By: Misti Allison, Ohio member, Moms Clean Air Force
Date: March 22, 2023
About: Improving Rail Safety in Response to the East Palestine Train Derailment, 3-min testimony
To: Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
Thank you for inviting me to testify. I’m honored to be here, but wish it were under better circumstances. I’m here to put a face on this disaster. This isn’t a political issue. It is a people issue.
My husband and I love raising our two children in Small Town America surrounded by family.
Everyone who lives in East Palestine is aware of the long trains that regularly pass by. But we’ve never really thought about them. Now, we can’t think about anything else.
We will never forget the night the train derailed.
I could see a huge fireball from my driveway. It didn't seem real. Little did we know, this was only the beginning.
My family chose to evacuate. But many did not. None of us knew exactly what dangers were on that train.
We now know that train carried multiple toxic petrochemicals.
When authorities conducted a so-called “controlled burn,” it was like a bomb went off. A bomb containing vinyl chloride which can release dangerous chemicals when burned that never go away. Chemicals like dioxins, which are not safe for humans at any level, and cause damage that may not show up for many years.
Two days later, our government told us it was “safe” to come home.
But is it safe? People and animals are sick. The EPA is telling us the data is fine while independent researchers are telling us that there are high levels of cancerous chemicals around us. Who do we trust?
And then there’s our mental health. The anxiety is real. My 7-year-old son has asked me if he is going to die from being in his own home. What do I tell him?
This preventable accident has put a scarlet letter on our town. People don’t want to come here. Businesses are struggling. Our home values are plummeting. Even if we wanted to leave, we couldn’t. Who would buy our homes?
There were over a thousand train derailments last year, and the rapid expansion of the petrochemical industry into the Ohio River Valley, Texas, and Louisiana means that more trains carrying toxic chemicals will put more families at risk.
We must have strong businesses. But businesses shouldn’t be allowed to reject common sense safety regulations. Americans need to be protected.
Alan Shaw has repeatedly said that Norfolk Southern will “make it right.” But who determines what is right here? East Palestine residents expect meaningful relief including: 1. short- and long-term healthcare assistance, 2. home value protection, and 3. an actionable economic development plan to ensure our community can recover and thrive such as placing the Norfolk Southern first responder training facility in our town.
As though this train derailment wasn’t enough, less than two weeks ago, my mother lost her three-year battle with cancer.
My mother taught me to fight for what’s right. And I will always fight to protect the health and safety of my children… of your children…and of every child in America.
This is about people. This is about a community no one had ever heard of becoming ground zero and a small town being destroyed overnight.
We ask you to support basic safety regulations so this doesn’t happen again.
We can never go back to our life before this disaster, but we can make sure that East Palestine not only recovers but thrives. And that no other community experiences this tragedy.
My mom always told me, “Either you find a way, or you find an excuse.”
It’s time to collectively learn from this and move forward together. Let’s find a way. Not another excuse.
Thank you.