Nine months after the U.S. “poison train” accident, nearby residents are still uneasy. The governor’s visit was questioned as a “show”_Hangzhou Net

A freight train carrying dangerous goods derailed in Kentucky, USA, on the afternoon of the 22nd, causing a fire and releasing toxic gas. Hundreds of local residents were evacuated. In fact, since this year, there have been many derailments of trains carrying dangerous goods in the United States. In early February, a train derailed in Ohio, releasing a large amount of toxic chemicals. More than nine months after the accident, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine recently visited the town of East Palestine where the accident occurred. But local residents said the town was still unsafe and that DeWine’s arrival was questioned as just a “show.”

DeWine traveled to the town of East Palestine last week, visiting places such as East Palestine High School and speaking with officials from the EPA and the Ohio Department of Health.

DeWine hopes to regain the trust of local residents through this trip. However, some residents said that people in their communities are still plagued by a variety of health problems.

East Palestine Township resident Jamie Wallace: We still have kids here getting rashes, we still have kids or other people in the community getting nosebleeds for no reason, and we know everything is not okay here.

Leslie Pacey, an investigator with the U.S. non-profit Government Accountability Project, questioned whether the Ohio governor’s visit was just a “show.”

GAP Investigator Leslie Pacey: Who is Governor DeWine talking to? Had he spoken to the residents who were living a nightmare of illness from the train derailment and subsequent chemical burns? If not to those residents, who was the governor talking to?

On February 3 this year, a Norfolk Southern freight train in the United States derailed while passing through the town of East Palestine. 50 carriages, including five carriages carrying dangerous goods such as vinyl chloride, derailed or were damaged. Emergency crews conducted what is known as a “controlled release” of the vinyl chloride tanker. Train derailments and “controlled releases” have caused large amounts of toxic chemicals to enter the air, water and soil, creating an environmental crisis. The town’s residents are still suffering the adverse health and environmental consequences of the accident.

There have been multiple derailments of trains carrying dangerous goods in the United States this year

There have also been a number of derailments of trains carrying dangerous goods in the United States this year. On March 30, a train carrying ethanol and other cargo derailed and caught fire near the town of Raymond in Kandiyohi County, Minnesota. On April 15, a freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed and caught fire in Maine, injuring at least three people.