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[Lidku]

What is going on there? Reports of a Vinyl Chlorine seeping into the environment everywhere, after somesort of derailment?

[MaxTheFox]

Poor maintenance of railway, train derailed, the government did a controlled burn. There are people seriously overblowing the impact but it's still a catastrophe.

[Grim Portent]

The damage is theoretically going to come from the gas given off by burning the vinyl chloride. I know some animals have died, but mostly birds who are very vulnerable to airborne toxins. Byproducts are supposed to be Hydrogen Chloride gas, which turns to acid when it contacts water like the fluid in the lungs or eyes, and phosgene, which was used as a weapon in WW1 because it's toxic and heavier than air so it pools in depressions which made it great for filling up trenches.

No idea what quantities of either gas are going to be like, small amounts of either are mostly harmless, not pleasant or safe but mild exposure won't cause severe health problems, but I wouldn't want to be in an area of low ground downwind of the burn.

Train company is going to face one doozy of a lawsuit regardless of anyone getting sick though.

[Dostoevsky]

In addition to the dead birds, there have been deaths of fish in nearby waters and small mammal (e.g. cats, foxes) dying.

Note that there still isn't a full list of what all was present/spilled. Vinyl chloride was the primary one, but there were others. Some recent local reporting is citing new EPA documents saying ethyl glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate, and isobutylene. I.e. other carcinogens.

People are being advised to wipe their homes down with diluted bleach when (if) they return, which gives a sense of the situation. Federal and state authorities are (in my opinion) downplaying the risks. I wouldn't call it a 'new Chernobyl' like some on twitter are saying, but it may well be the ruin of the town.

[jipehog]

Could be useful to leave a link to the news, for those of us who are lazy and don't know where there even is? ( Ohio is in the category of states I know nothing about except that is not Detroit )

[StrawBarrel]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Ohio_train_derailment#Derailment

The trains were not equipped with electronically controlled pneumatic brakes, which a former Federal Railroad Administration official said would have reduced the severity of the accident.^[7] In 2017, Norfolk Southern had successfully lobbied to have regulations requiring their use on trains carrying hazardous materials repealed.^[7]

Pretty messed up that the operator, Norfolk Southern, helped remove regulations.

[Frumple]

Pretty messed up that the operator, Norfolk Southern, helped remove regulations.

Well, if by messed up, you also mean "completely expected". Safety regs like that, you don't lobby against unless you expect you'd actually need them and don't want to pay, eventual disaster be damned. This is what would reasonably be called malice aforethought, were the courts just.

[King Zultan]

Sounds like you could go out there and have your very own WW1 like experience, bet there are people out there that'd pay money for that kind of thing.

[Lidku]

This entire situation is a disaster of epic proportions.. and barely any news is being made about this. You can tell a big coverup is being formed around this East Palestine derailment.

How come Joe Biden hasn't even made a single statement on this? Why isn't there any comment from the Press Secretary?

[Jerick]

There was a second derailment in Enoree South Carolina Monday morning. Not as serious but still a second one so soon? I wouldn't have paid any attention if not for the earlier one. Makes you wonder how many of these things slip past unnoticed.

[EuchreJack]

There was a second derailment in Enoree South Carolina Monday morning. Not as serious but still a second one so soon? I wouldn't have paid any attention if not for the earlier one. Makes you wonder how many of these things slip past unnoticed.

Bingo.

This one only grabbed headlines because they shot a movie nearby.

[TamerVirus]

There was a second derailment in Enoree South Carolina Monday morning. Not as serious but still a second one so soon? I wouldn't have paid any attention if not for the earlier one. Makes you wonder how many of these things slip past unnoticed.

Bingo.

This one only grabbed headlines because they shot a movie nearby.

White Noise

Part of the movie deals with a small town evacuating after a train derailment unleashes a toxic cloud in a case of reality mirroring art

[nenjin]

It's almost like someone or something is trying to tell us something.......

[McTraveller]

It's almost like someone or something is trying to tell us something.......

Eh, this just seems more like emergent phenomena to me, not anything intentional.

Basically "Hey, the laws of physics exist - you get the inevitable result of the physical systems you create."

[jipehog]

There was a second derailment in Enoree South Carolina Monday morning. Not as serious but still a second one so soon? I wouldn't have paid any attention if not for the earlier one. Makes you wonder how many of these things slip past unnoticed.

What is the statistic, how many derailments occur in the USA per year?