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A video of Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) placing a stick in a creek in East Palestine, Ohio, causing what appears to be synthetic chemicals to rise to the surface drew widespread attention.
Earlier this month, a train that was carrying hazardous chemicals, including vinyl chloride, derailed in East Palestine. Officials confirmed later that a controlled release and burn of the chemicals was initiated so as to prevent a potential explosion.
“Visited a local creek in East Palestine today. These waterways are still very polluted. It’s time for Norfolk Southern to finish the cleanup,” Vance wrote on Twitter.
The post included a video of the Republican senator placing a stick in what his office said is the Leslie Run creek, located near the derailment site, and swirling it around. After removing the stick from the creek, a rainbow-colored sheen emerged.
“This is disgusting,” Vance said. “The fact that these chemicals are still seeping in the ground is an insult to the people who live in East Palestine,” he said, adding that “do not forget” those people.
Vance asserted that when you “scrape the creek bed,” there appears to be “chemicals coming out of the ground.” In the footage, the newly elected lawmaker said that there are “dead worms” and “dead fish” in the waters of Leslie Run.
Fox 19 reporter Tricia Macke also posted a video in which she tossed a rock into a creek, causing apparent chemicals to rise to the surface. “Would you stay here? Would you drink that water?” she asked. “Would you bathe your kids when it’s bubbling up and looking like an oil slick?”
And a local Ohio woman was seen tossing a rock into another purported waterway in East Palestine, showing a rainbow-like sheen emerging on the surface of the water.
