Norfolk Southern executives and Environmental Protection Agency officials were repeatedly berated by outraged residents of East Palestine during a community meeting regarding their continuing failure to address the public health crisis still affecting the small Ohio village.
Norfolk Southern executives and Environmental Protection Agency officials were repeatedly berated by outraged residents of East Palestine during a community meeting regarding their continuing failure to address the public health crisis still affecting the small Ohio village.After the meeting at the East Palestine High School kicked off Thursday evening, EPA functionaries quickly attempted to placate locals by agreeing to a long-standing demand to instruct the railroad company to test for cancerous compounds known as dioxins.But the anger in the room boiled over within ‘minutes,’ according to media reports which described a tumultuous scene.Per one major US newspaper, EPA officials’ claims that testing had already begun were met with replies including “Start now!” and “It’s too late!”After Ohio EPA Director Anne Vogel insisted that tests on the water supply hadn’t demonstrated unsafe contaminant levels, another woman reportedly responded: “What about private wells? We’ll just stay here and die?”Others took the authorities to task for burning the noxious chemicals in order to get the trains running and restore profitability.
