The Issue: Official claims that it’s safe to return to East Palestine, Ohio, after a train carrying chemicals derailed.
At the site of the recent train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, after complaints about the water and air, Gov. Mike DeWine told everyone that air and water samples showed that it was safe for the residents to return (“Toxic mood in Ohio,” Feb. 16).
After seeing dead chickens and dead fish in the water on television and listening to interviews where residents complain about breathing problems and skin problems, I was reminded of 9/11.
Christine Todd Whitman, head of the Environmental Protection Agency under President George W. Bush on 9/11, told the public the air around Ground Zero was safe to breathe.
Whitman, of course, later admitted she was wrong. You need to study this story now, Gov. DeWine. Time is of the essence in this matter.
David Lipton
Toms River, NJ
Someone needs to explain how in the world the area with the toxic spill and the huge black clouds of pollution is safe.
Someone needs to explain how — with fish dying and visible oil in the water — the water’s safe. Someone needs to explain why there seems to be no federal aid forthcoming to the citizens in this ecological disaster.
Barry Levy
Hawthorne, Calif.
If the train derailment in East Palestine had occurred in a solid blue Democratic area, this administration would be all over it.
President Biden would be making one of his “everyman” speeches, expressing his heartfelt concern for his fellow Americans.
The incompetent Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg would be on site, expressing his deep concern for the good people there.
Instead, Biden says nothing. Buttigieg ignores it until public pressure forces him to issue a few insincere tweets about his “concern.”
The EPA shows up and reassures everyone that all is well, as people are getting sick and their pets and other wildlife are dying.
This administration is the most sinister, ruthless political machine in history. It is despicable.
Robert DiNardo
Farmingdale
Our government is letting us down again.
On 9/11, I was a chemical engineer working in Newark. When the towers came down, we saw lower Manhattan disappear in a cloud of smoke and dust. Personally, I was worried about what was in that cloud.
Initially, the EPA told us that they were sampling the air around the disaster site and it was safe. As we all know now, it was certainly not safe.
It is over 20 years later, and first responders along with people who lived and worked in that area are still suffering and dying from contact with that smoke and dust.
Now I am afraid that history is repeating itself. The derailment in East Palestine resulted in the discharge of large amounts of vinyl chloride and its combustion products. The EPA is again saying it is now safe for everyone to return home. I would not be willing to do that.
The residents deserve real answers. They do not need what is beginning to look like a government coverup.
Edward Carway
Somerset
It is incomprehensible that the Biden administration has denied FEMA aid to the people of East Palestine, Ohio.
The situation in that community is a disaster. What difference does it make that the disaster was man-made as opposed to a natural disaster, such as a hurricane?
The Biden administration is not shy about bending laws and regulations when it comes to the border or student loans.
How about bending a few rules to help out the citizens of East Palestine? By the way, has anyone seen Mayor Pete?
Kenneth Fitzgerald
Hicksville
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