Residents of East Palestine, Ohio are furious after Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw was a no-show at a town hall meeting, nearly a month since the railroad company’s Feb. 3 derailment and toxic fire.
“Where’s Alan?” some yelled during Thursday night’s town hall meeting, according to The New York Times.
Shaw was largely criticized for skipping an earlier town meeting two weeks after the derailment.
The CEO had met with local officials and some railroad employees last month.
Mother Candice Desanzo, 43, attended the meeting with her two young sons, ages 1 and 2, and demanded to speak with Shaw, The Times reported.
“If I did somebody wrong, I’m going to stand up and I’m going to face my wrongs,” she said. “And I’m just one simple human being — they’re a corporation.”
She blasted the rail company for prioritizing getting the trains back up and running as soon as the evacuation order was lifted instead of helping the residents first.
“Every time I hear a train, it makes me sick now,” she said. “It’s just mind-blowing to me how really ignorant they’ve been to us in every possible way that they could when they should be doing everything that they possibly can to help us.”
At Thursday’s meeting, residents who say they’re suffering from illnesses as a result of the disaster confronted representatives for the rail line and demanded whether they would be relocated from homes they say they are afraid to continue living in.
“It’s not safe here,” said one man while glaring at Norfolk Southern reps. “I’m begging you, by the grace of God, please get our people out of here.”
The railroad said it was ready to remove contaminated soil from underneath the tracks, but has not discussed buying peoples’ homes and moving them elsewhere.
While the EPA ordered Norfolk Southern to clean up its own mess and test the area for dioxins, residents seemed unsatisfied with answers they were receiving from the railroad and government officials at all levels.
Many residents are fearful that the dioxins – toxic chemical compounds that can remain in the environment for a long period of time — will have lasting effects on the health of themselves and their children.
“Don’t lie to us,” one resident yelled as an EPA regional administrator reiterated that tests show that the air is safe.
The contentious meeting comes just a day after leaders of the nation’s largest rail unions claimed that workers cleaning up the toxic derailment site are getting sick and pushed the Biden administration for additional safety measures.
The presidents of a dozen unions met with administration officials to state their case and express concern — as a new independent study found that the chemicals could pose long-term health risks.
Even as officials and experts insist the air, soil and water in East Palestine are safe, residents have reported experiencing headaches, dizziness, nausea and other negative effects they didn’t have before the crash.
Nearly 5,000 people were forced to evacuate following the spill and subsequent burning of the toxic chemicals.
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