Showing posts with label vinyl chloride. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vinyl chloride. Show all posts

Sunday, April 2, 2023

Almost half of investigators fell sick studying East Palestine train derailment



The Norfolk Southern 100-car train derailment that created a toxic chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio is being studied by 15 U.S. government investigators and now 7 of them have experiencing illness symptoms even after the feds said the water is safe to drink, while not actually drinking it themselves. [H/T The Daily Wire]

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which includes members of the Epidemic Intelligence Service [an oxymoron if there ever was one] reported to CNN that almost half the crew felt sick while surveying homes of the town's residents near the contaminated areas.

Pete Buttigieg, our so called Transportation Secretary had visited East Palestine weeks after the disaster occurred and thought it was all clear, but now he says that he's concerned his chest milk might be contaminated and he doesn't know what to do about feeding his baby. 

“Symptoms resolved for most team members later the same afternoon, and everyone resumed work on survey data collection within 24 hours,” a CDC spokesperson told the network. “Impacted team members have not reported ongoing health effects.” No deaths of team members have been reported as of now.

Local and state authorities previously evacuated all residents within one mile of the February 3 derailment and started a controlled burn of substances on the vehicle. It's as if the contamination knows that a mile is a safe distance, like 6 feet is a safe distance to prevent Covid from killing you.

Five of those train cars emitted vinyl chloride in huge plumes of black smoke visible throughout eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. Vinyl chloride is a human carcinogen that's used in the manufacturing of PVC. Residents in the town have since raised the alarm over health symptoms they experienced after the controlled burn in spite of the lies the government tried to pass off.

Before working from their hotels, some group members began experiencing sore throats, headaches, coughing, and nausea, basically the same symptoms reported by many of the town’s residents near the derailment site.

Federal officials did not disclose what caused investigators to experience such symptoms but again assured everyone that the water is safe to drink.

Two contractors from the Environmental Protection Agency out of 100 personnel working on the derailment also reported health symptoms after working in areas where the chemicals created strong odors.


The Ohio Department of Health published the results of surveys conducted at its East Palestine Health Assessment Clinic, plus door-to-door visits by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, four weeks after the chemical catastrophe permeated the town’s atmosphere.

The results showed more than half of the 168 After Chemical Exposure (ACE) community surveys reported headaches, anxiety, coughing, fatigue, and irritated skin after the derailment. However, the surveys did not indicate if the residents were exposed to harmful levels of chemicals or what caused their symptoms.

EPA officials, in conjunction with the Justice Department, announced a lawsuit on Friday against Norfolk Southern. They are seeking “penalties and injunctive relief for the unlawful discharge of pollutants, oil, and hazardous substances” under the Clean Water Act, [although they said the water is safe to drink] as well as “declaratory judgment on liability for past and future costs” related to the incident under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act. 

The complaint from the EPA and Justice Department said materials released from the train cars, such as vinyl chloride, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, Ethylhexyl acrylate, butyl acrylate, isobutylene, and benzene residue, have been “associated variously” with impaired fetal development, organ damage, cancers, and other health conditions with a sufficiently high degree of exposure. 

Yet, state and federal officials have repeatedly claimed that the air and water supplies in East Palestine are safe for residents. In other words, the water is safe to drink. 

So why didn't the state and federal officials wet their whistles while in town?

Saturday, February 25, 2023

President "I'm Not Kidding" will not visit East Palestine after train disaster: "Someone told me I can't go"

"Look folks, no lips"


President, they say, Joe Biden, told "reporters" that he has been told by someone whose name he forgot that he isn't going to visit East Palestine, Ohio, where a train derailment created a toxic disaster.

"I can see why they won't let me go to Palestine," Joe began. "Those Palestinians shoot people they don't like and as an American who said that I used to go to a synagogue after church on Sundays as a kid with my mom, they might think I support Israel. But look at my record, man."

One reporter explained to President Biden that this wasn't the same Palestine, and in fact, it's pronounced 'Palesteen.'

The derailment happened on February 3rd in the small Ohio Trump-loving town comprised of mostly White Republicans, which helps explain why the administration has refused to send aid and assistance before the public outcry pressured them to do so.


The cause of the Norfolk Southern derailment which resulted in a toxic clusterfrack, was an overheated wheel bearing on the 23rd car of the 149 car choo-choo, as Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg refers to freight trains. 

The result was a vinyl chloride spill, a massive explosion, a subsequent controlled fire and safe drinking water, the EPA assured the residents. When Ohio Rep. J.D. Vance offered a glass of water to the EPA representative he declined stating he wasn't thirsty at the moment.

Vinyl chloride is a known carcinogen used in the manufacturing of PVC. It was emitted from only 5 of the 149 cars, which is a significantly small percentage of the cars so there is no reason to worry, especially for residents in Canada. Interestingly however, the black billowing smoke was visible in much of eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania.

"Frankly, I don't see the problem," President Biden said. "I'm not kidding."


Thursday, February 23, 2023

BREAKING: NTSB announces cause of East Palestine train derailment



The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has completed its preliminary report as to what caused the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. 

The train was carrying chemicals that caused a toxic spill and created an ecological disaster that has until now, been totally ignored by the federal government and national media. For example, it took 3 weeks and a lot of public pressure to get Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to leave his husband and travel to Ohio.

Chickens and fish have died, people have sore throats and rashes, while government officials are claiming that it's okay to drink the water. Rep. J.D. Vance (R-OH) dared them to drink it themselves, but so far they've passed on the offer. Now the EPA has changed their tune and warn residents to avoid well water.

The cause of the derailment, according to the  NTSB on Thursday, was an overheated wheel bearing. And while we can't directly blame Pete Buttigieg for the disaster [who blames former President Donald Trump], we can at least point out how little involvement he was willing to take as Transportation Secretary, and his arrogant avoidance of answering questions by media that's willing to challenge him over his not handling the situation.

“NTSB investigators have identified and examined the rail car that initiated the derailment. Surveillance video from a residence showed what appears to be a wheel bearing in the final stage of overheat failure moments before the derailment,” investigators said.

“The wheelset from the suspected railcar has been collected as evidence for metallurgical examination. The suspected overheated wheel bearing has been collected and will be examined by engineers from the NTSB Materials Laboratory in Washington, D.C.”

The wheel bearing suspected of overheating rose from a temperature of “38°F above ambient temperature” to a temperature of “103°F above ambient” as it passed three monitors designed to alert crews of such conditions.

The train's crew was notified by an automated system to stop the locomotive and inspect the car with the overheated bearing. It did so but it was too late as the train left the tracks before it could be stopped and the vinyl chloride spilled all over the area.

“After the train stopped, the crew observed fire and smoke and notified the Cleveland East dispatcher of a possible derailment,” the NTSB said. “Responders arrived at the derailment site and began response efforts.”

Efforts to put out fires failed over the following two days, and a decision was made to start a controlled burn of the vinyl chloride, causing a toxic mushroom cloud and an ill wind that did nobody any good.

“On February 5, responders mitigated the fire, but five derailed DOT-105 specification tank cars … carrying 115,580 gallons of vinyl chloride continued to concern authorities because the temperature inside one tank car was still rising,” the report stated.

“This increase in temperature suggested that the vinyl chloride was undergoing a polymerization reaction, which could pose an explosion hazard,” the NTSB stated. “Responders scheduled a controlled venting of the five vinyl chloride tank cars to release and burn the vinyl chloride, expanded the evacuation zone to a 1-mile by 2-mile area, and dug ditches to contain released vinyl chloride liquid while it vaporized and burned.”

And on February 23, fully twenty days after the tragedy, Pete Buttigieg, a possible Democratic presidential hopeful for the future, finally got off his butt and visited the area.

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