UPDATE: Train chemical spillage in East Palestine, Ohio, could leave 30 million US citizens without drinking water

UPDATE: Chemical spillage in East Palestine, Ohio, could leave 30 million US citizens without drinking water

Image of the town of East Palestine, Ohio. Credit: Google maps - Gilad Keinan

The derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, could leave up to 30 million people without drinking water after the Ohio River reportedly became contaminated.

Tuesday, February 14 at 1:22am

The train derailment incident that occurred in the Ohio town of East Palestine on February 4 looks likely to affect up to 30 million people who reside in the Ohio River Basin. Chemicals – including vinyl chloride –  that were being transported on the train leaked into and reportedly subsequently contaminated the Ohio River.

This waterway supplies roughly 10 per cent of the US population with its drinking water. It also provides water for businesses located along its length, all the way into West Virginia, according to @rawsalerts.

Monday, February 13 at 8:52pm

One of the biggest environmental disasters of all time in America is looming in the Ohio state town of East Palestine. Last February 3, a Norfolk Southern train with 20 sections transporting around 100,000 gallons of toxic vinyl chloride derailed.

The shipment subsequently caught fire and exploded some days later, while part of the load also leaked into a local river. Plumes of toxic gases were sent into the atmosphere. Acute exposure to vinyl chloride is not recommended. It is a known mutagen that has clastogenic effects which affect lymphocyte chromosomal structure.

Vinyl chloride is a Group 1 human carcinogen posing elevated risks of rare angiosarcoma, brain and lung tumours, and malignant haematopoietic lymphatic tumours.

It has now been revealed today, Monday, February 13, that the spillage of this chemical – and possibly three others – into local water courses has led to the death of many fish. The water is believed to have become contaminated and crops and livestock on nearby farms have been destroyed, presumably from the toxic fallout from the explosion.

As shown in footage uploaded onto Twitter by the Upwards News site, local officials are trawling the rivers and discovering nothing but dead fish.

Hazardous materials specialist, Sil Caggiano, was amazed that residents were allowed to go back to their homes so soon after the incident occurred.

“I would’ve far rather they did all the testing first, There’s a lot of what ifs, and we’re going to be looking at this thing 5, 10, 15, 20 years down the line and wondering, ‘Gee, cancer clusters could pop up, you know, well water could go bad. We basically nuked a town with chemicals so we could get a railroad open”, he commented, as reported by dailymail.co.uk.

As Ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, I demand that @POTUS and @DeptofDefense tell us what they know – and what they don’t – immediately”, tweeted Rand Paul, the US Senator for Kentucky.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Republican Congresswoman representing Georgia’s 14th District tweeted: “East Palestine, Ohio is undergoing an ecological disaster bc authorities blew up the train derailment cars carrying hazardous chemicals and press are being arrested for trying to tell the story”.

Social media is buzzing with users talking about a film called ‘White Noise’ that was made in 2021 from a book written in 1985. Its plot centres around a train carrying toxic chemicals that crashes – in Ohio! Some of the residents of east Palestine were even extras in the production apparently.

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Written by

Chris King

Originally from Wales, Chris spent years on the Costa del Sol before moving to the Algarve where he is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com

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