Riding on the Railroad to Reform
Authors: Olivia Hynes and Maya Efrati
Imagine getting ready to go to bed one night in your small town when you suddenly hear fire truck alarms blaring down the street. You instinctively look out your window to find hellish fire and smoke filling the sky, something you had previously seen only on TV. Suddenly, you are ordered to evacuate your home without being told what had happened.
While this seems to be straight out of a nightmare, this was the reality for thousands of residents in East Palestine, Ohio, when a freight train operated by Norfolk Southern derailed there on February 3, 2023. 38 of the 149 train cars derailed, 11 of which were carrying highly flammable, toxic chemicals including vinyl chloride, a carcinogen. What followed was an endless string of disappointments outlining how East Palestine residents’ safety was disregarded at every turn—even before the train derailed.
The state of Ohio was not informed before the derailment disaster that this train was going to carry highly hazardous materials. After the derailment struck East Palestine, only residents within a 1-mile radius of the disaster location were ordered to evacuate, despite that the smoke from the chemical fire was picked up by weather radars beyond Ohio’s borders. To add insult to injury, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine extended the evacuation notice on February 6, 2023, and notified the public that a controlled release and burn of these toxic chemicals would be conducted—...
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