（CNEWS讯）据美国《新闻周刊》报道，在发生毁灭性火车相撞和化学物质燃烧的现场，有毒化学物质云团已覆盖俄亥俄州东巴勒斯坦方圆100英里的范围。如果这个报道属实，那么90英里外的州首府克利夫兰的居民现在就有接触这些有毒物质风险。与此同时，令克利夫兰居民感到震惊的是，奥克兰一家钢铁厂的另一起爆炸事件竟尚未成为国际头条新闻。这起爆炸事件造成1名员工死亡，13人住院。俄亥俄州消防局官员报告称，这是几天来第二次多个部门卷入一起重大事故中。据目击者称，现场有“巨大黑烟”冒出。

到目前为止，我们对火车脱轨事件的了解都是媒体所希望我们了解的。脱轨火车有5节车厢载有氯乙烯，这是一种气味甜美的无色气体，吸入氯乙烯会导致头痛、恶心和头晕，而且“长期接触”会导致肝损伤和癌症等严重问题。

这只是这列火车拉动的150节车厢中的5节，其他数量不详的车厢载有乙二醇单丁基醚、丙烯酸乙基己酯和异丁烯。据报道所称，那些弄丢货物的脱轨车厢中，至少有一节车厢载有丙烯酸丁酯。这些看起来令人困惑的词，归根结底来说都是有毒物质，并且与各种各样的健康问题相关。

美国国家环境保护局官员已经测试并认定水质已达到安全水平，但建议当地居民先饮用瓶装水，等10天再饮用自来水。并且，当地有大量鱼类死亡的报告。美国国家环境保护局官员还表示，当地空气质量已恢复到火车脱轨前的水平，但当地居民表示，尽管戴着N95口罩，他们还是能闻到化学物质的味道，并且感到刺眼。报告称有些人出现皮疹，五英里外还出现牲畜死亡的情况。

近期举行了一次市政厅会议，但此次事件的责任公司诺福克南方铁路公司出于安全考虑，没有一人参加会议。大家都在想，诺福克南方铁路公司在害怕什么呢？是害怕暴露在空气中的化学物质，还是害怕暴露在这些可怕环境下的居民可能会做些什么。

美国交通部部长皮特·布蒂吉格 (Pete Buttigieg) 的缺席引起了人们的注意，他说他将“在适当的时间”到访该地区，并以1939年的《哈奇法案》(Hatch Act) 作为不出席现场的理由，因为该法案阻止联邦官员以党派方式行事。特朗普已确认他将出席现场，《哈奇法案》是不包括前联邦官员、总统、副总统的，因此他们参与党派活动并没有受到限制。这似乎是一种可以被接受的政治得分方式。

尽管火车脱轨事件影响面似乎很广，但受影响区域的情况肯定不尽如人意。完全被遗忘的一点是，火车脱轨发生在距离宾夕法尼亚州边境仅半英里的地方，而达灵顿镇的居民却被忽视了，因为他们不住在东巴勒斯坦地区，甚至因为不是住在俄亥俄州而被忽视。

拜登没有赶赴现场，而是派副总统哈里斯和交通部长前去，并且一直对此事件保持沉默。共和党人，东巴勒斯坦市长特伦特·康纳威（Trent Conaway）抨击拜登对此事件的反应，并批评拜登在他的城镇受到威胁时却去访问波兰和乌克兰。共和党人，俄亥俄州州长也猛烈抨击联邦政府的反应，认为他们的说法荒谬可笑。联邦政府声称该地区安全，而现实却是鱼类和牲畜正在死亡。

消费者权益保护者艾琳·布罗科维奇（Erin Brockovich）也公开建议当地居民“离开那里”，并描述了当地面临“系统性管理不善”问题。

虽然这些事件可能达不到切尔诺贝利或博帕尔事件的规模，但这一事件差不多是过去50年来最严重的人为环境灾难。而且联邦政府对于此事件的反应似乎，充其量也只是半心半意的、不充分的和带着党派性质的。如果这个事件发生在民主党控制的地区，那么联邦政府的反应可能会有所不同。 

此类事件通常不是意外事故，通常涉及某种形式的疏忽、腐败、管理不善或渎职行为。在中国，化学物质引发的火灾并不鲜见，2015年在天津发生过，2019年在北京再次发生。中国政府反应迅速，吸取教训，近50名政府官员和责任公司员工被捕。人们一定想知道有多少人会因为这些美国灾难而面临刑事指控和监禁。答案很可能与往常一样：零。

（CNEWS）According to Newsweek, a toxic chemical cloud has reached a radius of 100-miles around East Palestine, the scene of a devastating train crash and chemical burn-off. If true, the people of Cleveland, the State capital 90-miles away, are now at risk of exposure. At the same time, Cleveland residents are reeling from another explosion at a steel plant in Oakland, which hasn’t made international headlines yet. One employee has died, 13 are hospitalised. Ohio State Fire Department officials report, for the second time in a few days, multiple departments have attended a major incident. A “huge cloud of black smoke” was billowing from the scene according to witnesses.

What we know about the derailment so far is what the media would like us to know. There were 5 rail cars carrying vinyl chloride, a sweet smelling, colourless gas, inhalation of which causes headaches, nausea and dizziness but “chronic exposure” causes severe issues including liver damage and cancer.

That was only 5 of the 150 cars this train was pulling. Other cars, the number of which are unknown, contained ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate and isobutylene and at least one car, which is reported to have lost its load, contained butyl acrylate. This looks like a lot of confusing words but the bottom line is, all are toxic and associated with a wide variety of health problems.

EPA officials have tested and approved water quality levels as safe but waited 10 days to suggest drinking bottled water, there are reports of fish dying in large numbers. They are also saying the air quality has returned to level prior to the derailment but residents are saying they can still smell the chemicals despite wearing N95 masks and are suffering eye irritations, some are reporting rashes and there are livestock deaths as much as five-miles away.

A recent Town Hall meeting was held but members of the company responsible, Norfolk Southern, did not attend – fearing for their safety, the question on everyone’s mind is what is their fear? Was it exposure to chemicals they know are in the air, or a fear of what residents, exposed to these terrifying conditions, might do.

Pete Buttigieg, the Transportation Secretary, is noticeable by his absence and says he will visit the area “when the time is right”, citing a 1939 bill called the Hatch Act as a reason for not attending the scene, this law prevents Federal officials from acting in a partisan way. Trump has confirmed he will attend the scene. Hatch makes no reference to former federal officials and the office of President and Vice President are excluded so this seems to be an acceptable method of political point scoring.

Despite what appears to be a wide coverage, all is definitely not well in the region. One point completely forgotten is that the derailment took place just half-a-mile from the Pennsylvania border, residents of Darlington Township have been neglected because they are not in East Palestine; not even in Ohio. 

Biden, instead of visiting, sending VP Harris or ordering his Transport Secretary to go, has been silent on the events, East Palestine’s Republican Mayor Trent Conaway, has slammed Biden’s response and criticised his visit to Poland and Ukraine at a time when his town is suffering, Ohio’s Republican Governor has also slammed the federal response suggesting claims the region is safe while fish and livestock are dying are absurd.

Consumer advocate Erin Brockovich also has spoken out advising residents to “get out of there” and describes “systemic mismanagement”.

Whilst the events might not be on the scale of a Chernobyl or Bhopal this incident is being linked to the worst man-made environmental disasters of the last 50 years and the response seems, at best to be half-hearted, inadequate and partisan, had this event happened in a Democrat controlled region, the response may have been different.

Incidents such as these are not usually accidents, some form of negligence, corruption, mismanagement, or malpractice is usually involved and China is no stranger to Chemical fires, 2015 in Tianjin and again in 2019 in Beijing. The government response was swift, lessons were learnt and almost 50 government officials and company employees arrested. One must wonder how many people will face criminal court and imprisonment for these US disasters. The answer is most likely to be the same as usual: zero.