they said we can go home now

According to Newsweek there have been more than a dozen train derailments this year. I have been paying close attention to this since the first *big* derailment in Ohio. There is a train track less than a mile from my house if you were to walk into the woods and walk diagonally towards the south east, so I can easily imagine this happening where I live. I hear the train go by numerous times a day and there was actually one instance where we had tornado warnings and I heard the train and actually thought it was a tornado. You always hear people say, "When that 'nadar came by it sounded just like a freight train!"

The Bureau of Transportation Statistics found that 54,539 train derailments occurred in the U.S. from 1990 to 2021, an average of 1,704 per year. While that seems very high, deaths from derailments are much less common, with the bureau's findings placing the yearly average at four since 1990.

My heart is breaking for these people, because just like Palestine, Ohio, where I live is a tiny town where for financial reasons many of the residents cannot just leave their homes for an 'extended vacation.' So many people would just be stuck returning home too soon, breathing in the deadly air. Multiple toxic chemicals were released into the air. These included vinyl chloride, which is a carginogen, and ethelyne glycol monobutyl, which causes headaches and vomiting, as well as eye and nose burning.  And even when the toxic fumes are clear from the air, what about the water? What about the effects ten years down the line? What about all the animals that are just dropping dead? What about the thousands of dead fish that are just floating in the water? 

This is an aerial shot of the chemical cloud produced by the explosion. 

You need to read this link. I have never been a news watcher, but I literally have not watched a single mainstream news source other than for weather updates in over six years, so I don't know how much exposure this story is getting, but this is really, really bad. 

This affects way more than the people in Palestine, and with everything else going on, it is hard not to wonder if this is intentional. The Environmental Protection Agency continues to identify more and more chemicals and carinogens released into the air every day, but for some reason residents have been told it is safe to go home. Not only is Ohio a great farming state where 90% of the farms are family owned (Agenda 2030 says we'll have none of that,) but the Ohio River supplies 10% of the drinking water in the US. 

“We basically nuked a town with chemicals so we could get a railroad open. I was surprised when they quickly told people they can go back home, but then said if they want their home’s tested they can have them tested. I would’ve far rather they did all the testing,” Silvero Caggiano, Administrative Deputy Chief at Mahoning County Hazardous Materials Response Agency said.

It is also a little odd to me that the airborne toxic event occurred in Ohio, where the most recent Netflix movie, White Noise, was set. The plot of the movie is basically a family surviving a train crash where toxic fumes began to spread through their town. The movie itself was absolutely horrible and I wouldn't recommend it. I think maybe they were going for a cheesy 80s feel, but it just felt awkward, like the first rehearsal of a play without your script.

Thank goodness Norfolk Southern, the railway company responsible for the toxic spew, is giving the town of Palestine $25,000 for damages. That is a whopping five bucks per person.