Please enjoy this article from DMHS's "Introduction to Journalism" class.
The recent Ohio train derailment has caused a life and death situation.
On Friday February 3, 2023 tragedy hit the village of East Palestine, Ohio. A Norfolk Southern Freight Train was carrying the dangerous chemical called vinyl chloride, which is flammable, without adequate protection around them, leading to a cloud of chemicals raining down on people and pets in the town, forcing hundreds of people to evacuate. When the substances leaked from the damaged train cars, boiling liquid and gas started pouring down killing animals and causing people to get sick. Vinyl chloride is also a known carcinogen.
One of the potential byproducts of burning vinyl chloride is hydrochloric acid in the atmosphere. We don't know if it's there yet but only time will tell.
The media is downplaying the incident and not providing widespread information about the incident. The NowThis Tiktok account showed footage of a journalist, Evan Lambert, being arrested for making a live report at the site of the incident. Police said he was being loud and aggressive. But according to video footage, all Lambert was doing was asking questions about the chemicals and how they would affect the water and air supply. Local officials and train company officials have tried to limit media coverage.
The chemicals have leaked into the Ohio River Basin according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The Ohio River Basin supplies water to 25 million people in the area.
Norfolk Southern Freight labeled their train as non hazardous which they knew was a lie. They did this to save money. The same company previously successfully lobbied the government to put less restrictions on trains carrying hazardous chemicals.
After the crash, the local government burned off the excess chemicals, which has concerned residents.
Amanda Breshears, a local, was interviewed about the aftermath. "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," Breshears said. "If it can do this to chickens in one night, imagine what it's going to do to us in 20 years." The rashes Breshear found on her chickens were caused by all the chemicals.
East Palestine Ohio is still in bad condition. The train incident has caused a chemical scare and a life-or-death situation.
Grace Turner is an 8th grader at DMHS.
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