I’m sorry Tim, but I trust nothing this corrupt government tells me. They need to prove it to me. You are right though. I was given some incorrect info on the hazards. I just read the SDS and while it’s bad stuff, it’s not as much as I had thought. Not knowing the concentration in the air, it’s not possible to know if the LC50 was breached.
We don’t know what the concentration in the air is or was during the release.
Your Governor used some weasel words saying the water is safe yet you should drink bottled water for a while. Have they sunk any test wells with real time test results? Who’s doing the testing?
Has a true third party lab done any testing or just government?
Explain the fish and animal kills. The SDS had no data on those.
We look at the response in Flint, MI when they discovered that the homes had been built 80 years ago with lead pipes. It was a full court press. I haven’t seen any similar thing for Ohio. Is it because they are a conservative area? Hmmmm
Well, I sure don't blame you there. Their track record has not been all that great. The guy I heard was the House Representative. He clearly wasn't an expert, but it was also clear he'd been spending some time, on-site, talking with local officals, EPA, and technical experts from the railroad, and... I'm sure, whoever manufactured this stuff. I haven't seen that name mentioned ANYWHERE... and, I've been looking. Once upon a time I was THAT guy.
The Mayor of East Palestine said they were not relying on the EPA for water testing. They were doing their own, and contracting with outside labs..
VCM is a light material, at ambient temps, it's a gas. It has very low solubilty in water. It's not surprising they aren't seeing any in the water. The greater risk to the water, IMO, would be from any byproducts formed during the burning. Things like heavier tar compounds. But, they would be much smaller in volume, and mainly concentrated around the burn area.
I can't say for sure that they are drilling test wells, but.. I know that would be the proper protocol. They should be do so in a grid fashion going out from the spill area.
Fish kills are normal for ANY spill that gets into waterways. As I mentioned in another post, Jim Beam once had a huge bourbon spill here in Kentucky, near Bardstown. It killed THOUSANDS of fish. They didn't drink themselves to death. The organics (Ethanol is organic) react with the oxygen in the water, dropping it to levels too low for the fish to breathe. They literally suffocated.
I can't explain animal kills... especially, 10 days after the accident. Frankly, I'd say it's more likely randy teenagers killed the chickens, just to scare people. That easier for me to believe than thinking that VCM killed them.
For full disclosure, I'm not an expert on the acrylates that were spilled. I just know about Vinyl Chloride. I started my career as an engineer in a VCM plant owned by Dow. But, from what I have read about the acrylates, they are less hazardous than VCM.
Despite what some people may believe, I'm not trying to downplay the significance of what happened at East Palestine. These kinds of accidents should be prevented by any means practical. I just don't like seeing people being frightened by claims of "American Chernobyl". Give me a freaking break. This is NOTHING like radioactivity contamination that last thousands of years.
The impact of this has been swift, and obvious. But, it will NOT be long lasting. It can, and will be cleaned up. Nature will do the bulk of it. The good Lord gave us an amazing place to live. If we just try, a little, we can all be OK here.