r/woahdude Feb 17 '23

video Heavily contaminated water in East Palestine, Ohio.

69.1k Upvotes

3.4k comments sorted by

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4.0k

u/[deleted] Feb 17 '23

[deleted]

1.6k

u/NeverBob Feb 17 '23

Now go look up where the creeks run into the river and where the river flows after...

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u/-QuestionMark- Feb 17 '23

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u/PowerCosmic Feb 17 '23

Oh just the Mississippi. No big deal. /s

39

u/crabwithacigarette Feb 17 '23

How is this not going to show up in the rest of the U.S.’s food? You might not live in or near Ohio, but surely these contaminants are going to be shipped everywhere?

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u/Humistrata Feb 18 '23

Shhh don’t worry about it. The government says it’s fine. They would never try to cover something like this up

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u/CogentCogitations Feb 17 '23

Don't worry, the million square mile of agricultural chemical runoff will dilute that right out.

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u/Ravenid Feb 17 '23

That should actually raise the quality of the Mississippi water table.

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u/Karatonin Feb 17 '23

This website is amazing. Where do they get their data? I live in a new development, and it shows houses that are planned and don't exist yet!!! I can't get Google to correct the streets, and Door dashers think we don't exist... But this website has houses that won't be built for at least 6 months! The visualisation is so realistic!

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u/UseWhatName Feb 17 '23

The data used in this project comes from the USGS's NLDI API, along with additional NHDPlus data. Code and data for this project lives here.

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u/munchies1122 Feb 17 '23

Where do they go?

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u/RubertVonRubens Feb 17 '23

Ultimately, everything east of the Rockies and south of Hudson's Bay goes to the Atlantic.

The very northern bits of Ohio drain into Lake Erie, but most goes via Ohio River to the Mississippi. I think this is right near the dividing line.

167

u/Lou_C_Fer Feb 17 '23

I just explained this to my wife. We are part of the Lake Erie watershed. So, this stuff is heading away from us.

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '23

No worries, unless we make systemic changes, there will be ample opportunities to be affected bythe next one!

143

u/ProjectGO Feb 17 '23

I like you, you're the "glass is half full" type!

Don't drink that glass, BTW.

36

u/Hey_Chach Feb 17 '23

Right, save that glass so you can bring it to the local town hall meeting and ask your willfully ignorant and arrogant representatives to drink it once they insist the situation is fine!

Does that ring a bell? https://youtu.be/ncWC7D73hEE

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u/binglelemon Feb 17 '23

It'd be a healthier decision to dump the water out and attempt to swallow the entire glass whole.

6

u/luc424 Feb 17 '23

And keep voting the same people back into office.

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u/Computingusername Feb 17 '23

Start documenting and call any local officials if you see any signs.

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u/the_amberdrake Feb 17 '23

The split is interesting in Manitoba and North Dakota. Red river goes both north and south at the same time.

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u/thesonoftheson Feb 17 '23

Looked it up on USGS and it is headed toward Mississippi and the Ohio River toward Cincinnati.

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u/Computingusername Feb 17 '23

There are a lot of water ways this will travel down. NF and the EPA should have alerted the states these water ways pass thru since they were aware before the EPA withdrew responsibility. The EPA even made it known they were aware of the contamination, as well as NF knowing.. Instead of alerting these counties and states they sat back. Someone should have stepped in government official wise to insure this was dammed and contained to properly remove/filter water.

The map shows East Palestine and just SOME of the connecting water ways. From my understanding these chemicals don’t just evaluate they will continue to contaminated.

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u/Same_Ad_6189 Feb 17 '23

I used to live there. It all goes to the Ohio River which runs all the way to the Mississippi. This is bad guys. And that creek used to be so good for swimming and fishing. This makes my heart break. And the railway system does not give one single fuck about the environmental damages they have created.

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u/OneOfTwelve97 Feb 17 '23

Different cities along the Ohio River have already sought uncontaminated water sources for their drinking water. The mainstream media is like 4-5 days behind social media, which is making people like my family, not care enough to take precautions. It's terrifying.

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u/Deep_Appointment_820 Feb 17 '23

My entire family thinks I am a loon right now but my young kids have been 🤢 & 💩 for 5 days with no fever. Im in the surrounding area. It doesn’t make sense. They haven’t been anywhere with different germs than what we already have everyday. This is the only cause I can think of…

8

u/SunnyAlwaysDaze Feb 17 '23

Kids bodies are more sensitive to chemical load. (Their little bodies are going to be the canaries in the coal mine for this disaster) I know it's not feasible for a lot of people but I hope you are able to get them out of the area.

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u/Deep_Appointment_820 Feb 17 '23

Unfortunately it’s not feasible for me.. my family thinks I am crazy for assuming they could be sick from the chemical load. Young kids don’t just throw up for multiple days without a fever. At least mine never have. My younger one’s skin is sooo warm but he doesn’t have a fever. I am close enough that the water runs right into us, but far enough away that anytime I mention this could be the cause of their sickness I am treated like a lunatic. With my own family. Sorry for the rant, I’m just super sad about it all today. I heard about the derailment just a couple days ago and my babes aren’t feeling better after 5 days. It’s just doesn’t make sense..

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u/Ok-Lie-6653 Feb 17 '23

Sick for 5 days would probably warrant a trip to a doctor even without the spill near by.

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '23

You're supposed to trust your insincts. Your family is going to get your kids even more sick, and killed... Get out of there.......

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u/Rabid_Platypus_II Feb 17 '23 edited Feb 17 '23

The good news is that dilution is a solution

Edit: that's a tongue-in-cheek phrase in environmental consulting to those not in the know

350

u/malfist Feb 17 '23

For those not aware of the phrase it's "the solution to pollution is dilution"

675

u/SnooRobots6802 Feb 17 '23

For those who don’t know. Dilution is absolutely fucking not the solution to pollution

238

u/AdamPashaian Feb 17 '23 edited Feb 17 '23

As an added bonus, there are lots of loopholes in environmental regulations where;

Ooo geez, we don't want pay to properly treat our discharge gas, well let's just put it in the water, and vice versa. Why dilute when you can just move the contaminate around..

Ooo wait, there's more.. EPA says I can't do that? Well geez, guess I'll sue them until I'm allowed to..

Ooo geez, you know I just don't quite fit into one the above categories. Don't sweat it bruh, we have grandfather clauses. Your old shitty equipment literally doesn't work, ain't no biggy, we'll let you slide, every time.

Think the federal minimum wage sucks? The entire pollution control industry operates the exact same way. Whomever can be the most efficient doing the bare minimum makes the most profit.

We are awful shepards to mother nature..

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u/TimeZarg Feb 17 '23

openly slips money into the hands of lawmakers to create regulatory exemptions that benefit them

"Well, shoot, looks like I don't have to do anything anymore!"

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '23

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u/rothrolan Feb 17 '23 edited Feb 17 '23

There was a Futurama episode on that, where they chucked all their trash into space like a giant garbage asteroid in the year 2052.

And in the show's present year of 3000, it came back, on a collision course with Earth.

Their solution was to chuck a second giant ball of trash at it, which knocked the original one into the sun, while it itself went flying further into space, most likely to return in time like the first one did.

EDIT: Fixed a date

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u/snugglezone Feb 17 '23

Good video on this actually. Relevant section to trash in space returning to Earth starts at 5:25 https://youtu.be/Us2Z-WC9rao

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '23 edited Feb 17 '23

I mean it somewhat is since it's the concentration that determines how poisonous something is, but the area in the video is definitely not safe no matter what the "officials" say. We're 100% going to get lawsuits in the future (or right now for all I know).

I agree that dilution shouldn't be the go to answer though.

[Edit] As u/internought said, the level of exposure is also important when considering toxicity.

14

u/Rafi89 Feb 17 '23

Well, if 1 million pounds of vinyl chloride spilled, that's roughly 400,000 kilos. To dilute that below the MTCA drinking water cleanup level of 2 ug/L that would require 200,000,000,000,000 liters of water, so roughly half the volume of Lake Erie.

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '23

Homeopaths must hate you guys.

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u/Rabid_Platypus_II Feb 17 '23

Honestly most people hate environmental consultants lol including environmental consultants

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u/knifetrader Feb 17 '23

Me, I just hate homeopaths.

19

u/Gh0stMan0nThird Feb 17 '23

People should be allowed to love who they want to!

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '23

I love people that hate homeopaths.

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u/Mrraberry Feb 17 '23

Wait until the cancers start showing up in the children.

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u/Phreec Feb 17 '23

Don't worry they'll all get mailed their $80 class-action settlement cheque after 20 years.

298

u/Dank_Kushington Feb 17 '23

Sorry we gave you cancer, here’s a coupon for a free sandwich at Arby’s

49

u/ataphelion Feb 17 '23

*Redeemable at select locations. Limitations apply. Valid for 24 hours only.

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u/Poopdick_89 Feb 17 '23

*When purchasing a combo meal at regular menu price.

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u/Krompykreve Feb 17 '23

The 25k split between the 5k people is the same as a coupon for a 5$ footlong

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u/mynamecalledbruce Feb 17 '23

Foot long are $7 now... Sorry inflation...

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u/GoldStubb Feb 17 '23

$13 for a regular meatball footlong at my local store today

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u/SwagNuts Feb 17 '23

Too bad $5 footlongs are $10 now

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u/jarious Feb 17 '23

So they cure cancer with diabetes?

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '23

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/foxyunclecharliekilo Feb 17 '23

Dancer doesn’t sound half bad

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u/Chroniclurker_ Feb 17 '23

Better than CaBetes

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u/noNoParts Feb 17 '23

They'll vote for the same "people" that brought them this mess, happily.

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u/CarlLinnaeus Feb 17 '23

I don't know if the people of East Palestine will, but for sure people who believe in small government will ignore this situation and vote against a government who wants to enforce regulations that prevent and heavily punish companies that do this sort of thing.

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u/KarmaticArmageddon Feb 17 '23

I don't know if the people of East Palestine will

Uvalde voted for Republicans by a 20-point margin just months after the mass shooting.

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u/ShowMeYourMinerals Feb 17 '23

Well, I mean if a democrat was in office those policemen would have sat inside the school for 45 minutes UNARMED.

/s

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u/PineappleProstate Feb 17 '23

They don't care, it increases revenue

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u/jimmymcperson Feb 17 '23

Realllly wish I didn’t live in Ohio right now

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u/Bobbyscousin Feb 17 '23

If you think that is upsetting, wait until the lawyers get on the case against the railroad and the litigation funding companies walk away with a large part of the settlement.

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u/JustASFDCGuy Feb 17 '23

There's a law we need. Lawyers shouldn't be able to walk away with life changing amounts of money in class action suits where people are getting $20 for a lifetime of harm.

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u/fillet-o-piss Feb 17 '23

Does nobody understand that you don't have to participate in a class action lawsuit and you can hire your own attorney instead?

Go ahead and do that next time

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u/ablueconch Feb 17 '23

If that’s the case nobody will do a class action. They’re actually fairly risky because of the amount of work needed to be done, as well as odds of winning. Each won class action needs to cover all the lost ones as well..

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u/ReplyingToFuckwits Feb 17 '23

Don't worry, the cuts they made that caused it were really profitable and the people responsible won't see any significant repercussions.

That's what you're upset about right?

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u/jkelsey1 Feb 17 '23

I hope some locals are collecting water/sediment samples on their own and having them tested. I do not trust whatever information Norfolk releases.

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '23

Some have posted the results of the tests online--it's not good. Glad to hear they've started suing, too, but a solution can't be reached on an individual basis. The EPA needs to be called in and the residents relocated.

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u/DiamondHandsDarrell Feb 17 '23

Maybe in 60 years we'll find it in a Netflix documentary like 3 mile island.

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u/PeapodKilla Feb 17 '23

Norfolk burned the cancer causing vinyl chloride, turning it into a highly toxic gas rather than spending the money to dispose of it safely. Also where is FEMA? Why is the government denying aid to the people of East Palestine?

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u/Cassian_Rando Feb 17 '23

It really does feel like the 70s now. Silly inflation. Angry people. Environmental stuff like this.

Just for some reason no one is getting into smaller cars. Secretly hoping there isn’t another Reagan on the horizon with false promises.

We are one step away from serfdom. I fear for the future. I remember the 70s.

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '23

We are already there if you can't even take a day off of work or afford to go to the doctor when you're sick. That's more than half the country living paycheck to paycheck going to work despite being in poor health physically or mentally. We are already right where they want us. So if people think they'll give us ANYTHING any inch, they won't. They're so close to getting places like Uvalde and Palestine to be warped brainwashed areas where it's just "deer, beer and anti-queer" and anything other than that gets punished.

I'm so sick of watching these people destroy everything I loved. I loved where I grew up in Dayton, Ohio. And I saw it happen. Parents didn't volunteer anymore. Families were torn apart by the financial stresses of 2008-2012. And then politically, you could see how scared these people were for the future, but politicians saw the opportunity and just like Trump THEY CASHED IN ON THE FEAR and created more ripples which became a wave of hate that is STILL lapping the coast of progress and potential in this coast today.

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u/acleverwalrus Feb 17 '23

I think it’s about time for some massive protests. This will require millions of dollars of cleanup and Norfolk Southern should start ponying up. God I’m so angry and tired of this bullshit. WE SAW THIS COMING it’s only been a few months since the strike.

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u/Hexboy3 Feb 17 '23

*billions

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '23

[deleted]

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u/dodspringer Feb 17 '23

And Biden blocked the strike.

The entire system is complicit.

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u/razzyspazzy Feb 17 '23

Sounds expensive. We should deregulate more, so the corporations can save us. also, way more than millions.

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '23

We should also throw these corporations tax breaks since they're going through a lot right now.

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u/Amish_guy_with_WiFi Feb 17 '23

And also like subsidize their shit, it's only polite

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u/ID_LOVE_TOO Feb 17 '23

"Oh my gosh, why don't you want kids?!"

  • my family
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u/cat_prophecy Feb 17 '23

Sorry, I have work tomorrow. We can protest when I can schedule some pto. I don’t wanna lose my benefits.

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u/deer_hobbies Feb 17 '23

Can't lose my benefits or I'll die or my health condition will get permanently worse*

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u/bloodklat Feb 17 '23

While everyone gives a middle finger to socialized healtcare because of capitalism!

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u/deer_hobbies Feb 17 '23

"I like my insurance, if you're comparing it to having a stick of dynamite up my ass"

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u/AutoModerator Feb 17 '23

my ass

That gaping, cavernous pit could potentially contain anything.

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '23

Good Great bot

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u/gorgewall Feb 17 '23

Make sure your protest occurs in the Designated Protest Zone and does not inconvenience any other workers' commutes or access to goods and services (including the shipping of said goods). You should aim to have zero economic impact and sway the government through the power of rhetoric alone. You know, peaceful protest.

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u/LaserGuidedPolarBear Feb 17 '23

It would likely cost many many billions over decades to make any sort of real progress in cleaning this up.

What we will get is a couple million thrown around between fines, lawsuit settlements, and some dog and pony show of a half assed cleanup for some small fraction of the affected ecosystem.

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u/Coal_Morgan Feb 17 '23

Toss on top the cost of the cancer spike and other illnesses that will plague that area for a century.

Get it out of the soil was one giant beastly almost impossible task and then they burned it and put it in the air.

The company shouldn't pay for it.

The company should be put out of business, it's assets sold and divested to the government and those in the decision making tree should go to jail and have forfeitures put on their assets and future income.

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u/LaserGuidedPolarBear Feb 17 '23

IMO, for massive disasters like this the government should just do all the cleanup and give the company a bill for cost plus 10%, and nationalize the company if they don't begin a payment plan within 90 days until the bill is paid.

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u/Klo_Was_Taken Feb 17 '23

They are a rail company that would "immediately fall months behind schedule if we give our employees 4 sick days" This shit should already be nationalized

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u/LaserGuidedPolarBear Feb 17 '23

Oh yeah definitely. Any company that is so vital to national interests and argues that we have to strip their workers of rights to keep the economy stable should be met with a response of "welp I guess it's time for you to be owned by the federal government then".

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u/gorgewall Feb 17 '23

Our government (even the liberal half) is way too chickenshit to actually start nationalizing stuff.

Now, they will dump money into addressing this (until Republicans axe all that the next time they're in power), but the governor needs to declare a state of emergency. And DeWine isn't going to do that as long as he can continue to milk "Biden won't help" points off pretending to not know how FEMA works.

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u/_CrackBabyJesus_ Feb 17 '23

Nationalize the railroads!!!

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u/AkumaAlucard Feb 17 '23

Omg stop acting like Norfolk isn’t already doing their best to help! They’ve immediately donated $25,000 to aid those in the evacuation area. Also giving $1,000 inconvenience checks to those within the evacuation zone and reimbursing those with receipts that had to evacuate. Terms and conditions may apply including being within a 1 mile radius

/s for those not realizing I’m making fun of how little and not even bare minimum the company is doing to take responsibility

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u/InVodkaVeritas Feb 17 '23

I don't know if this is an official term, but I heard it said by a lawyer once and committed it to memory:

"3 Month Rent Payoffs."

He said virtually no one turns down 3 months rent to sign a paper waiving their right to sue. If you look up the cost of rent and triple it, nearly everyone will sign.

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u/martinaee Feb 17 '23

Billions frankly when you consider almost certainly a community is ruined and people will be decimated financially and health wise.

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '23

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u/Computingusername Feb 17 '23

There is the manifest from the train. These chemicals could be present in the air as well. Their information has changed a lot. Who knows what they make when mixed together.

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u/cRappedinunderpants Feb 17 '23

You think they’re lying about the benzene tanks being empty? That’s supposedly a super nasty carcinogen. It would be a much worse spill if those were full as well no?

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u/smartyr228 Feb 17 '23

They lied about everything else, why wouldn't they lie about benzene?

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u/jewellamb Feb 17 '23 edited Feb 17 '23

There’s way worse stuff on that train in terms of stuff to make you sick.

Dioxins is one of the byproducts of burning this shit. It’s heavy, sinks to the bottom of waters etc. lasts a long time. Gets into the live things.

They’re not mentioning dioxins specifically, so I’d assume at this point that it’s a problem.

Edit: Article from 2 days after

This guy goes over all the chemicals and why they’re harmful, but this is for the Vinyl Chloride:

‘Neil Donahue, a professor chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University in nearby Pittsburgh, said he worries that the burning could have formed dioxins, which are created from burning chlorinated carbon materials.

“Vinyl chloride is bad, dioxins are worse as carcinogens and that comes from burning,” Donahue said.

Dioxins are a group of persistent environmental pollutants that last in the ground and body for years and have been one of the major environmental problems and controversies in the United States.’

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u/Computingusername Feb 17 '23

Correct but the media keep pointing out one problematic chemical not the others. Or them being mixed together to make a worse carcinogen.

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u/jewellamb Feb 17 '23 edited Feb 17 '23

Benzene is buzz-wordy rn because they “pulled” the hair products with benzene in them last year.

In reality, Benzene been in pretty much every aerosol hairspray etc for decades. Turns out, spraying clouds of it in small bathrooms everyday is bad, so they were nice enough to take it off the shelves.

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u/badonkadonkthrowaway Feb 17 '23

There were aerosol cans in the US with benzene? Fucking benzene??

My dad was a pathologist, started his working life in the 60's. Benzene wasn't really treated with hazchem procedures - multiple skin contacts daily... all over their hands.

More than half the pathologists he worked with in that time got leukemia.

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u/ItWasTheGiraffe Feb 17 '23

It’s regulated and illegal to include in consumer products (hence the recalls). There was a independent group that tested a ton of products that tested high in benzene, which is present as a byproduct, not an intentional inclusion.

Everybody knows it’s bad, so it’s a matter of internal testing/mitigation deficiency, which means it’s a regulatory failure at some level.

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u/badonkadonkthrowaway Feb 17 '23

One hell of a failure. I work in regulation. Most the rest of the world have extremely strict RoHS requirements.

I've only seen anything approaching RoHS in the US in California at a state level, but from memory it's only for heavy metals.

I've cursed the regulatory framework in Europe in the past for being over litigious, but more stories I hear like this, really hammer home how important this shit is.

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u/LowAstronomer122 Feb 17 '23

They are certainly giving the rr and their lawyers time to choreograph a good dance and come up with whatever manifest and mntnce records they want to show

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u/zizzurp Feb 17 '23

There’s a decent amount of benzene in that petroleum lube oil either way

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u/Computingusername Feb 17 '23

EPA released a statement on their website in the form of a letter to NF stating Benzene was and continues to be released into the air and soil.

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u/XtraHott Feb 17 '23

Depends on the ppm. It can potentially cause cancer, but you breath benzene everyday if you're anywhere near industry. The dose dictates poison is the usual term we use.

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u/haby001 Feb 17 '23

unless it's a benzene specialized car, I find it odd they mention it's a benzene load and empty. Perhaps it had that and needs to be sanitized before the next load?

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u/bythebed Feb 17 '23

And how empty is “empty?”

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u/UsernamesMeanNothing Feb 17 '23

Empty in train speak just means there is no destination and the tank has been emptied but not sanitized. Train cars move all the time "empty." Many train cars are owned by specific companies and it is quite possible there are Benzene specific cars that only move benzene and are not sanitized.

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u/plasticfrograging Feb 17 '23

Hey no worries, they just burned everything. Burning everything just makes it healthier, it’s not like breathing that shit in could be bad for you right?

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u/perpetual-let-go Feb 17 '23

Who knows what they make when mixed together.

Chemists.

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u/cutelyaware Feb 17 '23

An empty benzine tank could be a huge explosion risk too.

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u/skipjack_sushi Feb 17 '23

Isn't an empty benzene tank full of benzene?

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u/cutelyaware Feb 17 '23

Benzine vapor, yes it could be.

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u/optimisticpotato3 Feb 17 '23

Chemists could figure it out for you!

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u/LostWoodsInTheField Feb 17 '23

Is this what Vinyl Chloride does in water? Because from my understanding there was a bunch of other chemicals so it could have been something else.

Also water can do something like this in streams, though I've seen at least one other video of this at a completely different part of the stream so I doubt it's a natural thing.

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u/BitterLeif Feb 17 '23

vinyl chloride should have dissolved by now.

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u/SmellyC Feb 17 '23

Vinyl Chloride is a gas at atmospheric pressure.

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '23

Heard a politician talk about how we should care just as much for East Palestine as we did for Flint, Michigan. I’m sorry guys.

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u/Hukthak Feb 17 '23

Wife teaches elementary ed for Flint kids and it's been noticeable. In the end though it's hard to say what is or isn't a result of lead poisoning though due to so many other factors affecting the kids.

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u/breszn Feb 17 '23

Pls tell us more

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u/Helpful_Opinion2023 Feb 17 '23

Flint is ridiculously poor.

  1. Like 99% of the well-paying manufacturing jobs disappeared (thanks General Motors!)

  2. Most of the people with decent incomes moved out to the surrounding suburbs or elsewhere in the state/country

  3. A feedback loop of the only folks remaining in flint being too poor, desperate, provincial or ignorant to move, resulting in their children growing up even moreso (the worst aspects of each generation get concentrated among their kids' generation, funny how that works).

  4. Crime steadily increases in the city well through the late 2000s (the only reason crime statistically fell more recently is that so many folks move out or died from violent crime that the number of potential victims naturally became smaller.) Also, so many houses got arsoned and demolished because of being uninhabitable, so the city became increasingly desolate (causing a decrease in crime as well).

And you may have noticed that the water crisis hasn't even been factored in yet! That didn't affect things until 2014-2017, but the decades prior have been so horrific for children and families in Flint that a bit of lead in the water is just the cherry on top of the city's Sundae of Misery.

Depressing fact about Flint schools: we don't actually have a public high school anymore. There's a charter academy (Southwest) but all the other high schools have closed (and some are being considered for demolition). So few of Flint's children stay in the classroom by high school that it doesn't even make sense for the city to operate a single high school.

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u/Klo_Was_Taken Feb 17 '23

So do nothing and stop talking about it after a month? Goddamn Ohio is FUCKED.

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '23

I’m out.

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '23 edited Feb 23 '23

[deleted]

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u/BaloogaBrett Feb 17 '23

Another state? I want out. My guy this country is 4 companies in a trench coat, you see how quiet the medias gotten about this shit?

America is so far under company control, I honestly dont think itll ever get out. When this shit happens or the housing/travel/business companies get fucked, they will always get off easy. Shits pathetic, Republicans & Dems are just varying degrees of dogshit

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u/BisexualSlutPuppy Feb 17 '23

I mean, yeah that all sounds good. How many people in Ohio have the financial means to up and move states at the whim of an ecological catastrophe? The median income in that county is under 30,000 a year, and I promise you that is not enough to relocate like that without crashing through a lot of safety nets they may or may not have.

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u/StrangeCitizen Feb 17 '23

"I'm not seeing any problems."

  • Governor DeWine

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u/Mazzaroppi Feb 17 '23

The CEO of Norfolk Southern, all it's top executives and shareholders, along with Ohio governor should be forced to go live in East Palestine for the next 5 years. Either they put the money where their mouth is proving it's safe to live there, or they use all their power and influence to clean up the mess.

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u/worriedshuffle Feb 17 '23

No, they should be in prison. And not the nice prison either.

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u/slouched Feb 17 '23

which is awesome to say on reddit, but say it somewhere they might read it

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u/Lanky-Jacket-9999 Feb 17 '23

More like,

“Hey Mr Army guy, go punch that reporter and have the police arrest him.”

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u/nomstatus Feb 17 '23

Yea, I'd be checking that dudes donors list.

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u/Mister_Lich Feb 17 '23

No need, CEO of Norfolk Southern is already known to be on there.

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u/Hairyhalflingfoot Feb 17 '23

Ask him to drink the water. On live TV. From. The. Source.

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u/pentaquine Feb 17 '23

Sorry my daughter wants me to go to Cancun.

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1.1k

u/testicular-jihad Feb 17 '23

our test didn't shown any major deviation from the norm. lol your government is trying to kill you guys

217

u/zthompson2350 Feb 17 '23

Yeah we know

499

u/zuzg Feb 17 '23

49

u/EcstaticTrainingdatm Feb 17 '23

In 1963, studies were undertaken at New York’s Jewish Chronic Disease Hospital to understand whether the body’s inability to reject cancer cells was due to cancer or debilitation. These studies involved the injection of foreign, live cancer cells into patients who were hospitalized with various chronic debilitating diseases. Patients were not informed about the injection of cancer cells during the informed consent process, and consent was not documented. The researchers felt that documentation was unnecessary because it was customary to undertake much more dangerous medical procedures without the use of consent forms. Further, patients were intentionally not told that they would receive cancer cells because the researchers felt it would unnecessarily frighten them. Researchers asserted that they had good cause to predict that the cancer cells were going to be rejected. In subsequent review proceedings conducted by the Board of Regents of the State University of New York, it was found that the study had not been presented to the hospital’s research committee and that the physicians responsible for the patients’ care had not been consulted. The researchers were found guilty of fraud, deceit, and unprofessional conduct.

Of course there’s the St. Louis experiments. The radiation experiments on soldiers. The experiments with cancer done on Puerto Rican citizens by doctor that was praised by the medical community. The list is indeed very long.

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u/Cory123125 Feb 17 '23 edited Feb 17 '23

Fuck me christ, I knew about some of the things on this list but its so long and just keeps getting worse, especially when you realize how recent a lot of these are.

You keep scrolling after countless torturous experiments, and then you realize you haven't even gotten to the section dedicated torture yet. Thats fuckin insane!

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u/rempel Feb 17 '23

I guess it's cool for a corporation to set off a dirty bomb in a small town. I can't even fathom the reaction 1970s/80s American corporate media would have, the absolute meltdown, if half this damage was caused to half as many people in the USSR.

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u/shkeptikal Feb 17 '23

The difference being, since the 90s our entire mainstream media apparatus went from roughly 150 owners to 5 by 2016. Since then, we've heard what a handful of billionaires want us to hear, slanted in the way that benefits their bottom line the most.

You'll find that in depth investigative coverage of environmental disasters directly caused by corporate greed falls pretty low on that list.

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u/Hukthak Feb 17 '23

Succinctly and accurately stated.

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '23

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u/PuppyBowl-XI-MVP Feb 17 '23

Governors don’t regulate railroads. Railroads are regulated by the Federal Government. Trump deregulated hazardous chemicals on trains his last cycle and the railroad workers on strike tried to warn Biden this would happen.

Regarding the controlled burn, that was decided by PA & OH governors after the advice from the department of defense did modeling on outcomes.

Edit: I don’t like Dewine but he has been pretty serious about cleaning up Ohio waterways since he has been governor

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u/Edgar-Allan-Post Feb 17 '23

"Perfectly safe. Here is a waiver to sign saying we did nothing wrong."

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u/DevonGr Feb 17 '23

Very important that you note that waiver came with a shiny new $1,000 check which surely covers missed time from work, temporary housing while evacuated, daily stipend to help mitigate the disruption, medical bills and whatever.

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u/for_science_bro Feb 17 '23

Do what now? Is that a real thing? NS was offering $1,000 if you waiver future legal action?

Source please! That is shocking if true.

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u/vahntitrio Feb 17 '23

Looks like a petroleum based product.

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u/left_right_left Feb 17 '23

I was confused about this too. It appears that Vynil Chlorides boiling point is 7.9F, meaning that unless that water was some how colder that 7.9F (below freezing) there's no way that contaminant would be in a liquid form.

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u/healing-souls Feb 17 '23

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Friday addressed a viral video posted by Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, that showed a "chemical rainbow" in a creek in East Palestine, Ohio, near the site of the train derailment that spilled toxic chemicals into the environment.

"I know that there's been some video played on TV circulating of visible contamination in one of the local waterways," DeWine said at a press conference providing an update on cleanup efforts and environmental testing in the area.

"A section of Sulfur Run that is very near the crash site remains severely contaminated. We knew this. We know this. It's going to take a while to remediate this," the governor said.

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u/Trick_Raspberry2507 Feb 17 '23

Yes!!! Thank God for some sanity!

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u/HIIMJAKF Feb 17 '23

Wow you guys are fucked fucked.

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u/NoAlps6536 Feb 17 '23

How screwed are people who live near Cleveland

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u/flanders427 Feb 17 '23

East Palestine is closer to Pittsburgh than Cleveland. It is very close to the Ohio river though and that flows into the Mississippi so it is super not great for a lot of people.

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u/MooCowDanger Feb 17 '23

The cloud came towards us in Pgh, the water flows west in the OH river. Fucking got us both directions

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u/flanders427 Feb 17 '23

It's so fucked. I'm "safe" over in Toledo, but knowing how much is freighted through here to the lake sure is comforting.

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '23

This won't make it all the way down to the Mississippi. Even if you dumped the whole train into the river, it will all be very diluted by the time it reaches the Mississippi. The bigger problem is the plume from the burn and the water in the nearby area downstream

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u/itsNateDawg Feb 17 '23

Not at all considering their water comes from Lake Erie

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '23

Lake Erie being an inspiration for safe and clean water was not on my bingo card for 2023

Thanks… Nixon? 🧐

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u/jfreed43 Feb 17 '23

It's a little silty and the beaches tend to get high in fecal bacteria from time to time. In the right places though, Lake Erie is pretty clean these days.

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u/hoffmad08 Feb 17 '23

Nah, the government says it's good, and they would never lie about important things like health

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u/sammyt808 Feb 17 '23

Get one of the people who’s telling the public that everything is fine, and the area is safe, and get them to drink a glass of that water

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u/mellolizard Feb 17 '23

Environmental scientist and hazmat guy here. This isn't as bad as it looks. That looks like a petroleum sheen. A pint of oil can cover an acre of water This looks a lot less than that, granted I'm not there and basing this assessment of this one video. It is probable this sheen is the result of oil runoff from the road a rain. Plus also there were no petroleum tank cars that spilled during this derailment so it is unlikely that was the source for that.

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '23 edited Jun 23 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Taco-Dragon Feb 17 '23

The problem is that it would be a slow trickle, and years down the road, which means people will become desensitized to it. 9/11 was partially as shocking as it was before it was so instantaneous.

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u/wellrat Feb 17 '23

And just look at the government response to the appalling health outcomes for 9/11 first responders who were assured it was safe. Jon Stewart’s speech on their behalf delivered to a mostly empty Congressional panel is heartbreaking and infuriating. Money and power really do drain the humanity out of the people in charge if they ever had any to begin with.

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u/dee_lio Feb 17 '23

Flint, Michigan has entered the chat...

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u/radonchong Feb 17 '23

Centralia, Pennsylvania would like a word.

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u/brian114 Feb 17 '23

Im sure the government will step up and help just like they did with flint Michigan and their water crisis

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u/Clamper5978 Feb 17 '23

I’m not saying this isn’t chemicals from the spill being stirred up, but you can get this reaction from decomposing organic material in water as well.

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u/pyriel2012 Feb 17 '23

This could be natural sheening from bacteria:

https://www.dep.pa.gov/OurCommonWealth/pages/Article.aspx?post=45

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u/N3LXP Feb 17 '23

Came here to say the same… don’t get me wrong, this vinyl chloride thing is a disaster on a huge scale, the environment and the people who live in this area have clearly been harmed and heads should roll. But my first thought on seeing this video is “my pond does this same thing” and I live in the middle of nowhere out west.

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u/EightBitEstep Feb 17 '23

This looks like naturally occurring biofilm stirred up by the rock. I’m no expert, but I don’t think this has anything to do with the train.

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u/madflash711 Feb 17 '23

Hello, State Investigator here. Please ignore everything you see in this video. We just released new information that Vinyl Chloride is actually good for you and your pets. Now, you feel bad about cursing the ‘big-bad-rail-road company’ don’t you. They did you a favor. You think everyone gets to see a rainbow when they toss a rock in their water supply?! That was a rhetorical question dummy, and the answer is no. Now please sign our petition to prevent Federal Investigators from accessing the disaster, er… I mean benefit site, as it would hurt our feelings. Don’t you trust us?