This letter and petition (now bearing over 450 signatures) was sent on March 3 to NS CEO Shaw and USEPA Director Regan:
Letter and Petition
to Alan Shaw, CEO of Norfolk Southern, and Michael Regan, USEPA Director
One month ago today, all residents of greater East Palestine had their peace of mind suddenly go up in smoke and the value of their property precipitously sink into the pits.
Justice demands that those responsible for this colossal community catastrophe make victims whole, a goal sought by several class action suits. However, it will take years of litigation before compensation via lawsuits is achieved, if ever.
Help as massive as the damage is needed now. Implement the demand of 168 petition supporters, one echoed by thousands of others, and immediately purchase the property, at pre-disaster values, of all residents in greater East Palestine who wish to leave now. Set them free from a carcinogenic cage. Now.
COMPENSATE VICTIMS OF EAST PALESTINE’S DESTRUCTION:
BUY THEIR PROPERTY!
On February 3, a Norfolk-Southern mega-train with 150 rail cars, 20 loaded with highly hazardous material including one million pounds of vinyl chloride, derailed in the Ohio village of East Palestine (pop. 4,800) causing an enormous fireball which lasted for three days. Released everywhere were massive amounts of toxins and dioxins. Over 40,000 fish died within hours, and countless residents complained of headaches; dizziness; nose bleeds; sore throats; nausea, shortness of breath, rashes and other ailments.
Aggravating this environmental disaster was a decision to release 100,000 gallons of vinyl chloride into a trench and burn it off. The result was a huge black mushroom cloud filled with still more toxins such as hydrogen chloride and phosgene, a poisonous gas used in WWI. A mandatory evacuation order was lifted on February 8 after officials prematurely deemed the area safe. However, residents continue to suffer from various serious ailments and a dark cloud of fear and anxiety continues to hover over greater East Palestine. Property values have plummeted and righteous anger has skyrocketed.
It is no exaggeration to call this unprecedented environmental disaster the Ohio Chernobyl. And it certainly is no exaggeration to call official responses, to date, next to worthless. Residents are trapped in a carcinogenic cage. Their only viable path to liberation and safety is to move, but most cannot afford to do so.
That is why we demand the federal government and Norfolk Southern put their money where their mouth is. Immediately provide the needed financial resources for all those who wish to leave the polluted greater East Palestine area. Buy out, at full value, the property of all residents and businesses in and around East Palestine who wish to leave. Anything less likely abandons most, if not all, of our fellow Americans trapped there to a life of anxiety, fear, deteriorating health and premature death.
https://www.wfmj.com/story/48491107/folks-demand-norfolk-southern-buy-homes-of-residents-wishing-to-leave-east-palestine
Werner Lang and Crew – Pasadena Ca had the rail road tracks which were running through their city REMOVED in the 1990’s to stop any kind of train derailment and chemical pollution. Norfolk Southern will only respect power . Make this Power initiative to remove the rail road tracks that run through East Palestine and you will garner support from even outside the state of Ohio as you change the Narrative until residents and others have the same mindset just as folks have pressed the EPA to test for dioxins in water and soil.