Joe.My.God. LGBT News
NBC News reports:
For days, authorities have been telling residents of the area around East Palestine, Ohio, that it is safe to return home after a 150-car train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed Feb. 3.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources said the chemical spill resulting from the derailment had killed an estimated 3,500 small fish across 7½ miles of streams as of Wednesday.
And one resident of North Lima, more than 10 miles from East Palestine, told WKBN-TV of Youngstown that her five hens and rooster died suddenly Tuesday. The day before, rail operator Norfolk Southern had burned train cars carrying vinyl chloride — a flammable gas — to prevent an explosion.
The New York Times reports:
On Feb. 10, the E.P.A. said that about 20 rail cars were reported to have been carrying hazardous materials. Chemicals including vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate, ethylhexyl acrylate and ethylene glycol monobutyl ether were “known to have been and continue to be” released to the air, surface soil and surface waters, the E.P.A. said.
The West Virginia subsidiary of American Water, which provides water services in 24 states, said on Feb. 12 that it had not detected any changes in the water at its Ohio River intake site.
But it installed a secondary intake on the Guyandotte River in case an alternate source was needed. The subsidiary, which serves more than half a million people, said it also enhanced its treatment processes.
Axios reports:
Acute exposure to high levels of vinyl chloride, a classified human carcinogen, in the air has been linked to central nervous system effects, while chronic exposure has been shown to cause liver damage, including a rare form of liver cancer, according to the EPA.
When vinyl chloride burns it decomposes into hydrogen chloride and phosgene, according to the International Programme on Chemical Safety.
Phosgene is highly poisonous and was used extensively during World War I as a choking agent, while hydrogen chloride is irritating and corrosive to any tissue with which it comes into contact.
Worried residents near Ohio train derailment report dead fish and chickens as authorities say it’s safe to return. https://t.co/260i87Xyfw
— NBC News (@NBCNews) February 14, 2023
Before the Norfolk Southern train derailment prompted emergency evacuations in Ohio, the company helped kill a federal safety rule aimed at upgrading the rail industry’s Civil War-era braking systems https://t.co/tV85XEnNTR
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) February 13, 2023