It's been two weeks since the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, that released toxic chemicals around the village and into the atmosphere; and its mayor, Trent Conaway, tells Newsmax that he "doesn't really know what the big lag in the federal government's response has been."
"As far as FEMA [the Federal Emergency Management Agency], they keep saying since there's a responsible party there; that's why they haven't shown up yet," Conaway said Saturday on Newsmax's "America Right Now." And in a separate interview on Newsmax's "Wake Up America," he said he believes that if people like Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg or even President Joe Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris show up now, it feels like it's "too late" for them to arrive.
"I would have thought they would have come, but they haven't now; so I think it's a little too late," Conaway said. "I think now it's just if they come, it's going to be — as we like to call it around here — a dog and pony show. I don't think it's a sincere action."
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan has been to the site, and Friday reports indicated that former President Donald Trump plans to visit East Palestine this coming week. Conaway said that "may be a positive."
"It seems like as soon as he announced he was going come, automatically, here comes FEMA," said Conaway. "It could be a coincidence, but I don't know."
Initially, FEMA had deemed the state ineligible for federal resources. But Friday night, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, announced a change in plans, reports The Hill.
Conaway, on "America Right Now," said that even though there is some skepticism about the safety of his village's drinking water, he feels safe after testing that the municipal water supply is safe to drink.
"There are three types of water," he said. "There is the municipal water system. There are the wells of individual homeowners, and then there are the waterways and creeks in the area. The municipal water system, I am 100%; I have no problem. My wife and my two children, we have been drinking the water and bathing with the water. If I had babies, I'd make baby formula with the water."
But he said that if he had a well, he would "definitely be drinking bottled water," particularly if he lived near a creek.
"I think this is going to be a long-term thing," Conaway said, however. "We're not going to know the true effects of this for years down the road. And just so I'm clear and that the audience is clear: that if you have a well in your area, you're still very sketchy."
He added that it has mainly been the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the Columbiana County General Health District that have been working toward testing the water.
"We haven't seen any negative results for wells coming back; but, you know, it's going to be a while until we get the test results back," said Conaway.
The municipal water system depends on well water, but the village's wellfield is "way west" of where the derailment happened, said Conaway, "and we feel confident that our wells are 100% safe."
Meanwhile, Conaway said he does not know if there were any inadequacies with the tracks that could have caused the train derailment and there have been "some train incidents" involving vehicles in the past, but nothing like what happened on Feb. 3.
He also noted that Norfolk Southern has been "pretty good" with getting some reimbursements out, but there will be more talk for the railroad to make further reimbursements to the community.
However, he said he does agree with the decision for a controlled burn of the vinyl chloride on the derailed train, considering the other option was a detonation that would have been far more catastrophic.
"Only the chemicals went up," he said. "If it would have been the other way, there would have been metal shrapnel all over town. We couldn't control it, and you would still have the same effect, the same containment is going into the atmosphere."
Conaway told "Wake Up America" that even though the municipal water supply appears to be clean, the story is different for the local creeks and open waterways, which are "definitely polluted."
"There's a sheen on them when you stir them up," he said. "There was a confirmed fish kill, over 3,500 fish. There's definitely some ecological challenges ahead for us now."
There were also more chemicals on the train than were thought in the beginning, Conaway said, adding that the "cleanup is going pretty well, but there's still a long way to go. We're all concerned for how long this is going to take."
The mayor also said he doesn't think the EPA allowed people back into their homes too soon. Still, he's concerned that some people in his village are already showing rashes and other health concerns; so "we definitely need to find out exactly what's going on."
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