Ohio woman calls officials taking drink near derailment ‘a joke’
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(NewsNation) — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine had no issue drinking a glass of water at a home near the train derailment site Tuesday morning, despite mounting contamination concerns from residents.
East Palestine resident Courtney Miller called the footage of officials toasting glasses of water “a joke.”
“They are just a joke … I don’t know how many times I’ve gone out there and thrown rocks in the creek and dug out the side of the creek. That stuff is still in there. It’s just as bad now as it was in the first video,” Miller told NewsNation host Leland Vittert during an appearance on “On Balance.”
Based on the water testing results that have been revealed so far, NewsNation correspondent Evan Lambert asked Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine if he would be confident drinking the water not just once, but every day, if his family lived in East Palestine.
The governor replied: “If I lived here, Fran and I have eight kids, we have 26 grandkids. So if any of them lived here, you know, I would tell them, ‘Drink the water if you’re on the village system.’”
Many community members are still skeptical of the quality of their water, air and land. Miller, who has lived in East Palestine since 2019, claims there’s not much progress being made.
“None of it has changed … It looks like they’re doing something, but there’s absolutely nothing being done,” Miller said.
She insists officials are not testing for what needs to be tested for: Dioxins.
“Yeah, I trust science too. But you can’t find what you’re not looking for. They’re not looking for the dioxins. And everywhere in the state of Ohio, every lab in the state of Ohio and every lab in the state of Pennsylvania, won’t test for dioxins. So even if we try to hire a third party, they’re just not testing for dioxins,” Miller said.
Miller and many others are still weary of the hazardous material that was inside ten of the 50 train cars that derailed on Feb. 3.
The EPA previously identified at least four chemicals that were on board: vinyl chloride, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate and isobutylene.
“We have to be fearful over the water we drink, over the water we’re making formula with, over the water we’re bathing in. People’s eyes are burning, their skin is burning. People have rashes now. And they’re just saying the waters completely fine,” Miller said.
The EPA maintains that Norfolk Southern will not “get off the hook” for the aftermath of the derailment. DeWine has vowed to hold the rail company accountable for what happened.
