May 20, 2023
It's been over 100 days since the catastrophic derailment of a Norfolk Southern train carrying over 100,000 gallons of toxic materials occurred in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb 3. Since then, residents of East Palestine and the surrounding area in Ohio and Pennsylvania have had their lives turned completely upside down. Entire families have been uprooted from their homes, with many having to live in hotels or wherever they can find shelter, unable to return home out of fear of exposure to chemicals that were spilled into the water and soil from the derailment and spewed into the air from Norfolk Southern's "controlled burn" of the vinyl chloride contained within multiple derailed train cars. Even though government and company officials have claimed the air is safe to breathe and the water is safe to drink, residents have continuously reported negative health effects from skin rashes, headaches, and dizzy spells to nausea, diarrhea, shortness of breath, and mouth numbness. Farm animals, pets, and crops have been contaminated, property values have plummeted, local businesses have shuttered or are barely surviving—all the while, frustrated residents report feeling lied to, misled, disregarded, and abandoned by Norfolk Southern and by their state and federal governments, and their ongoing nightmare has been gradually forgotten by the national media. In this urgent episode, we speak with Ashley McCollum, Kayla Miller, and Christina Siceloff—three residents of East Palestine and the surrounding area in Ohio and Pennsylvania, and members of the East Palestine Unity Council—about what they, their families, and their communities are going through, how they are banding together to provide mutual aid for one another, and what we can all do to help.
Additional links/info below...
- Ashley's Twitter page and GoFundMe
- Christina's TikTok and CashApp: $safekeeper115
- Kayla's TikTok and GoFundMe
- GoFundMe: East Palestine Off The Rails!
- Unity Council for EP Train Derailment Facebook group
- Soup Mama Official
- The Unity Council Presents: Community Demands Created by Community Members of Ohio and Pennsylvania Affected by the Norfolk Southern Train Derailment in East Palestine, Ohio
- Steve Mellon, Pittsburgh Union Progress, "East Palestine Residents Plead: ‘By the Grace of God, Please Get Our People Out of Here’"
- Steve Mellon, Pittsburgh Union Progress, "Seven Weeks After Rail Disaster, Residents Struggle with the Unknown"
- Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "East Palestine, Ohio: A Hell of Wall Street's Making"
- Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "'This Was Preventable': Railroad Workers Explain How Wall St. Caused the East Palestine Derailment"
- Maximillian Alvarez, Breaking Points, "Rail Worker EXPOSES Ohio Disaster COVERUP"
- Mike L., The Real News Network, "A Carman's Perspective on the East Palestine Derailment and the Railroad Industry as a Whole"
- Matt Berg, Politico, "DOJ Sues Norfolk Southern over East Palestine Derailment"
- Campbell Robertson & Emily Cochrane, The New York Times, "In Ohio Town Where Train Derailed, Anxiety and Distrust Are Running Deep"
- Hiroko Tabuchi, The New York Times, "Texas to New Jersey: Tracking the Toxic Chemicals in the Ohio Train Inferno"
- Status Coup News, "CHRONIC EXPOSURE to Cancer-Causing Vinyl Chloride Found in East Palestine Residents' Urine Tests"
Permanent links below...
- Working People Patreon page
- Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!
- Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
- In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
- The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page
Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)
- Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song