The Long Nightmare of Ohio's Toxic Train

• PAUL SCARPELLINI

  @pscarpe

  The Angels

Updated Friday, February 17, 2023-10:14

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• The Look of the Correspondent Seattle schools, against the evil of the networks

Jenna Giannios

, a 39-year-old wedding photographer, has been coughing non-stop for a week and a half.

She has stopped drinking tap water and says she is uncomfortable taking a shower in her house.

.

She is not the only one in a constant state of unease after a freight train loaded with

highly

derailed on February 3 near

, a small town of 4,700 on the

-Pennsylvania border.

Two weeks later, the scenario is still gruesome.

Of the almost 150 carriages of the Atlanta-based

company train , 38 derailed, causing a

subsequent

that eventually spilled

a nearby river.

Department of Natural Resources

said the chemical spill

along more than 10 kilometers of streams surrounding the town as of Wednesday.

They are not the only animals affected.

A resident of North Lima, about 15 kilometers east of where the

occurred, says five of her chickens and a rooster were suddenly found dead on Tuesday, just a day after a controlled burning of some of them took place. derailed wagons as a precautionary measure.

The

that was generated left

to remember and the feeling that the collateral damage could be long-lasting.

Several neighbors have complained of

and

, but officials in both

and

say it's safe to return home.

," Cathey Reese, a neighbor from Negley, Ohio, told a local network.

Inhalation

, a material frequently used during World War I, can cause

along with

.

Chronic exposure to high levels of vinyl chloride has been associated with

and

, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

company manifesto

This week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a partial manifesto from the

company detailing other hazardous

on the train, including ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate and isobutylene.

All can cause

.

The

occurred on Friday night, February 3, in a sparsely inhabited area of ​​the region, so there were no deaths or injuries.

However, the spilled substances led to an

on Saturday and authorities having to go house to house on Sunday to remove those who refused to leave.

On Monday, after confirming that the pressure relief valves in some carriages were no longer working, the controlled burning took place, ending in an explosion and a

.

Norfolk Southern said the operation was a success and the EPA sent a subsequent statement assuring that the air was clean, free of

.

But the residents of East Palestine and the surrounding towns do not trust it.

," Giannos tells NBC.

"I'm worried about the long-term impact on my health. This is all a disaster."

For days the authorities recommended drinking bottled water and at the moment few trust the one that comes out of the tap, in a scenario reminiscent of what happened in

, California, in the 90s and the multimillion-dollar lawsuit that inspired the Steven Soderbergh film , Erin Brokovich, starring

.

In this case, the class action lawsuit is already underway, brought by two law firms.

Dan Trust, one of the lawyers behind the lawsuit, assures that the effects of the controlled explosions are reaching residents far beyond the radius of three kilometers that they initially calculated.

Several neighbors have

due to the negligence of Norfolk Southern.

The transportation corporation said in a statement that "surveillance video from a residence showed what appears to be a wheel bearing in the final stage of failure from overheating moments before the derailment. The set of wheels from the suspected wagon has been

as evidence for a metallurgical examination".

Trust, however, believes that trains do not derail without reason and attributes this to the company's negligence.

"We have reason to believe that the train and carriages were not properly maintained, and we hope to continue to discover more during the course of this lawsuit."

Concerns have also been raised by Pennsylvania Governor

over Norfolk's way of operating the train, which he called "poor".

Shapiro indicated that he has been in communication with President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and that they have offered their full cooperation "to the people of Pennsylvania."

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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