released at Ground Zero, have been declared sick. Many have chronic respiratory illnesses or cancer.”

Additionally, “more than 1,100 people covered by the WTCHP have died” a number that “includes first responders who were at Ground Zero and people who lived and worked in the surrounding area.” Whitman, years later, said, “If people are dying from this…they had believed everything was fine, then you have got to blame the message they were hearing, and what they were hearing was that the ambient air quality in Lower Manhattan at the time was OK.”

But, as we all know, it most certainly was not.

Then, there is the notorious water contamination crisis in Flint, Michigan, where an emergency management board decided to cut costs by taking water from the polluted Flint River instead of Lake Huron.

This decision resulted in the poisoning of Flint’s residents. Children in Flint suffer from irreversible brain and nerve damage, and women’s fertility rates between 2008 and 2015 dropped 12 percent while “fetal deaths rose by 58 percent after the water was switched to the Flint River.”

One woman wrote a heart wrenching testimony about her personal suffering after unknowingly drinking led-contaminated water, and the neglect that she faced when in the hospital:

…I was pregnant. We didn’t yet know we weren’t supposed to drink the water. We didn’t yet know we were bathing in poison.

I started bleeding and went to the emergency room. They did an ultrasound, said I had miscarried, and told me to go home. I told them something wasn’t right, even more than the miscarriage. But they ignored me, a lower-income African American woman.

Back at home, I started hemorrhaging. I had to be rushed back to the hospital. It turns out there was another baby — I had been pregnant with twins. The doctors had treated me so carelessly they didn’t even know there was another baby when they sent me home. That night, I lost that baby too.

Two years later, I lost another set of twins. My daughter miscarried my grandchild. She might never be able to have children.

So, when the Ohio Governor says that residents of East Palestine can drink the water, and when the EPA claims the air is safe, history begs us to get another opinion, or to play it safe by remaining skeptical and vigilant. Our elected officials remain largely incompetent and indifferent to the suffering of ordinary Americans, and our media continues cover up government malfeasance and corporate criminality.

To make matter worse, earlier in the week Governor DeWine stated that East Palestine would not receive Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) relief because the agency regarded the state ineligible.

As of this evening, however, FEMA has reversed their decision, and has determined they will now send resources to the area, two weeks after the train derailment.