Thread by @MarioNawfal

#BREAKING: Ohio is facing a chemical disaster. Biden is still not declaring a stage of emergency!

Is EPA trying to cover up a massive environmental disaster?

Here is what we know so far...

(a thread)

On February 03, a 150-car train carrying toxic chemicals was traveling from Illinois to Pennsylvania on the Norfolk Southern Railway, near Ohio’s border with Pennsylvania, when 50 of the cars suddenly derailed.

20 of those cars were classified as carrying hazardous materials – defined as cargo that could pose any kind of danger “including flammables, combustibles, or environmental risks”.

Many called the event America’s Chernobyl.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1625311314489880581

Until you see it with your own eyes, you don't believe it," a localite said. "And it's been a really scary thing for all of us. It was definitely something that we never thought about before”

The same person claims that locals DIDN'T EVEN KNOW what was on the train until three days after when they finally released it to the public.

The train was also dangerously long – with only two crew members, and a trainee, supervising its 1.7-mile length.

According to Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, the train “was not considered a high hazardous material train,” so Norfolk Southern was not obligated to inform the state of Ohio about the highly hazardous materials on board.

After the crash, the chemicals started leaking out. A combination of Norfolk Southern agents and government health officials quickly sent personnel to clean up the area and conduct a “controlled burn” of these chemicals.

Officials said 68 agencies from three states and a number of counties responded to the derailment, which happened about 50 miles north-west of Pittsburgh.

Residents within two miles of the derailment were evacuated before the burn started. Norfolk Southern claims they hired an independent contractor to help determine if the air they had contaminated was safe.

One of the onboard chemicals was Ethylhexyl acrylate, a carcinogen that can cause coughing and irritation of skin, eyes, nose and throat.

Phosgene is another. It was used as a biological weapon in World War I. This chemical can cause headaches, vomiting, blood in the urine, depress the nervous system, increase the risk of liver and brain cancer, and ultimately lead to death.

Officials were most concerned about a shipment of the chemical vinyl chloride, but safety features of the rail car carrying that were still functioning.

Vinyl chloride, used to make the polyvinyl chloride hard plastic resin used in several plastic products, is associated with increased risk of liver cancer and other cancers, according to the US federal government’s National Cancer Institute.

Vinyl chloride boils at just 8 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s so toxic that the OSH says the average human should be exposed to only one part per million of vinyl chloride per 8 hours.

Some of it leaked into the ground, and a lot more of it was burned up.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1625888047404400640

Chemicals that got in the water will take significantly longer to clean up, especially if the substance is not fully cleared from the soil.

EPA Administrator Michael Regan assured residents that the air and water are safe, saying "robust" air quality testing and 24/7 monitoring have shown no problems.

https://twitter.com/GovMikeDeWine/status/1625962388603404288?s=20

Cohost of the Roundtable show and independent journalist personally drove to East Palestine and discovered the water to be "extremely contaminated", a day after Regan's assertion that the water is safe

https://twitter.com/nicksortor/status/1626327835668320256

Another video posted by Ohio Republican Sen. J.D. Vance similarly shows rainbow-colored slicks spreading across the surface of small streams in the area after people poked the creek beds with sticks or threw rocks in.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1626327835668320256

These videos seemed to strongly contradict Governor Mike DeWine's statements

John Senko, a professor of geosciences and biology at the University of Akron, said the videos depict what appears to be vinyl chloride, which would sink to the bottom of a lake or stream because it's denser than water.

The videos are considered as evidence that groundwater contamination has occurred. But contamination does not necessarily mean there's a health risk.

Dr. Kari Nadeau, the chair of Harvard's Environmental Health Department, said the oily sheen was likely left by burned chemicals that drifted back down to the ground and into the water.

James Metcalf, a professor of biological sciences at Bowling Green State University points out that the water treatment systems and latest info from the Environmental Protection Agency indicate "it is likely that these concentrations are not at a level of public health concern."

Unless fully cleaned the chemicals that got in the soil will continue to seek downwards until it hits bedrock where it can linger for many decades and break down into other less toxic forms. This is why the scalding equipment has been brought in.

Burning vinyl chloride creates many byproducts. One of them is hydrogen chloride, which latches on water vapor in the sky and can become hydrochloric acid.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1626808003122036736

Officials say their tests for the substance are coming back negative. But Purdue University professor Whelton believes they might not be testing for newly created compounds:

“When they combusted the materials, they created other chemicals. The question is what did they create?”

Local authorities have said that about 3,500 small fish were killed in the creeks surrounding the derailment site shortly after the crash, leak and burn, but they have not reported significant subsequent deaths.

Meanwhile, a new federal lawsuit claims acid rains and dead fish and wild animals as far as 20 miles away from the site of the derailment.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has faced criticism from lawmakers and the mayor of East Palestine for not visiting the site, said the Ohio disaster was just one of many derailments that occur each year.

"There are roughly 1,000 cases a year of a train derailment"

The spill happened closest to Sulfur Run creek, and authorities have damned it above and below the spill area. They're currently pumping the clean creek around the contamination area.

Since the derailment, residents have complained about headaches and irritated eyes and finding their cars and lawns covered in soot.

Residents also are frustrated by what they say is incomplete and vague information about the lasting effects from the disaster, which prompted evacuations.

Some conservative lawmakers have complained the EPA has not responded aggressively enough to the spill.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said he was glad that Michael Regan, administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) visited the site, but it was “unacceptable that it took nearly two weeks for a senior administration official to show up″ in Ohio.

Michael Regan: “I'm asking they trust the government. I know that's hard. We know there's a lack of trust,” Regan said. “We’re testing for everything that was on that train.”

Despite the EPA’s greenlight for residents to return home a week after the explosions, the agency is still unable to say what kind of health impact this amount of exposure to these hazardous chemicals will have on people.

It appears that EPA is sending conflicting messages about the pollution and health risks from the Ohio train derailment.

https://twitter.com/CBKNEWS121/status/1625217885432848389

In one statement, EPA says it has not detected ‘any levels of concern’ of hazardous substances. Yet in other statements, they are confirming that substances released have been detected in six streams as well as storm drains, and are investigating the soil

https://twitter.com/i/status/1626374313741004801

The local population is wondering why US President Joe Biden is not arriving to East Palestine and claim that his absence is yet another proof that the area isn’t as safe as the EPA claims.

Donald Trump is expected to travel to East Palestine next week, according to a tweet on Friday from his son Trump Jr

“If our ‘leaders’ are too afraid to actually lead, real leaders will step up and fill the void,” Trump Jr

P.S. Trump will be meeting a special someone (TBA)

During the Trump administration, Norfolk successfully lobbied to repeal a safety rule requiring new electronic brakes.

In 2018, the federal agencies charged with regulating hazardous materials on trains removed safety rules requiring modern braking systems.

Several environmental organizations appealed the rule, but the agencies failed to respond, siding with companies like Norfolk Southern, who lobbied against more stringent safety requirements.

The lack of government response has meant more explosive tank cars with “Civil War-era braking systems” traveling through towns and neighborhoods, as per Zahra Ahmad from EarthJustice.

On February 16th Norfolk Southern announced it has Completed nearly 500 in-home air tests in conjunction with the U.S.

EPA and other governmental agencies. In-home air monitoring has not detected substances related to the incident.

In addition the company has removed 3,150 cubic yards of contaminated soil from the incident area and 942,000 gallons of contaminants and contaminated liquid from the immediate site.

https://twitter.com/OSINTMISCIF/status/1626760611513106442?t=rqITPAh79K25Qt1_ScGs3A&s=19

The EPA recommended that those who receive drinking water from private water wells schedule an appointment for well water testing.

@nicksortor is covering the story LIVE from East Palestine, leading the charge in bringing attention to an issue seen to be neglected by most mainstream media.

twitter.com/i/spaces/1lDGL…