Ohio Republican Sen. J.D. Vance traveled to East Palestine this week to survey the damage done by the horrific Norfolk Southern train derailment earlier this month that spilled tons of toxic chemicals into the soil, waterways, and the air.
At one point, Vance took a trip to a local stream where he made a “disgusting” discovery, all of which was captured on video. He took a stick and disturbed the bottom of the creek bed, which caused chemical bubbles to rise to the surface, denoting obvious waterway contamination.
“Local and state authorities previously evacuated all residents within one mile of the derailment and started a controlled burn of industrial chemicals present on the vehicle to decrease the risk of an explosion, which could have sent shrapnel throughout the small town,” The Daily Wire reported. “Vinyl chloride, a carcinogen used to manufacture PVC, was released from five train cars last week in the form of massive plumes of dark smoke visible throughout eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania.”
In the video footage posted to social media Thursday afternoon, the freshman Trump-backed senator stood next to the small creek near the town on the border with Pennsylvania and noted that there were “dead worms and dead fish” as he invited the camera operator to come in closer while he disturbed the creek bed with a stick, causing an oily sheen to spread on the water’s surface.
“This is disgusting,” he said. “The fact that these chemicals are still seeping in the ground is an insult to the people who live in East Palestine. Do not forget these people.”
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’s findings come after the federal Environmental Protection Agency claimed that “test results from the village’s municipal well sampling showed no water quality concerns.” Meanwhile, GOP Gov. Mike DeWine also announced that the state’s EPA revealed “no detection of contaminants in raw water from the five wells that feed into East Palestine’s municipal water system.” The governor added that the state’s agency is “confident that the municipal water is safe to drink.”
Following the federal EPA’s statement, Vance challenged EPA Administrator Michael Regan to drink a glass of tap water in East Palestine after he visited the town on Thursday following criticisms that the Biden administration was essentially ignoring the incident.
“We are not receiving any high levels of detection,” Regan commented. “I feel very confident that our technology is protecting public health.”
The EPA’s statement also noted that staff members conducted nearly 500 home screens as of Wednesday evening.
That led Vance to declare: “I think that 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.”
When challenged by reporters, Vance added: “If I was living here, I would drink the bottled water for now. Better safe than sorry, especially because it’s being provided for free. That’s the advice I would give, and again, the residents are going to make their own decisions on this.”
A local reporter, Fox 19 anchor Tricia Macke, shared a similar video that Vance had posted, showing the oily sheen rising to the top of another creek after she tossed a rock into the water.
Would you stay here? Would you drink that water?” she asked. “Would you bathe your kids when it’s bubbling up and looking like an oil slick?”
You cannot deny – that water is not clean. @FOX19 pic.twitter.com/HjPFEtwijZ
— Tricia Macke (@FOX19Tricia) February 16, 2023
