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DeWine asking for, getting federal help for East Palestine

Gov. Mike DeWine is asking for — and getting — federal help for those in East Palestine impacted by the railroad derailment after saying a few days ago that it wasn’t needed.

DeWine said Thursday he reached out to the White House requesting assistance from the U.S Department of Health and Human Services — specifically the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and a health and emergency response team — as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Two days prior, DeWine said President Joe Biden had reached out to him offering further federal assistance and he declined because it wasn’t needed. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency already is helping, and the Pentagon previously did.

But DeWine changed his mind Thursday.

That’s because of the public outcry from East Palestine residents, Dan Tierney, DeWine’s spokesman, said.

“It became clear that because of the concerns of the residents about the site and their health, we wanted to get federal assistance,” Tierney said. “There was a critical mass of citizens who are concerned about their health and could it be connected to the chemicals or to seasonal colds and the flu.”

The CDC and a health and emergency response team each sent a unit Thursday to East Palestine, Tierney said, to offer assistance to residents with health issues.

In his Thursday letter to the CDC, DeWine asked the agency to “immediately send to the crash site expert medical assistance, including doctors and professionals who can evaluate and counsel members of the community who have questions and / or experience symptoms.”

LATEST TEST RESULTS

The latest federal EPA air purity tests in the Columbiana County village show “no presence of volatile organic compounds from the train crash,” DeWine’s office said.

The federal EPA and an independent contractor have tested air inside 474 homes in East Palestine for volatile organic compounds. Testing in about 75 homes showed elevated levels, but further testing found that contaminants of concern from the derailment — vinyl chloride and hydrogen chloride — were not present, DeWine’s office said.

The volatile organic compounds also are found in paint, flooring, carpet, furniture and cigarette smoke, DeWine’s office said.

There is a smell in and around the site of the crash because some of the contaminants that were released into the environment have a low odor threshold, meaning they can be smelled at levels much lower than what is considered hazardous, DeWine’s office said.

About 50 Norfolk Southern railroad cars, including 10 carrying hazardous materials, derailed Feb. 3 in East Palestine in a fiery crash. A decision was made to control burn five of the cars Feb. 6 that resulted in release of toxic chemicals.

About 3,500 fish in nearby waterways have died as a result of the controlled burn, state officials said.

NO FEMA HELP

DeWine said he’s been in daily contact with FEMA to discuss the need for federal support, but FEMA officials told him Ohio is not eligible for assistance.

Tierney said that’s because FEMA provides assistance to disaster areas that have seen property damage such as from earthquakes and tornadoes. Also, FEMA is used as a “last resort,” but Norfolk Southern is providing money to residents and for cleanup, he said.

“This is a disaster,” Tierney said of East Palestine. “But FEMA sends money for houses and roads that are damaged and not covered by a third party. Norfolk Southern is covering it making us not eligible. They should pay, but it makes us not eligible for FEMA.”

U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Cincinnati, who visited East Palestine on Thursday, said: “I am very frustrated with the CDC. We’ve been going back and forth with them for a couple of days, asking them, ‘What are the acceptable levels of contamination here before this becomes endangering to human health? We have not yet gotten a good answer, and it’s something we’re going to keep hammering on.”

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Cleveland, who also visited the village Thursday, said his office is talking with the federal EPA, CDC and National Transportation Safety Board “and we’ve sent them letters calling for action and for recommendations to make sure this doesn’t happen again. We are going to get this community answers and we are going to make sure they have the help they need.”

Also Thursday, state emergency responders from the EPA put a plan in place to prevent contaminants that have not been removed from the derailment site from washing into local waterways during anticipated rainstorms, DeWine’s office said.

Sulphur Run, a small creek near the contaminated site impacted by the chemicals, was dammed both west and east of the crash site, leaving an empty creek bed between the two dams, according to DeWine’s office.

Teams are pumping clean creek water from the point of the eastern dam, funneling it away from the dry creek bed area and releasing it back into Sulphur Run at the western dam.

That allows clean water to bypass the derailment area and prevent clean creek water from picking up contaminants and carrying them to other waterways, DeWine’s office said.

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