(Article by Leo Hohmann republished from LeoHohmann.Substack.com)
Hundreds of people in East Palestine, which has a population of about 5,000, were evacuated as authorities planned to conduct a controlled burn to prevent another blast. After conducting a "controlled release" of vinyl chloride from five of the rail cars, authorities assured residents that it was safe to return, reports The Washington Post.
But the release of highly toxic vinyl chloride gas has created phosgene and hydrogen chloride across the town, with several people sharing photos and videos on social media of large plumes.
East Palestine, Ohio, is undergoing an ecological disaster because authorities blew up five of the derailed boxcars carrying hazardous chemicals and at least one local journalist was arrested for trying to report the story.
The soot released by the initial explosion and the subsequent controlled-burn explosion is so toxic that the firemen who worked the blaze are being told to destroy their gear and several cities, including Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, are donating new gear to the East Palestine fire department.
This prompted a concerned tweet from Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green.
East Palestine, Ohio is undergoing an ecological disaster bc authorities blew up the train derailment cars carrying hazardous chemicals and press are being arrested for trying to tell the story.
Oh but UFO’s!
What is going on?
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene?? (@RepMTG) February 12, 2023
As you can see from her tweet, Green insinuated that the government may be using the hullabaloo over UFOs to distract people’s attention away from the situation in Ohio.
And people are starting to ask questions about why there has been a near-total media blackout about this story. Those reports that have been posted are back page and make it sound like everything was handled and there is no danger to anyone’s health.
Nothing could be further from the truth. There have been reports of dead animals and mass fish kills.
The vinyl Chloride spilled into the ground water and into several creeks, including Sulpher Run, Leslie Run, Bull Creek and Little Beaver Creek, which drains into the Ohio River.
Watch this video from a woman who is from the area and getting information from the residents who say the truth about what is going on in East Palestine is being covered up. (warning, she uses harsh language).
A local ABC affiliate, WYTV 33, interviewed hazardous chemicals expert Sill Caggiano, who told the outlet, “We basically nuked a town with chemicals so we could get a railroad open.”
He advised residents of the town to “get a physical” and document their health condition. That way if they contract cancer or some other auto-immune disease that can be caused by exposure to toxic chemicals, they will have a potential legal claim against the railroad company and the state authorities.
When chemicals get into the groundwater, they move fast.
That’s why this is a much bigger catastrophe than just East Palestine or even the neighboring communities.
Cincinnati city manager Sheryl Long told WLWT Channel 5, a local NBC affiliate, that the Greater Cincinnati Water Works is monitoring the water quality in the Cincinnati area after the train derailment and release of toxic chemicals in East Palestine.
Crews released toxic chemicals into the air from five derailed tanker cars that were in danger of exploding Monday and began burning them after warning residents near the Ohio-Pennsylvania state line to leave immediately or face the possibility of death.
Low levels of dangerous chemicals from the ones released in the derailment were detected in the Ohio River downstream from the incident.
Long told WLWT that right now, the chemicals detected are far upstream of Cincinnati.
But they are watching closely to see if they make it that far.
Cincinnati is 240 miles southeast of the disaster site in East Palestine, Ohio.
I spoke with a disaster mitigation consultant who specializes in hazardous chemicals who has first hand knowledge of this incident. When asked if this town is likely to have cancer clusters in the years ahead, he answered affirmatively.
“I’m an analytical chemist. I worked on cleanups for superfund sites related cleanups,” he said. “I would wait at least a month or so (before returning to any home in this town). The biggest problem is, right now, what’s on the surface. As long as the soot is on the ground and not washed out, that’s the current real danger, the soot on the ground and on the roofs and on the cars.”
When it comes to vinyl chloride, he said “any dose is carcinogenic.”
“The final product that comes out of it if it is properly burned off HCL, is like a tear gas agent but it is not carcinogenic. But the original thing was. The byproduct no, but the original stuff yes. Either way, this will cause a cluster of cancers over the next few years. So, yes, my best guess is that this town will have some interesting health issues.”
According to Upward News, the dangerous chemicals are making their way as far as West Virginia through the Ohio River.
More than 30 million people, or about 10 percent of the U.S. population, live in the Ohio River Basin. With numerous public drinking water intakes and industries, the river provides drinking water to +5,000,000 people.
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