Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) said Sunday that East Palestine, Ohio, residents are “right to be skeptical” of the government’s assurances that they and their water supply are safe after the toxic freight train derailment.
An 150-car train derailed while carrying at least five hazardous chemicals, including cancer-causing vinyl chloride, in the eastern Ohio town earlier this month. After temporarily evacuating residents, officials intentionally released the chemicals into the air while scrambling to avoid an explosion. Scores of livestock and other animals have died in the weeks since the toxic fumes spread through the small town. Residents, meanwhile, have reported symptoms including rashes, sore throats, nausea, headaches, and burning sensations in their eyes. They have also reported lingering chemical odors.
OHIO TRAIN DERAILMENT: JD VANCE CHALLENGES EPA TO DRINK TAP WATER
Despite promises from Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) and the federal and state Environmental Protection Agencies that the water in East Palestine is safe to drink, residents have expressed deep skepticism. Asked about that mistrust and his own concerns about the water and air quality on CNN’s State of the Union, Brown replied, “Well, they’re right to be skeptical. The EPA administrator when I was there, both the state and federal EPA administrators, said that.”
“We think the water is safe,” he continued, referencing comments made to him by EPA officials during his visit to East Palestine last Thursday. “But when you return to your home, you should be tested again for your water and your soil and your air, not to mention those that have their own wells.”
Brown was then asked by host Pamela Brown he would drink the water, and if those officials claiming the water was safe should drink it.
“Well, I think they are,” he said of the EPA officials, “I talked to the mayor. The mayor said definitively, emphatically, people can drink the water. The mayor’s — I don’t know. I don’t think the mayor has small kids. He looks a little older to me. I didn’t ask him, but — about bathing his kids.”
Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), who also visited East Palestine on Thursday, advised residents to drink bottled water instead of tap, breaking with state and federal officials.
“No…I think that if I was living here, I would drink the bottled water for now,” Vance said while speaking to a group of reporters in town. “Better safe than sorry, especially since it’s being provided for free. That’s the guidance I would give. And again, residents are going to make their own decisions on this, but my honest, personal advice is: I’d be drinking the bottled water right now.”
Pressed about insistence from officials that the town’s tap water was safe, Vance replied, “I think if the EPA administrator wants to stand here and tell people that the tap water is safe, by all means. They should be willing to drink it.”
Visited a local creek in East Palestine today. These waterways are still very polluted. It’s time for Norfolk Southern to finish the cleanup. Check this video out: pic.twitter.com/4lsHBmrMJj
— J.D. Vance (@JDVance1) February 16, 2023
Vance had tweeted video earlier that day from a nearby creek in which he could be seen scraping a stick on the creek bed. Doing so caused a bubbling reaction and revealed “chemicals coming out of the ground.”
“There are dead worms and dead fish all throughout this water,” Vance said in the video. “This is disgusting.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
On Friday, East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway and other officials responded by drinking cups of tap water together in a video posted to Twitter by the state’s Lt. Gov. John Husted.
The next day, however, Conaway told Newsmax that although he was “100%” confident in the municipal water supply, he’d “definitely be drinking bottled water” if he drank from a private well or lived near a creek.
