East Palestine resident to ‘spend the rest of my life worrying’
- East Palestine residents say health problems persist after derailment
- Op-ed describes worries woman has for her children, their futures
- President Joe Biden to visit site of derailment in February
A Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, causing around 1,500 to evacuate. To avoid an explosion, officials vented and burned five tank cars, releasing 116,000 gallons of vinyl chloride, which is a carcinogen, into the air.
Minutes later, a toxic plume of smoke smothered the region. Although the Environmental Protection Agency gave the OK for residents to return three days later, they reported rashes and sickness when they came back to East Palestine.
(AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
Testing on staging11
(NewsNation) — Nearly a year after a train derailment spilled toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio, a resident there said in a Philadelphia Inquirer op-ed that things are far from back to normal.
Jami Wallace described how residents are still feeling the impact of the derailment that has left them uneasy about the air they breathe and the water they drink.
“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned us that the key to a healthy East Palestine will be early detection of any health issues, especially cancer. Which means I’ll spend the rest of my life worrying,” Wallace wrote in the op-ed published Tuesday.
She says the town has been stripped of its ability to be self-sufficient, with the people living there afraid to eat locally sourced food or go swimming in the local watering hole. Despite the Environmental Protection Agency indicating tests show the water and air is safe, residents still report lingering smells and oily sheens in creeks.
The derailment and the government’s response, Wallace says, has broken the town’s faith.
“That train may not have instantly killed anyone, but it’s certainly killed my hopes for the future, and my dreams for my children,” she wrote.
She called on President Joe Biden to sign a major disaster declaration and make good on a promise to visit the town. The White House announced Wednesday he will do so in February.
The full op-ed can be read here.