East Palestine residents blast Buttigieg over train crash response: This deserves a pink slip
East Palestine residents Lisa Toner and Linda Murphy slam Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for downplaying the situation in Ohio and share what many residents are experiencing two weeks since the initial crash.
Two weeks after a Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, residents are still grappling with the health effects and economic consequences of the toxic train crash.
While the Environmental Protection Agency has been on the ground, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is taking heat for downplaying the situation in Ohio.
Some residents are calling for him to get the pink slip for his response.
"What a relief that we're at the bottom of the list out of the thousands. I mean, how insignificant does that make you feel?" East Palestine resident Linda Murphy said on "Fox & Friends" Friday.
"To me, it's his job. And this is something that he should be here for. This is pretty significant. The amount of chemicals, cancer-causing chemicals that were released and what we're left to deal with. We need a little bit of guidance here. And I don't know, I think that this deserves a pink slip for his job."
Buttigieg spoke publicly about the incident on Monday, 10 days after the incident occurred. Speaking to Yahoo! Finance Live, Buttigieg lessened the situation in Ohio as one of "roughly 1,000 cases a year of a train derailing."
"Look, rail safety is something that has evolved a lot over the years, but there's clearly more that needs to be done because while this horrible situation has gotten a particularly high amount of attention, there are roughly 1,000 cases a year of a train derailing," he said.
Prior to speaking with Yahoo! Finance, Buttigieg had hardly engaged the situation in Ohio, downplaying and altogether ignoring the issue during several public appearances this week.
During the National Association of Counties Conference on Monday, Buttigieg discussed topics like racial disparity, the largely Democrat-backed infrastructure bill and even touched on transportation safety, but failed to talk about the impacts that could possibly be felt by the East Palestine, Ohio, community for years to come due to toxic chemicals from the train.
After facing backlash, Buttigieg finally took to Twitter Monday evening to address the train derailment.
Despite Transportation Secretary Buttigieg assuring residents through his Twitter thread that his department was helping in Ohio, East Palestine residents expressed their frustration at the lack of federal assistance in the aftermath of the crash.
"We're getting no answers. Nobody's wanting to help us," East Palestine resident Lisa Toner said.
Many residents are still reporting headaches, rashes and even chemical pneumonia despite the EPA and other officials claiming it is safe for locals to return. Toner, who lives a mile from the crash site, shared some health side effects that have continued and expressed her concern over resources such as clean drinking water.
"We have well water and I want to be safe and make sure that it's going to be done correctly, and I'm going to be told the truth on what's in my well water," she said, adding she will continue using bottled water "until I get answers."
"As far as any side effects, I've had a headache and just the odd tingling sensation like in the gums and on my lips occasionally. And that's what I've noticed," Murphy added.
"But I know that some other residents are experiencing things of a similar nature, and a lot of children are having some issues with rashes, discoloration of the skin. My brother-in-law actually went to the hospital and got checked out. He was having some severe symptoms, some breathing issues."
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"So it's affecting everybody in one way or another."
Toner also highlighted the economic consequences of the toxic train crash.
"Nobody's going to want to buy a house here. Our area's known for planting gardens and fruit stands on the corners in the summer. Is anybody going to come to this town and want to buy anybody's produce or fruit off of the fruit stands anymore?"
Fox News' Brandon Gillespie and Alexander Hall contributed to this report.
