Democrat Joe Biden’s administration is ignoring an urgent call for help from Americans in the heartland of the nation by rejecting a request for federal disaster assistance from Ohio Governor Mike DeWine.
Dewine petitioned the government for assistance after a massive train derailment damaged the quality of life in a small town called East Palestine earlier this month.
The February 3 derailment caused a fire that lasted several days and resulted in disaster after disaster. Officials, at the time, decided to initiate a controlled release of the chemicals, they said “to mitigate the risk of an explosion”; and all residents within one mile of the crash site were told to evacuate the area for their safety at the time.
Doing the controlled burn has left a disgusting mess in the ground, in the streams, and in the air, and officials are entirely ignoring their duty to try to fix anything.
The same residents who were forced out of their homes were permitted to return to their homes on February 8.
The corporate media had no coverage of the disaster or the plight of the town’s evacuated population showing an unequal interest in the nation’s disasters and how they impact different groups of people. The trainwreck coverage was completely different from wall-to-wall coverage of other disasters, which they apparently feel sells better advertising spots.
The mainstream/ corporate media and the President of the United States are not the only ones to thumb their noses at the people of East Palestine, OH.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) told Ohio that the Biden administration was rejecting its request for federal assistance because the agency said the incident did not qualify.
Dan Tierney, a spokesperson for DeWine, told Fox News that Ohio was able to get some assistance through the Department of Health and Human Services that can assist residents who need medical care as a result of the fallout from the derailment and toxic burn.
Tierney said that DeWine would hold Norfolk Southern, the company involved in the accident, responsible for what happened. “The people of East Palestine need to be made whole,” he added.
Earlier in the day, the DeWine administration put out a statement saying that the Biden administration was not cooperating with requests to help the community through federal disaster aid.
“The DeWine Administration has been in daily contact with FEMA to discuss the need for federal support, however FEMA continues to tell Governor DeWine that Ohio is not eligible for assistance at this time,” DeWine’s office said earlier in the day. “Governor DeWine will continue working with FEMA to determine what assistance can be provided.”
Norfolk Southern provided the EPA with a list of cars affected by the crash and the chemicals they were carrying. The company said all five cars containing vinyl chloride have been “stabilized” after the material was burned by crews, forming massive plumes of dark smoke that were visible in eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania.
Vinyl chloride is described by the National Cancer Institute as a carcinogen linked to a rare form of liver cancer called hepatic angiosarcoma, as well as lymphoma, leukemia, and various forms of brain and lung cancers. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration only permits exposure of one part per million during an industrial worker’s eight-hour shift.
FEMA claimed in a statement to Fox News that it was in constant contact with DeWine’s office but it would not comment on its decision to reject disaster aid for the community.
“FEMA is in constant contact with the emergency operations center in East Palestine and with the Ohio Emergency Management Agency,” said FEMA spokesperson Jeremy Edwards. “We are closely coordinating with EPA, HHS, and the CDC, who are helping to test water and air quality, and to conduct public health assessments.”
Footage from independent journalists went viral on Friday, showing the nasty level of polluted waters in the area after townspeople had an emotional town hall meeting earlier in the week with no closure for the people there.
At the town hall, the owners of the trains that crashed and caused the problem were also unavailable to offer any assistance or information to anyone, including local leaders or the media.
Residents of the area say they are concerned about the quality of their drinking water and the air they breathe after reports are that animals and fish are dying by the thousands- all very, very important issues for health and safety.
So far, no one in government- with the resources to investigate and solve problems, is giving the people living in the area an answer- leaving them to figure everything out and fend for themselves.
So it is one slight after another, one disaster after another- coming out of the area, and the corporate media is just starting to pretend as if they care.
Yet- it still takes average people, citizen journalists and social media influencers to get the information out about the Ohio truth.
This is the viral video:
Footage shows highly contaminated water in Ohio after train derailment. pic.twitter.com/9qVoe50tLF
— Historic Vids (@historyinmemes) February 16, 2023
Republican US Senator JD Vance of Ohio made the following video showing the contamination of the water as well:
To those saying it’s all under control in Ohio (not many, I know) watch as @JDVance1 scrapes a creek bottom w/a stick
Instant chemical rainbow appears
This is people’s water supply we’re talking about and chemicals have been found hundreds of miles away
pic.twitter.com/DIKxqgylDJ— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) February 16, 2023
Vance promises not to forget the people in his district who are in desperate need of some real assistance.
Today I spoke with residents of East Palestine and met with local elected officials. I heard a lot of new questions and left with all sorts of concerns that need to be addressed.
I won’t stop working on this until people get the answers they deserve. pic.twitter.com/mWwT4dydB7
— J.D. Vance (@JDVance1) February 16, 2023
