You are fighting to protect other communities from toxic rail disasters Food & Water Watch and our allies have been sounding the alarm about the dangers of transporting hazardous materi- als by rail. Together, we are: • Pressuring the Department of Transportation for strong rail safety regulations and to classi- fy trains like Norfolk Southern’s as “high-hazard flammable trains,” which require stricter safety measures to operate • Calling on the EPA to ban vinyl chloride — a grave threat to public health and our land, air, and water. Thank you for fighting like you live here!
Twelve days after the derailment, residents crowd into the local high school gym for the first town hall meeting with Norfolk Southern officials. Norfolk did not show up, citing concerns of a "growing physical threat" to their employees. Photo by Ted Auch, FracTracker Alliance, 2023.
>Health and Environmental Fears - continued from Page 2
How you are helping communities affected by the disaster Residents deserve to know if their air is safe to breathe and if their water is safe to drink. And, understandably, they don’t trust information coming from Norfolk Southern or the EPA. Because of you, Food & Water Watch has been able to provide people in need with: • Free, unbiased water, soil, and indoor surface testing by part- nering with local universities
• Free whole-home air filtration by partnering with the Clean Air Council. And together, we’re urging Governors Shapiro of Pennsylvania and DeWine of Ohio to: • Fund independent environ- mental testing for all impact- ed communities • Provide medical monitoring, so all residents and first responders can learn about their exposure and health.
Why We Need to Ban Vinyl Chloride
Scan this QR code to read more about the dangers of vinyl chloride.
fwwat.ch/NeedVCBan
ON THE GROUND
David Wants You to Remember the Derailment Disaster
Food & Water Watch Pennsyl- vania Organizer David Pfister grew up in Beaver County, Pennsylvania — right across the state border from East Pales- tine, Ohio. His parents live 15 miles from the Norfolk Southern derailment site. David says, “It’s been rough. Nothing is compelling Norfolk Southern to tell the truth about
releasing toxins. We need proper regulatory structures to hold them accountable.”
I don’t want this to be a forgotten situation and there to be adverse health effects for people ten years down the line.
Organizer, David Pfister. Photo by Under the Midnight Sun Photography
3 | SUMMER 2023
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