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    “May Be the Largest Environmental Disaster in U.S. History”: Horrifying Photos and Videos Emerge of Chemical Spill Disaster in East Palestine, Ohio

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    If you’ve been living under a very thick, chemical-proof rock, you might have missed the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. Apparently, what happened was a train carrying a very toxic chemical called vinyl chloride was derailed. Local authorities, seeing that the chemical was seeping into the ground, then set it alight to try and stop it from getting into the groundwater. That filled the air with, among other nasty chemicals, phosgene gas. Phosgene is one of the nastiest of the WWI chemical weapons.

    The spill and fire have already caused massive environmental effects, with those within dozens of miles of the site claiming that their animals are dying, acid rain is falling, and the water has been poisoned. The MSM has, predictably, done little to cover the incident, police have attacked reporters trying to find out what is going on, and those with low expectations of Mayor Pete have found their rock-bottom expectations might have been too high.

    However, one of the best accounts on Twitter, Kanekoa, collected numerous photos and videos from the event, from what few sources have reported on the incident, and from locals. Here’s that thread with some extra snippets and context added in, so you can see what the incident looks like and what’s going on. Normally I wouldn’t post a thread in full, but this is a shocking event and Kanekoa, an independent journalist with a fabulous Substack, did an excellent job collecting and posting what’s going on. Make sure to give the account and Substack a follow. Without further ado, here’s the details on what might be the worst chemical spill in US history:

    Below you can see, among other things, phosgene gas spewing into the air. The CDC, describing that horrific chemical weapon, notes “Phosgene was used extensively during World War I as a choking (pulmonary) agent. Among the chemicals used in the war, phosgene was responsible for the large majority of deaths.”

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    Below is a report from WKBN27. That report quoted a hazardous materials specialist as noting that lighting the chemicals on fire to burn them off essentially “nuked a town with chemicals” just to get the railroad open and that encouraging the residents to return was not the safe decision given the carcinogens involved. In that source’s words:

    “We basically nuked a town with chemicals so we could get a railroad open,” said Sil Caggiano, a hazardous materials specialist.

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sent a letter to Norfolk Southern stating that ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate and isobutylene were also in the rail cars that were derailed, breached and/or on fire.

    Caggiano says ethylhexyl acrylate is especially worrisome. He says it’s a carcinogen and contact with it can cause burning and irritation in the skin and eyes. Breathing it in can irritate the nose and throat and cause coughing and shortness of breath.

    Isobutylene is also known to cause dizziness and drowsiness when inhaled.

    “I was surprised when they quickly told the people they can go back home, but then said if they feel like they want their homes tested they can have them tested. I would’ve far rather they did all the testing,” Caggiano said.

    And, above and below, you can hear locals describing the mass death of animals within the general vicinity of the spill and burn.

    One Facebook business page, posting about the incident and how it affected the Doberman kennel business, said:

    As many of you already know, our kennel and home reside on the state line between East Palestine, OH and Darlington, PA; the location in which the train derailment and subsequent controlled detonation of 5 vinyl chloride cars occured. This is essentially our backyard and on the same road as our home, boarding/training business (The Northern Border, LLC), and our beloved Von Schwarz Doberman Kennel.
    The derailment occured on Friday February 3rd in the evening. Many people were immediately evacuated within a 1 mile radius. We are 1.2 miles from accident to driveway, however less than a half of a mile from the edge of our 26 acres to the crash site which was up in flames. We were told we could stay for the time being.… the fire continued for days. We ended up keeping the boarding kennel open, and offering free boarding services to the fire evacuation families to provide a safe place for their dogs to stay while they themselves evacuated their homes.
    On Sunday afternoon, the situation changed very quickly. We were made aware that the temperature in the 5 vinyl chloride cars were increasing and they were worried about a catostrophic failure if the cars would explode on their own. The emergency personnel decided it was best to perform a controlled detonation of the 5 cars, so now a 1×2 mile radius, which included our home and kennels, were being evacuated as of Sunday at 8pm.
    With the help of Bearded Brothers Moving Group and our wonderful staff, we were able to evacuate all of the VSD’s as well as the dogs we had boarding at our facility totaling 30 dogs overnight (8pm-6am). We brought them into a private residence with a finished basement 20 min away and placed crates to contain the dogs for the time being. There is a large unfenced yard, and we brought a 10 x 10 run in the moving truck for some unleashed exercise.
    The next morning, just a few hours before the detonation, we evacuated an additional 9 horses, of which one was my 6 month old filly Cedar and her mother. To say the area was like a war zone, with military tankers ever 1/2 mile, government, state police, local police, and emergency services, is an understatement. It was surreal, and unlike anything you could imagine… the anticipation of the detonation was in the back of everyone’s mind, not knowing if the cars would prematurely combust on their own. We hurried as much as we could, and safely got all horses, dogs, cats, and humans out prior to the detonation.
    The controlled detonation took place around 4:30pm on Monday afternoon, and a big black smoke plume went into the air. When vinyl chloride combusts, it turns into 2 other bi-product gases; Phosgene and hydrogen chloride (along with some other chemicals also on board). These two gases are highly toxic and deadly, as phosgene was used to kill over 140,000 soldiers during World War 1.
    It is now Sunday, 7 days post our evacuation. We are staying evacuated until independent testing of our air, soil, and well water are tested and deemed safe. Unfortunately, other wells in the area have been tested, and have been deemed unsafe. It is extremly hard to find testing agencies and laboratories that are independent from the railroad and EPA; nearly impossible. There are environmental consulting services that can do the testing; however the price ranges from 20-50k.
    There are MANY unknowns for human and animal safety both short and long term. We are anticipating being gone for weeks, if we EVER go back at all. An immense amount of work would need to be done, and an incredible amount of knowledge would need to be revealed in order to better understand how this could affect our health, the dogs health, and the future reproductive health of our dogs. We went to the facility to collect some whelping supplies for our anticipated Fedra x Hasko breeding; and within 20 minutes we had horrible headaches, runny noses, burning and swollen eyes, pulsations within the eye sockets, itchy throat, and coughing.
    Until we have a better grasp on whats going on at, “the place we once called home”, we will stay evacuated. Please know that all dogs are safe and out of harms way, and the upcoming litter will be born offsite, in my own personal care, at the private home of which we have evacuated. The set up is not ideal in anyway, but filled with love, hope, and optimism. The only thing that matters thus far, is that we are all safe and together 🙏🏻