'I Don’t Feel Safe': Ohio’s Derailed Train Left a Cloud of Distrust 

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A corporation that made $3 billion in profits last year and allows these disasters to happen regularly needs to be held accountable. Throw the CEO in jail.

The fact that the people responsible for this accident pulled out of the public meeting, tells you how little they care for these people.

It’s so sad to watch these human beings be poisoned and lied to about being poisoned smh. Prayers to them 😢

Why are so many large media outlets not covering this? Why are smaller local new reporters being arrested for reporting on this?? whats going on?? Glad Vice was able to talk about this.

As someone who experienced the Flint Water Crisis, another environmental crisis, you all in East Palestine have every right to be skeptical. We were noticing water smelling weird, looking discolored, folks getting sick. We were also told that the water was safe to drink by officials...until we found out it wasn't. You have lived there all your life. You know what's normal and not normal. Stick to your gut, and even when the cameras go away, keep fighting. Bless you all.

Don't sign a SINGLE THING they put in front of you. It is taking away your right to sue them. These dudes were literally hired by the company to get the residents to sign off.

I live in Youngstown, Ohio about 20 mins away from there. A few days after the wreck, my entire family got really sick. I talked to a few of my friends and they said them and their families were sick and everyone they know was sick. A lot of my family were sick for roughly 2 weeks. My Mom is still sick. Everyone I talked to said they were sick for roughly 2 weeks and some people still are. It's been a month and there is still something wrong. I don't trust anywhere in Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. If I had the money and resources to leave and bring my family with me, I absolutely would!! My nieces and nephews were severely sick, throwing up. One of my best friends has 3 daughters and she said they were violently sick and throwing up as well.. it's not safe here!! It's been a month and I still don't believe it's safe!

Omg those poor people.... hearing that mom describe the fear in her young sons eyes got me crying

Anyone living in the area do this, trust me. Go to the doctor and get a physical, do this every single year. 10 or 20 years from now this will give you a paper trail if you become ill. The number one thing companies and the government will claim if you try to sue is "How do we know you didn't have this before?". If you do this you will have the proof that you need to help support your case in the future. If you have kids do this with them as well.

"I'm a safety guy." Simple words, but that engineer said so much. What a good soul.

I live in Kent Ohio about 40-55 mins away. And we have air quality issues as well as a water contamination advisory. This is a way bigger issue than they are making this seem

This is fascinating! People are letting a sub contractor for norfolk southern check there house's to see if there safe. Of course there gonna say it's safe.

That’s the same thing that happened with Flint, “don’t worry the water is perfectly safe to drink,” kept telling them that for years before Flint hit the news. Same thing with radiation therapy, “it’s safe.” Fact that they bailed from the meeting with the townspeople tells you all you needed to know.

I’m the girl who mouthed horseshit in this video. I’ve got to say that after working all day and going to that meeting I was absolutely livid. Quite frankly I still am. I live .2 miles from the disaster location. This situation has been handled so poorly, but I am thankful for the reporters who are bold enough to speak out and interview the people who actually live here rather than spewing out scripted lines from Norfolk Southern. Thank you vice. I would be happy to share more about my experiences here. I will not be silenced by this company or anyone who has been placed in a position of financial gain from Norfolk Southern’s checkbook.

"these are bad choices" like that sums up EVERYTHING going on right now.

I couldn't even imagine the pain and fear that young lady is going through right. My thoughts and prayers to her and her son and all affected by this tragedy. Of course Norfolk Southern will try to minimise loss and try to take the least expensive way out of this but the way Gov. DeWine and the Ohio and federal EPA has handled this is nothing short of disgusting down-playing the situation and treating these people like fools.

Listening to that retired engineer speak really hit home. As a former locomotive engineer myself, I remember always putting safety first above everything. It was expected of us. I remember the mantra, "When in doubt, take the safetst route." The railroad is very unforgiving; employees die every year. As much as the company drilled safety practices into our heads, it is hard for me to fathom how much that industry has changed in such a short period of time. Some companies are willing to put employee and public safety behind profits and efficiency. I feel bad for anyone who lives within a half mile of a main track.

I can't believe that a crew of "experts" would ever walk into a contaminated area without at least respiratory protection on, and then to have the homeowner in the house before the result is known is negligent at best (where soil and water samples taken at the home supply?)

Respect to the mother for leaving with her kid and 🐈....

You know your government is a joke when a company dictates what is wrong and what is right. This is currently happening in the US but it is prevalent in other countries as well.

The company and the government need to be held accountable. It’s disgusting.

These so called ‘high ranked’ officials making a good living, but when something goes wrong, none of these officials takes accountability and responsibility, not even ‘we are sorry that this happened’. Prayers goes out to the people affected. This is truly a sad world we live in.

The independent contractor hired by the offending company of course smells or detects nothing wrong in the house. These “independent” contractors should be paired with outside contractors testing simultaneously. How can I expect the murderer to property investigate THEIR CRIME SCENE!!!

You can tell just by looking at the fire and the amount of soot and black smoke coming out that it's a hazard. I would move just to be safe because it seems like the soil and water could be contaminated and depending on the type of chemicals being released they could linger around for decades silently causing damage to people's health.

Anyone who owns a home in that town should sue, literally force the railroad to buy all of those homes for at least 2x the value.

My father in law worked for the railroad his whole life. He refused to ride the rails because of how bad they are. He died at 68 of lymphoma and 4 other cancers. Exposure over 40 years to toxic railcars.

If Norfolk can't show up to the Town Hall, their trains shouldn't be chugging down the same train tracks until there are answers and cleanup done transparently.

I had an argument with this person who said I’m a crazy conspiracy theorist only because I said the government can’t be trusted anymore. As someone who grew up in a corrupt country I know very well what this is and how they can manipulate citizens to believe anything they tell them. I moved to this country about 15 years ago, and in all honesty it seems to be getting worst and worst. Even Mexico my home land who I still visit often is getting better and better and projected to becoming a world economy in the incoming years. Americans are moving to mexico like never before. In fact, the president of Mexico responded to accusations by American officials by saying “in Mexico we have real democracy” and this is true at least for the past 5 years. Here in the U.S we are losing that. Us as citizens need to start acting against our corrupt governments. We cannot afford to stay quiet anymore, we cannot afford to let the rich people keep abusing the rest of us.

Absolutely INSANE to hear from a dude in his 60s that we need to GO BACK to safety standards BACK IN THE DAYS, and he's ABSOLUTELY RIGHT....Like what the hell is this world coming to...

As a local of East Palestine, I have a father whom is a retired engineer for this railroad. So much misinformation is in the media and people believe anything they say, I will say Vice got it right. I would like to thank you for accurate reporting. Good job

Someone has to held account for this, this is sad. Most times it amazes me greatly how I moved from an average lifestyle to earning over $63k per month, Utter shock is the word. I have understood a lot in the past few years that there are lots of opportunities in the financial market. The only thing is to know where to invest…

My heart breaks for Genus, her son, and everyone else who’s stuck there with no way out and their homes unsafe.😔💜

Every big company I’ve ever worked for always says “safety first,” but when push comes to shove that’s just words and productivity and the bottom line is truly more important.

There's only one fair course. The railroad needs to purchase every property in E.P. for the market price BEFORE this disaster, so the residents can find new homes. Then the RR can deal with what they've done.

Everyone needs to leave that area immediately, this will not get better for you by staying anywhere near this catastrophe. Absolutely destroyed the environment and everyone that is living in it. We will only see the true effects in the coming years and it is so scary to think about. Praying for all of those people living in that state because yes that entire state and even surrounding states will be feeling this. Test your water supply!!!! Dont trust someone telling you its safe, get your own test done!

I can’t believe it’s already been a month since this has happened. WOW

This story feels so much deeper than what is currently on the surface. Thank you for this reporting.

Fun fact, the NorFolk Southern is owned by an investment company called Blackrock who once tried to buy the property around the railroad tracks from the town, who turned down the offer. Imagine what an amazing coincidence that a major chemical spill happened in that exact spot that forced the residents to flee. I'm not saying it's intentional, but it sure was convient for Blackrock.

Thank you Vice for giving this some coverage!! I live a little too close for comfort to that area and I really haven't heard much at all. So again, thank you!

Another great update vice

Thank you Vice for raising awareness to this story..

I live in northwest Ohio. About time this starts to get coverage. It's so much worse than what they're telling people. I'm waiting to see how this effects the crops this year. We grow so much of the crops that are sent all over the country. This isn't going to just be an Ohio problem

No red cross?? We're definitely getting attacked from within

reason they tests are coming up as safe is because the blast created so many chemical reactions that its creating new chemicals and gasses, and they cant test for something thats never been detected before. telling these people that their house is safe is ridiculously dangerous. these people didn't even find out the full list of what chemicals were in this train before blowing it all up, and then going 'whoopsies! turns out the chemicals we didnt know where in there become toxic when set on fire! sowwy 🥺'

Many of us live near railroad tracks - this is unconscionable.

We must hold them accountable or nothing will change.

I don't blame them for not trusting what Norfolk says. I used to work there and they don't care about anything but money. I had a coworker whose daughter was sick and couldn't go to school and they told her she needed to drop her off at a church so that she could come to work 😳. And we worked in Accounting!! I have many stories

Thanks again for another good one vice

Living across the country I was pretty shocked at how long it took for the media to get this story out. It was around a week or so after the incident. Big money kept this one under wraps.

To see the people conducting the tests NOT wear any protection? WTF!?! I'm amazed by all of this... Thanks, Vice. Keep pushing.

poor Scott, man, he seems like such a nice guy

Questions to ask Rail Authorities 1. When was the last time Maintenance was carried out on the rail line, 2. What is the procedure for carriage of dangerous &/or hazardous goods thru this sector. 3. Who is responsible.

I think the people of Ohio one by one should take that company to court. And not a group settlement. Don't let them just pay out with one big lump sum payment that everybody has to divide. Each one should take theim one by one. I don't even live there and it pisses me off. If just a citizen of United States did this, they would be arrested and fined out the ass. But this company has put a bunch of money in the back pockets of politicians it seems.. these residents need to find a really good lawyer that knows how to deal with big companies like this that make huge mistakes.

That mother did the right thing for her child get the hell out of town 👍

Praying 🙏 everything and everyone is safe

we are listening...we are hearing you. ❤❤❤❤❤

Its like being robbed and then the police saying that the people who robbed you will assess what was taken

This whole country should be rallied behind this area. The government and the company needs to be held accountable. They have unheard of amounts of money that came from our pockets and they can clean this, they need to.

Ohhhh snap! Scott!!! I worked with him. He was a great engineer, enjoyed my trips with him. Taught me a lot. 😊

Imagine trusting a town hall meeting to answer questions seriously. LMAO.

I live in Columbus...I have a feeling everyone in this entire region is going to see the harm this is doing in the next 10-15 years spikes in cancer for one

Nobody is safe when the world is ruled by monsters.

MY concern is the towns that live in the path of the fallout. I live in PA in a town that was in the direct path of the smoke carried by the Jet stream. My son played outside and came in sick, throwing up, headache.... All this was the day after the fire was set and continued until today. Then, we have all these dead birds too.

After the company involved has been proven not to care about safety, you have every right not to believe them when they say it's "safe". I feel so sorry for this town that they polluted and now just want to sweep under the rug. Utterly disgraceful and disgusting

Safety should ALWAYS come first when it comes to trains. These money grabbing execs and CEO’s should be arrested and prosecuted for their negligence.

They should have to pay residents to stay in hotels until they deem its safe to go back into there own homes and the county should of found,talked,and paid someone themselves to get soil tested not the company because it's easy for them to pay a little extra to get the answers they want the residents to hear..

Sending prayers 🙏 ❤️

horrendous

The retired engineer is a good human, I teared up hearing the passion in his voice. I hope there's enough like him to make an actual change.

Unfortunately this is rarely being discussed by other news outlets. This week I may have seen a cumulative of 15 minutes spent on this man-made disaster. Thank you so much for continually shedding a light on this, Vice!

I feel bad for the people who live in this place. It's been about year since this accident and I just found out about this. Knowing that such derailment used to happen but never for the consequences to reach to this extent must make the residents more than upset. Not only is their air and water is getting poisoned but they're getting gaslighted as well. I can't imagine how frustrating that would be. Is there any updates on the residents' health?

They basically nuked this town.... Absolutely disgusting

This is the saddest thing I’ve ever seen in Ohio. I live in Springfield Ohio & haven’t seen any birds. I usually feed them every day of the year. We’re 233 miles from ground zero

Why should the company that is directly related to the accident be the ones to check if properties are safe. Wouldn't it make sense to hire a third party without a vested interest in the incident to do the analysis. Just feels like the company has an incentive to lie about what and where is safe for the population to cover their own ass.

Much love Goes out to all

Wow! SCARY!

Norfolk Southern represents what is the feeling of the American corp towards the people. If their economical practices affect the health of the average american it's like if there's no sense of empathy for nobody, the sense of dehumanization is truly disgusting.

Large scale deregulation leads to large scale failure over time.

Sad thing is,we won't know impact of this for decades....thoughts and prayers from portland

0:07 can you imagine your mayor telling you that he ‘thinks’ your water is safe, not that it is safe, but that he thinks it safe. How reassuring.

I know people who get a migraine if someone where's too much perfume. I can't even imagine how horrible this is for them.

Thank you Vice. Stay on this, please. Find those who ought be held accountable.

I'm from NY never heard of this. Thanks there should be more awareness for incidents like this. Clear coverup and excuse making by government and corporations.

What a shock! Corporate negligence harms innocent people and the company runs away. I'd love to see what readings they're getting on those tests vs occupational exposure limits. FEMA, the EPA, and the Ohio state government needs to be more involved, because Norfolk Southern is primarily concerned with avoiding lawsuits and spending as little money as possible to get the residents to shut up.

This is why we don’t deregulate things like this. Because then this crap happens, and people get sick and die. It’s disgusting that these poor people have no recourse and they’re forced by money of all things to move back.

im part of a town less than a hundred miles: 50 from my home exactly, and weve had recent oil spills that kinda seem... odd in timing...

So where is the update on the residents or water and soil contamination

Thank you for speaking to the residents of this town and covering this outrageous tragedy. Not just sugar coating it like many news outlets have

My older relatives grew up in Akron in the shadow of Goodyear. The way they say it the sides of the houses were constantly covered in soot but the company said it was safe. When they got up in age they all developed cancer and dementia and passed young for their age group. Don't let a corporation tell you because it "appears" safe now that there are no long term health risks.

That retired engineer got me. He’s right. Can tell how upset he is that they’re endangering people due to their negligence (to put it nicely)

it's a tragedy, so sad

I feel sorry for those affected by this incident and hope they get support going forward if they need it.

About a year ago during the spring. My town had massive flooding, and the railroad company still had a train come through the flooded rails. The train derailed and the conductor almost drowned trying to escape

10:03 love this guy. I want updates on this situation

The ppl in that town got done dirty. The owners of that railroad need to be prosecuted.

Just because they run a test and the test does not show a result does not mean that they were running the correct test. What are they testing for? I wouldn’t trust them at all without complete transparency, and in my opinion, Norfolk Southern should not be in charge of the cleanup as their own interests will be cost savings and (corporate) risk mitigation.

I hope the mother gets equity for the home

I live in Springfield Ohio and we just had another derailment today!

the poor animals oh my heart… this is all so horrible and just sad… truly disgusting that this is even happening…