Ohio resident Jenna Giannios calls out rail company for lack of assistance: ‘They don’t want to step up’
Jenna Giannios, who lives near the Ohio train derailment, details her efforts trying to help her community gather needed resources and shares some of the consequences of the crash.
For nearly two weeks, authorities have insisted that residents of East Palestine, Ohio and surrounding areas are safe to return home after a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed. But as reports of dead animals and sick residents continue to turn up, locals worry how their exposure could impact their long-term health.
Jenna Giannios, a photographer who lives in Boardman just 12 miles from the spill, started a Facebook support group for surrounding communities to gather information and resources after the train derailment on Feb. 3 that leaked the highly toxic chemical vinyl chloride into the air. The group has been so active that it's become a "part-time job" for her, she said, as residents, skeptical of what officials have told them, try to piece together information on their own.
"We have seen anywhere from chemically-induced like pneumonia. We have chickens, foxes, fish, cats dying – they were all near the area but not necessarily in the evacuated area," Giannios told "America Reports" on Fox News Wednesday. "We have had a lot of parts of the community come together to help get some of those larger animals outside of the area, but I don't think anybody knows what’s far enough away." She added that her "air smelled weird, and I’m 12 miles away."
FILE - A black plume rises over East Palestine, Ohio, as a result of a controlled detonation of a portion of the derailed Norfolk Southern trains, Feb. 6, 2023. West Virginia's water utility says it's taking precautionary steps following the derailment of a train hauling chemicals that later sent up a toxic plume in Ohio. The utility said in a statement on Sunday, Feb. 16, 2023 that it has enhanced its treatment processes even though there hasn’t been a change in raw water at its Ohio River intake. ((AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, file))
The EPA, Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), and other agencies are working with the train company, Norfolk Southern, to monitor the fallout from the accident. In a letter sent on Feb. 10, the EPA informed Norfolk Southern the company bore liability for cleanup and warned some contaminated soil was not disposed of correctly, WKBN reported.
Still, the EPA has said that tests have not "detected any levels of concern in the community that can be attributed to the incident at this time." But Giannios said the reaction on the ground has residents uneasy.
"I mean, when you watch people that are investigating – they all have these giant hazmat suits on, but somehow it’s safe for people to go back to these homes," she said.
Earlier Wednesday, EPA administrator Michael Regan defended the federal response in an appearance on "America's Newsroom," claiming that the agency has offered "all of our resources" and pledged to "effectively communicate all the results that we have" with locals.
BIDEN ADMIN INSISTS OHIO AIR IS SAFE AFTER CHEMICAL EXPLOSION SPARKS FEARS
Giannios dismissed Regan's resources commitment as "something to laugh at," adding that "while there is some support, I feel like it’s mostly locally driven.
"Like I said, a couple local organizations [are] putting out places for people to stay to get resources, providing activities for those impacted, but ultimately these people are losing their homes. Not everybody has an option to just leave," she said.
"They only evacuated a mile out-ish. Anybody outside of that, you are kind of on your own. If you want to leave, you can leave," she continued. "If you want to drink bottled water, go for it, buy it, but it’s all on our own dime and this is caused by a company who makes billions of dollars, and we are forgotten about. It's just they really have an opportunity to change the trajectory of this story, and it seems that they don’t want to step up or take ownership."
As a mom, Giannios said she is struggling to navigate the fallout without guidance or information from health officials. For the time being, she and her family have been drinking only bottled water as she continues to demand transparency from agencies investigating the spill's impact on the community.
People living near the site of an Ohio train derailment that resulted in the controlled release of toxic chemicals fear returning home. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
"People want answers, they want resources. I don’t know that water is safe for our kids to drink. I mean, we can say that maybe the air is safe now, but just how much of our lives are going to be impacted and how much are they going to be continued to impact our lives because of it?" she asked.
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"I mean, whatever this is going to cause from a health perspective, from an agricultural perspective, our small businesses, our property values, we have to front the bill for this stuff in a very inflated economy already," Giannios said, adding, "Who has money to just blow on a bunch of bottled water?
Norfolk Southern said in a news release Monday that more than 340 in-home air tests conducted since the accident have "not shown any detections of substances related to the incident and does not indicate a health risk." The company said test samples from the Village of East Palestine's drinking water supply wells, drinking water system, and private wells, will be available next week.
Fox News' Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.