Burning vinyl chloride in a ditch is an uncontrolled burn which will produce thousands of pounds of dioxins (the stuff buried at Love Canal) and the most toxic of all chemicals. Dioxin testing is expensive and requires specialized expertise/equipment.A controlled burn of vinyl chloride would have required a special closed Hazmat incinerator capable of thousands of degrees. The Palestine train disaster is a big cover up. Great article. Shame on Biden’s lack of response and shame on Norfolk Southern
Great piece! If Norfolk Southern can't afford to have two workers on a single train, imagine how often they get around to maintaining the tracks? Apparently, the tracks are the primary cause of derailment. And why should they be carrying hazardous materials if they can't manage better than a thousand derailments a year? Say, didn't we just spend a lot of money on infrastructure?
This is just horrible to have to read about and honestly shows the depth of depravity to which this country has fallen. I live in a small rural community in Texas where railroad tracks run just 500 yards behind my home, and I can only imagine the pain the good folks of East Palestine are suffering. I keep them in my prayers for only God can take this and make something good of it.
Thanks, Pedro. You're doing great work. I'm glad I subscribed after I read your long thread on the history of US color revolution in Ukraine.
There seems to be lots of blame to go around for this incident. I thought your article was balanced on assigning blame to government and the industry. It's obvious from your account that Norfolk Southern is a very poorly run company.
I’m only a short-time subscriber but I’m becoming a fan of Mr Gonzalez; his pieces
are always so solidly-crafted and fact-driven, you never get the feeling of bloat or excess of opinion that mars other writers. You usually know where he stands but it’s understated, sometimes pleasantly ironic, or simply emerges out of the recitation of fact. I’m tempted to say there’s also something old-fashioned there too, but maybe that’s just a corollary of trusting the words you’re reading.
If the last 3 years have demonstrated anything about the federal government it would be the complete capture of every federal agency. Our health is being destroyed by toxins. They give you poison with then sell you a poisoned cure.FDA, CDC, FAA, EPA and so on. All run by industry and all failing the people the claim to want to protect. Dioxin should never be allowed to be transported. This stuff is used only to make PVC. They can produce the poison next to the PVC plants. Oh but how dare we talk common sense.
By the way is anyone concerned that our drinking water travels through pipes of PVC made from the most carcinogenic chemical known to us? I guess the rise in cancer the last 20 years is coincidental or bad genes and all that. Don’t worry those mRNA shots were originally made to cure cancer. Woops.
Re: your non-existent Press Pass/credentials: you can make your own Contra Press Pass by designing the badge on your computer making sure to put a big “PRESS” on it, printing it off and putting it in/on a lanyard.
Good article on the whole. Thank you for talking with these people and telling their story thoroughly. My only quibble: you seem to go out of your way to take shots at Trump. If you talked to ten residents of East Palestine, I don’t think but maybe 1 or 2 would characterize his trip as just about a photo-op. I watched his interactions with the people there. Their adulation and his natural affection for them is pretty clear to me. He didn’t play dress up like Buttigieg. What I like about Trump is that he’s authentic. He goes to these places in his navy suit and red tie and doesn’t pretend to be anything but himself--no affectations or fake accents or playing dress-up.
Pedro,
Thank you for an incredible blow-by-blow account of another tragedy which will have long term consequences for the people of East Palestine, Ohio.
Consequences will reach far beyond E Palestine
Good point, Kathie. It will never be discussed in the mainstream media.
But the rest of us "little people" will notice.
Heartbreaking and infuriating.
Burning vinyl chloride in a ditch is an uncontrolled burn which will produce thousands of pounds of dioxins (the stuff buried at Love Canal) and the most toxic of all chemicals. Dioxin testing is expensive and requires specialized expertise/equipment.A controlled burn of vinyl chloride would have required a special closed Hazmat incinerator capable of thousands of degrees. The Palestine train disaster is a big cover up. Great article. Shame on Biden’s lack of response and shame on Norfolk Southern
Great piece! If Norfolk Southern can't afford to have two workers on a single train, imagine how often they get around to maintaining the tracks? Apparently, the tracks are the primary cause of derailment. And why should they be carrying hazardous materials if they can't manage better than a thousand derailments a year? Say, didn't we just spend a lot of money on infrastructure?
This is just horrible to have to read about and honestly shows the depth of depravity to which this country has fallen. I live in a small rural community in Texas where railroad tracks run just 500 yards behind my home, and I can only imagine the pain the good folks of East Palestine are suffering. I keep them in my prayers for only God can take this and make something good of it.
Thanks, Pedro. You're doing great work. I'm glad I subscribed after I read your long thread on the history of US color revolution in Ukraine.
There seems to be lots of blame to go around for this incident. I thought your article was balanced on assigning blame to government and the industry. It's obvious from your account that Norfolk Southern is a very poorly run company.
I’m only a short-time subscriber but I’m becoming a fan of Mr Gonzalez; his pieces
are always so solidly-crafted and fact-driven, you never get the feeling of bloat or excess of opinion that mars other writers. You usually know where he stands but it’s understated, sometimes pleasantly ironic, or simply emerges out of the recitation of fact. I’m tempted to say there’s also something old-fashioned there too, but maybe that’s just a corollary of trusting the words you’re reading.
This was a great comprehensive piece on this disaster. Here is my legal analysis of it:
https://open.substack.com/pub/profvictoria/p/environmental-damage-that-keeps-on?r=bpwpi&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
If the last 3 years have demonstrated anything about the federal government it would be the complete capture of every federal agency. Our health is being destroyed by toxins. They give you poison with then sell you a poisoned cure.FDA, CDC, FAA, EPA and so on. All run by industry and all failing the people the claim to want to protect. Dioxin should never be allowed to be transported. This stuff is used only to make PVC. They can produce the poison next to the PVC plants. Oh but how dare we talk common sense.
By the way is anyone concerned that our drinking water travels through pipes of PVC made from the most carcinogenic chemical known to us? I guess the rise in cancer the last 20 years is coincidental or bad genes and all that. Don’t worry those mRNA shots were originally made to cure cancer. Woops.
Re: your non-existent Press Pass/credentials: you can make your own Contra Press Pass by designing the badge on your computer making sure to put a big “PRESS” on it, printing it off and putting it in/on a lanyard.
Good article on the whole. Thank you for talking with these people and telling their story thoroughly. My only quibble: you seem to go out of your way to take shots at Trump. If you talked to ten residents of East Palestine, I don’t think but maybe 1 or 2 would characterize his trip as just about a photo-op. I watched his interactions with the people there. Their adulation and his natural affection for them is pretty clear to me. He didn’t play dress up like Buttigieg. What I like about Trump is that he’s authentic. He goes to these places in his navy suit and red tie and doesn’t pretend to be anything but himself--no affectations or fake accents or playing dress-up.