The Ohio Railroad Disaster Is Forcing Pete Buttigieg Into the Hot Seat

Residents of East Palestine—the Ohio town where a train freighting toxic chemicals derailed this month, triggering health concerns and a national outcry—were hoping to get some answers at a town hall Wednesday night. But the rail company behind the incident didn’t show up. Norfolk Southern cited its concerns about “the growing physical threat to our employees and members of the community” in its rationale for skipping the event, while emphasizing that it was “committed” to addressing residents’ concerns. But for many in the town on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, the company’s decision not to attend amounted to a snub. 

“It is just a slap in the face,” one resident told CNN, “because the people who put us out are too afraid to show up to the meeting.”

That sense of uncertainty and abandonment has hung over East Palestine in the two weeks since the February 3 incident, in which dozens of freight cars—ten of which were transporting hazardous materials—derailed in a fiery crash. Residents were asked to evacuate the town days later to allow a controlled burn of vinyl chloride amid concerns the five cars transporting the cancer-causing chemical could explode. The evacuation order was lifted on February 8 and residents were told that air tests had consistently shown “readings at points below safety screening levels for contaminants of concern.” But health concerns have nevertheless remained, driven by reports of thousands of dead fish in waterways and expert warnings that a full understanding of the environmental impacts would require a more robust investigation. “I just don’t trust anybody,” one resident told the New York Times.