On February 3, a Norfolk-Southern mega-train with 150 rail cars, 20 loaded with highly hazardous material including one million pounds of vinyl chloride, derailed in the Ohio village of East Palestine (pop. 4,800) causing an enormous fireball which lasted for three days. Released everywhere were massive amounts of toxins and dioxins. Over 40,000 fish died within hours, and countless residents complained of headaches; dizziness; nose bleeds; sore throats; nausea, shortness of breath, rashes and other ailments.

 Aggravating this environmental disaster was a decision to release 100,000 gallons of vinyl chloride into a trench and burn it off. The result was a huge black mushroom cloud filled with still more toxins such as hydrogen chloride and phosgene, a poisonous gas used in WWI. A mandatory evacuation order was lifted on February 8 after officials prematurely deemed the area safe. However, residents continue to suffer from various serious ailments and a dark cloud of fear and anxiety continues to hover over greater East Palestine. Property values have plummeted and righteous anger has skyrocketed.

 It is no exaggeration to call this unprecedented environmental disaster the Ohio Chernobyl. And it certainly is no exaggeration to call official responses, to date, next to worthless. Residents are trapped in a carcinogenic cage. Their only viable path to liberation and safety is to move, but most cannot afford to do so.

 That is why we demand the federal government and Norfolk Southern put their money where their mouth is. Immediately provide the needed financial resources for all those who wish to leave the polluted greater East Palestine area. Buy out, at full value, the property of all residents and businesses in and around East Palestine who wish to leave. Anything less abandons most, if not all, of our fellow Americans trapped there to a life of anxiety, fear, deteriorating health and premature death.