What is known about the toxic spill after a train derailment in Ohio?

The environmental scope of the mishap has yet to be determined, as well as the legal implications and health consequences for East Palestine, the town of 5,000 inhabitants where the overturn occurred. Until now, there are more questions than certainties around the case.

The wrecked wagons were carrying vinyl chloridea gas that is used as a plastic precursor, and is highly flammable. Exposure to this substance is related to different types of cancer, mainly liver.

Given the impossibility of picking it up, a controlled burning was carried out, which forced the evacuation of East Palestine, although a week later the residents were back in the town without an exact determination. the risk posed by the cloud of smoke from incineration.

Lynn Goldman, dean of the University of Washington School of Public Health, cautioned that invisible particles of this gas that persist in the environment are more dangerous than the vapors resulting from burning.

“Until a thorough assessment has been made, soot and any other material, in my opinion, should be treated as contaminated with vinyl chloride and/or dioxins or other contaminants until proven otherwise,” he said.

Other wagons transported combustible liquids, butyl acrylate and benzene residues. Many of these substances may have seeped into nearby waterways, but the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stated that contamination markers did not show levels of concern.

Why was the journalist investigating the derailment arrested?

While the agencies and dependencies involved tried to bring calm around the situation, the arrest of a journalist who attended East Palestine Elementary School to cover an Ohio Governor’s press conference had the opposite effect.

Evan Lamberta correspondent for ‘NewsNation’, was handcuffed and held for five hours by local police on February 8, and could face criminal charges for disorderly conduct and criminal trespass.

Governor Mike DeWine assured that he had not authorized the arrest, and that he had not even been aware of the fact, since a group of cameras obscured his view of the area of ​​the gymnasium where it occurred.

According to local police, the arrest occurred because the journalist refused to comply with the orders of the Ohio National Guard to leave the place.

Laws to avoid paralysis could lead to disaster

The operator of the accident train, Norfolk Southern, is one of the main railway companies in the United States. Like all those operating in the country, it was threatened by the prospect of a general strike that would have paralyzed the US economy. The strike was averted by a law that Congress approved in two days at the beginning of December, although it was rejected by four of the 12 unions that demanded labor improvements.

‘The Lever’a medium supported by the contributions of its readers, had access to documents that proved that several companiesincluding Norfolk Southern, they had lobbied to block a federal safety standardwhich sought to update braking systems dating from the times of the Civil War.

In this way they avoided the budgetary burden that this rule would have entailed, but a report from the National Transportation Safety Board identified a mechanical problem as the cause of the tragedy. The failure was detected in the axis of the wagons, but it is unknown if it could have been avoided with the entry into force of the frustrated standard.

Now, Norfolk Southern is facing a federal lawsuit filed by residents demanding that the operator agree to pay for health monitoring in the two affected states.

But the consequences could go far beyond Ohio and Pennsylvania. The West Virginia water utility announced an optimization of its treatment methods for intake from the Ohio River, in order to ensure that its consumption is safe for the population.

The railway industry unions have shown their worry that widespread job cuts are leaving security areas unprotected, understaffed.

Is the answer in heaven or on earth?

On social networks, many users wonder if they are receiving all the necessary information about what some describe as a “Chemical Chernobyl”and politicians have begun to link to this tragedy the recent sightings and downings of unidentified flying objects in US airspace, which they say are being used as a form of diversion.

One of them is the representative for Georgia Marjorie Taylor Greene, a far-right militant known for her spread of conspiracy theories, who recently tweeted: “East Palestine, Ohio is experiencing an ecological disaster as authorities blew up derailed train cars carrying dangerous chemicals and the press is being targeted. arrested for trying to tell the story. Oh, but UFOs! What’s going on?”.

The statements by General Glen D. VanHerck, head of the US Air Force Northern Command, who did not rule out the hypothesis of an extraterrestrial origin of these objects, have given rise to all kinds of delusions and speculation, as well as the Pentagon’s delay in reveal the first sighting.

with PA