The train derailed on February 3 between Ohio and Pennsylvania. Fifty of its 150 carriages were destroyed, and some were burned in the massive fire. Ten of them were transporting toxic materials, and a reporter investigating the incident was briefly detained. What is behind this accident, and how is it related to recent sightings of unidentified flying objects?
The environmental scope of the risk has yet to be determined, as have the legal implications and health consequences for eastern Palestine, home to 5,000 residents. So far, there are more questions about the case than certainty.
The crashed cars were carrying vinyl chloride gas, used as a precursor to plastic, which is highly flammable. Exposure to this substance has been linked to a variety of cancers, primarily liver cancer.
Due to the impossibility of extracting it, a controlled burning took place, which forced the evacuation of East Palestine, although a week later the residents returned to the town without any definite danger from the clouds of smoke from the cremation.
Lynn Goldman, dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Washington, warned that the invisible particles of this gas that persist in the environment are more dangerous than the vapours produced by its combustion.
“Until a thorough assessment is made, soot and any other substance, in my opinion, should be considered as not contaminated with vinyl chloride and/or dioxins or other contaminants,” he said.
Other waggons carried flammable liquids, butyl acrylate, and benzene waste. Many of these substances may have found their way into nearby waterways, but the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says pollution markers do not indicate a level of concern.
Why was the journalist who was investigating the train derailment arrested?
While the agencies involved attempted to defuse the situation, the arrest of a journalist covering the Ohio governor’s press conference at an East Jerusalem elementary school had the opposite effect.
Evan Lambert, a “NewsNation” correspondent, was handcuffed and detained for five hours by local police on February 8 and may face charges of disorderly conduct and criminal mischief.
Gov. Mike DeWine claimed that he did not authorise the arrest and that he was not even aware of the fact that the group of cameras obscured his view of the area of the gymnasium.
According to local police, the arrest was made after the Ohio National Guard refused to comply with the journalist’s orders to leave the area.
Laws to prevent paralysis can lead to disaster.
The operator of the accident train, Norfolk Southern, is one of the major railway companies in the United States. Like all those working in the country, it is threatened by the possibility of a general strike that could paralyse the US economy. The strike was averted by legislation passed by Congress in two days in early December but rejected by four of the 12 unions that sought labour improvements.
The Lever, a media outlet supported by its readers, has access to documents proving that several companies, including Norfolk Southern, have lobbied to block the federal safety standard, which has sought to update braking systems. civil war
In this way, they avoided the budgetary burden that this rule would have had, but the National Transportation Safety Board’s report identified a mechanical problem as the cause of the tragedy. A failure was found in the axle of the wagons, but it is not known whether this could have been avoided by the introduction of the desperate standard.
Now, Norfolk Southern is facing a federal lawsuit filed by residents demanding the operator agree to pay for health monitoring in two affected states.
But the consequences could extend beyond Ohio and Pennsylvania. A West Virginia water utility has announced the optimization of its treatment methods for intakes from the Ohio River to ensure its use is safe for the public.
Rail unions have expressed concern that widespread job cuts have left security areas unprotected and understaffed.
Is the answer in heaven or on earth?
On social networks, many users are wondering if all the necessary information is being received about what some describe as a “chemical Chernobyl,” and politicians have begun to associate recent sightings of unidentified flying objects in space and shootdowns with this tragedy. American aircraft, according to them, were used as a form of diversion.
One of them is Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, an extremist militant known for spreading conspiracy theories, who recently tweeted: “East Palestine, Ohio, is facing an environmental disaster because officials blew up derailed train.”
The press is being arrested for carrying dangerous chemicals and trying to break the story. Oh, but UFOs! “What’s going on?”
The statements of the head of the Northern Command of the US Air Force, General Glenn D. VanHerk, did not rule out the hypothesis of the extraterrestrial origin of these objects, giving rise to all kinds of illusions and speculations. The Pentagon‘s delay reveals the first view.
with PA
