In East Palestine, OH, some residents are still recovering from the February train derailment and chemical fires. They traveled to Columbus this week, calling on Ohio Governor Mike DeWine to request that the Federal Emergency Management Agency(FEMA) declare an emergency in their region before a July 3rd deadline to do so.
Such a declaration would provide resources, including financial assistance. DeWine says FEMA has indicated that the derailment would not qualify for that kind of aid, but he submitted a letter this week asking again that the agency give the state additional time to assess the impacts of the incident and request assistance.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency visited farms in East Palestine and nearby Pennsylvania last week.
In February, soon after the chemical explosion, farmer Dave Anderson of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, who lives about 4 miles from the derailment site, was worried about his cows and other animals. He had questions about which chemicals were in the plume of smoke.
“What and how much? And what are the implications of that?” Anderson asked at the time. “That’s the information that we’d love to hear from them,”.
Now, more than four months later, regulators have overseen testing of the soil and plants in the region. The Allegheny Front’s Julie spoke with US EPA Regional Administrator Debra Shore, who visited farms in the East Palestine area and nearby Pennsylvania this month.
Source: alleghenyfront.org
Photo Credit: depositphotos-simazoran
Categories: Ohio, Crops, General, Pennsylvania, Crops, General