The Biden administration still refuses to provide disaster relief to residents in East Palestine, Ohio. This after the administration explained why, because the derailment of a train carrying hazardous chemicals that now have poisoned an entire community in Ohio, doesn’t qualify.
This past week the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency released the results of tests it had conducted on the local water supply. They claim that the water is safe.
“These results show no detection of contaminants in raw water from the five wells that feed into East Palestine’s municipal water system,” the agency said.
VERY troubling. @JDVance1 is right. This needs to be cleaned up NOW. https://t.co/spG1eq8QpJ
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) February 16, 2023
“Test results from the combined, treated water from all five wells also showed no detection of contaminants associated with the derailment,” the agency’s statement continued.
The conclusion was that the Ohio EPA was “confident” that municipal water is safe to drink.
However, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance thinks otherwise. The Republican Senator visited the area on Thursday to conduct a test of his own. The results showed a far different and frankly stunning difference to that of the EPA claims.
Vance performed a simple test, he dragged a stick along the bed of a local creek. Immediately, toxins could be seen bubbling up to the water’s surface.
"I've got to say: the Secretary of Transportation not talking about this issue…talking about how we have too many white-male construction workers instead of the fact that our trains are crashing at alarming rates. The guy needs to do his job." – Senator @JDVance1 pic.twitter.com/WzTizjk0Hh
— William Martin (@wsmartin218) February 15, 2023
“Hey guys, so I’m here at Leslie Run and there are dead worms and dead fish all throughout this water,” Vance said in a Twitter video. “Something I just discovered is that if you scrape the creek bed, it’s like chemical is coming out of the ground.”
“Just see that chemical pop out of the creek,” he said. “This is disgusting. And the fact that we have not cleaned up [from] the train crash, the fact that these chemicals are still seeping in the ground is an insult to the people who live in East Palestine.
Visited a local creek in East Palestine today. These waterways are still very polluted. It’s time for Norfolk Southern to finish the cleanup. Check this video out: pic.twitter.com/4lsHBmrMJj
— J.D. Vance (@JDVance1) February 16, 2023
“Do not forget these people. We’ve got to keep applying pressure. That’s how we’re gonna fix this problem. Thank you.”
The Ohio EPA claims water quality sampling from the creek on Feb. 10 showed “very low levels of two contaminants, butyl acylate and ethyl hexyl acrylate … which dissipates quickly.”
