Erin Brockovich, the consumer advocate made famous by the eponymous movie, said that she is attempting to gather information about the derailment and train fire that prompted the evacuation of the village of East Palestine, Ohio
“I’m trying to gather information on this very serious situation in Ohio involving a train derailment with hazardous chemicals,” Brockovich wrote on Twitter over the past weekend. “What I will say is this. Trust your eyes, ears and nose and get the hell out of there if your senses are telling you too.”
On Monday afternoon, Brockovich—who was the subject of the 2000 Academy Award-winning film “Erin Brockovich”—called on the federal government to be more transparent.
“The Biden administration needs to get more involved in this #PalestineOhio train derailment now. We are counting on you to break the chain of administration after administration to turn a blind eye. STEP UP NOW,” she wrote.
Earlier this month, a train with about four-dozen freight cars heading from Illinois to Pennsylvania derailed in East Palestine, sparking state officials to issue an evacuation of the area amid a “controlled release,” meaning burning, of toxic materials. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said that the train was carrying hazardous materials, including the highly toxic vinyl chloride.
So far, there have been some reports from local residents of animals dying off, including fish, chickens, and livestock. One local official confirmed there was a fish die-off in waterways around East Palestine.
“Leslie Run comes out of East Palestine and that goes into Bull Creek, which then goes into North Fork. And we know for sure that there has been some fish kill in Leslie Run and Bull Creek, and some portions of the North Fork,” Matthew Smith, assistant regional scenic river manager for the Division of Natural Areas and Preserves, told WTDN.
The Epoch Times has contacted the EPA, Department of Transportation, and several other federal agencies for comment. Few federal officials have made mention of the derailment and toxic fire, while Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg did not reference the incident on Monday morning.
On Sunday, the EPA issued an update to its website, posting a document from train operator Norfolk Southern that confirmed it was carrying more chemicals. Glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate, and isobutylene were also in the rail cars that were either on fire, derailed, or breached.
“EPA was initially informed orally of the contents of derailed cars in order to develop a plan for air monitoring. Upon request, Norfolk Southern provided the attached list detailing the rail cars that may have derailed in the incident,” the update said. “This was created by Norfolk Southern and EPA cannot speak to the design or creation of this document.”
Amid reports of animals dying off and locals saying they’ve suffered from respiratory problems in recent days, the EPA said that it is continuing to monitor the air quality around East Palestine.
“Air monitoring since the fire went out has not detected any levels of concern in the community that can be attributed to the incident at this time. For example, there have been some exceedances of PM2.5 screening values, but those are both upwind and downwind of the derailment site so likely had another cause,” said the EPA’s update.
A reporter with the Washington Post interviewed several East Palestine residents who were evacuated and later returned. One woman, Maura Todd, indicated that she and her family suffered from nausea and headaches, adding that she’s planning on moving to Kentucky.
Another local man, Taylor Howzer, told WKBN that some of his animals became ill in recent days.
“Out of nowhere, he just started coughing really hard, just shut down, and he had liquid diarrhea and just went very fast,” Holzer said. “Smoke and chemicals from the train, that’s the only thing that can cause it, because it doesn’t just happen out of nowhere,” he added. “The chemicals that we’re being told are safe in the air, that’s definitely not safe for the animals … or people.”
And a woman in North Lima said some of her chickens have died after the burning was initiated.
“My video camera footage shows my chickens were perfectly fine before they started this burn, and as soon as they started the burn, my chickens slowed down and they died,” Amanda Breshears of North Lima, Ohio, told local outlet ABC27. “If it can do this to chickens in one night, imagine what it’s going to do to us in 20 years.”
Article cross-posted from The Epoch Times. Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Coffee the Christian way: Promised Grounds
Independent Journalism Is Dying
Ever since President Trump’s miraculous victory, we’ve heard an incessant drumbeat about how legacy media is dying. This is true. The people have awakened to the reality that they’re being lied to by the self-proclaimed “Arbiters of Truth” for the sake of political expediency, corporate self-protection, and globalist ambitions.
But even as independent journalism rises to fill the void left by legacy media, there is still a huge challenge. Those at the top of independent media like Joe Rogan, Dan Bongino, and Tucker Carlson are thriving and rightly so. They have earned their audience and the financial rewards that come from it. They’ve taken risks and worked hard to get to where they are.
For “the rest of us,” legacy media and their proxies are making it exceptionally difficult to survive, let alone thrive. They still have a stranglehold over the “fact checkers” who have a dramatic impact on readership and viewership. YouTube, Facebook, and Google still stifle us. The freer speech platforms like Rumble and 𝕏 can only reward so many of their popular content creators. For independent journalists on the outside looking in, our only recourse is to rely on affiliates and sponsors.
But even as it seems nearly impossible to make a living, there are blessings that should not be disregarded. By highlighting strong sponsors who share our America First worldview, we have been able to make lifelong connections and even a bit of revenue to help us along. This is why we enjoy symbiotic relationships with companies like MyPillow, Jase Medical, and Promised Grounds. We help them with our recommendations and they reward us with money when our audience buys from them.
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Even our faith-driven precious metals sponsor helps us tremendously while also helping Americans protect their life’s savings. We are blessed to work with them.
Independent media is the future. In many ways, that future is already here. While the phrase, “the more the merrier,” does not apply to this business because there are still some bad actors in the independent media field, there are many great ones that do not get nearly enough attention. We hope to change that one content creator at a time.
Thank you and God Bless,
JD Rucker
Erin is a hack that doesn’t pay her bills.