Ohio Journalist details the 'bleak economic reality' surrounding the hazardous train derailment

16 February 2023

Erin Brockovich, the environmental activist famously depicted by Julia Roberts in a 2000 movie, has been urging President Joe Biden to "get more involved" in the health crisis affecting areas of Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania following the February 3 derailment of a train carrying hazardous materials. Hoping to prevent an explosion, officials carried out a controlled burn that released toxic chemicals into the atmosphere. And some residents of that area have been complaining of headaches and other symptoms.

The Norfolk Southern Railway train was making its way east from Madison, Illinois to Conway, Pennsylvania when it derailed near the town of East Palestine, Ohio. Over 2000 residents of the area were evacuated but have since been allowed to return to their homes.

Ohio-based journalist Daniel McGraw discusses the political and economic implications of the derailment in a think piece published by the conservative website The Bulwark on February 16. And McGraw stresses that the derailment is bringing more hardship to an area of the United States that has seen plenty of it over the years. The crisis, according to McGraw, underscores the "bleak economic reality" that Appalachia has been facing.

"At the national level," McGraw observes, "the politics of this story have so far largely broken down along party lines, with conservatives blaming the Biden Administration and the EPA for not enforcing standards already on the books while liberals blame big corporations — like railroad companies — that have the backing of Republicans to do whatever they want. One thing missing from the national debate, however, is any recognition of what is politically important and distinctive about the place where this happened.”

The journalist continues, "East Palestine is in a part of the country — where Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia all meet — that has been the key to both the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. Indeed, the site of the derailment is right at the Ohio-Pennsylvania border and just a half-hour’s scenic drive to the West Virginia border. This is part of the country where the manufacturing jobs left, the foreclosure crisis turned home-ownership investment into a big joke, and opioid drug overdoses and deaths are happening in huge numbers. And now, along comes this ugly thing — chemicals that might kill you getting dumped at your doorstep — to add to the small-town, rural electorate frustration."

Appalachia is famous for bluegrass music and coal miners. The late country singer Loretta Lynn famously sang about her Kentucky upbringing in her 1969 hit "Coal Miner’s Daughter," and her father really did work in a coal mine.

Appalachia is also known for difficult economic conditions, as McGraw emphasizes in his article.

"The residents of this part of Appalachia, who are mostly white, think they aren’t being paid attention to, and will go with the guy who they think understands them better," McGraw explains. "The population in towns like East Palestine believe that they’ve done what they were told to do for decades — mine the coal, make things that make other things, punch the clock daily, and put on a white shirt in the morning that will be gray when you get home. They knew of the health risks, but were willing to accept those risks for the sake of better jobs and higher income."

McGraw adds, “But this is not a reality that exists anymore, and a lot of these people feel left behind. And they’re not wrong to feel that way. Home prices in Columbiana County are about half the national average: $105,000 vs. $230,000. The median household income is about 25 percent lower, $49,400, than the national average. About 20 percent of the people are on Medicaid, and about 20 percent are over 65.”

Read Daniel McGraw’s full article for The Bulwark at this link.

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