Tucker reams politicians for denying the greenlight of Ohio toxic burn: ‘Amazingly brazen butt-covering’

According to Tucker Carlson, the “East Palestine toxic chemical catastrophe is a failure at all levels,” and, thanks to decisions made by “the people in charge,” the small Ohio farming town “has been poisoned.”

(Video: Fox News)

As BizPac Review has reported, following the fiery derailment of a 150-car train carrying incredibly toxic chemicals — including vinyl chloride, diethylene glycol, polypropylene glycol, propylene glycol, polyethylene, polyvinyl, and petroleum — in East Palestine, Ohio, on February 3, federal agents rushed in and decided a “controlled burn” of the chemicals was the way to handle the disaster.

Residents of East Palestine and communities in neighboring Pennsylvania were evacuated, only to be allowed back into their homes just two days after the chemicals were set ablaze.

“That was last week,” Carlson said on Wednesday’s broadcast of Fox News’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” and the decision has sparked a host of questions.

“In the subsequent days, a lot of people have wondered out loud, was it really a wise decision to light thousands of gallons of vinyl chloride on fire, releasing a World War I era bioweapon into the air over a populated area?” he asked. “Was that a good call? Was it really safe, two days later, for people to go back to their homes? If it was safe, how do we know that? Is anyone in charge actually monitoring with any accuracy the level of deadly chemicals in the air, ground, in the water, in and around East Palestine?”

Carlson’s conclusion?

“Well, no, apparently nobody is and that’s highly upsetting when you think about it,” he stated.

Three days after the crash, Carlson noted, Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said of the “toxic mushroom cloud rising thousands of feet” over East Palestine was nothing for his residents to be worried about. During a press conference, he said the burn had gone “as planned.”

“Officials on the scene, meanwhile, declared the burn ‘perfect,'” Carlson explained. “Mike DeWine, the governor of Ohio, agreed with all of this. The people in charge, the railroad’s engineers and the state officials overseeing them had everything under control.”

Shapiro and DeWine, he said, “may have helped make this disaster much worse.”

And now, the “reckless politicians” are racing to “revise their previous statements about the so-called controlled burn.”

“Both have now decided that the toxic mushroom cloud over East Palestine, the one they signed off on and endorsed on television, was actually a bad thing,” he said. “It didn’t go as planned. It wasn’t perfect and both governors have now identified the villain here, not as themselves. No, of course not, but it’s the railroad Norfolk Southern. Both are considering lawsuits against the company.”

The 180-degree turn follows reports from residents of dead chickens who were “perfectly fine” before the burn, people suffering from chemical burns, stinging eyes, and difficulty breathing, and questions about the safety of the water.

NBC reported that Ohio officials confirmed that roughly 3,500 fish were floating dead in the river days after the burn, but they “insist extensive testing shows there’s no threat to other wildlife or humans.”

According to Carlson, while the community is in peril, the governors are trying to cover their butts:

In an act of amazingly brazen butt-covering Josh Shapiro even wrote a letter to the White House and the Transportation Department claiming that Norfolk Southern was “unwilling to explore or articulate alternative courses of action to their proposed vent and burn.” It was very obvious, he says, that there was probably a “safer all overall approach for first responders, residents and the environment.” That was very obvious. They just never said anything about it. It’s remarkable and for the record, we are not defending Norfolk Southern here. We’re only pointing out that Norfolk Southern had this strong endorsement of Josh Shapiro and Mike DeWine when it set those chemicals on fire and caused the mushroom cloud and by the way, the Biden administration endorsed it, too.

According to Pete Buttigieg, Biden officials were on the scene, yet somehow they never said a word about the mushroom cloud until pictures of it evoked outrage on social media and, of course, they didn’t. They didn’t even notice. It had nothing to do with equity or climate change. East Palestine is a poor, White town that voted for Trump. So honestly, who cares? No one in the Biden administration did care and that’s an atrocity. The people whose indifference made it possible should lose their jobs, beginning with Pete Buttigieg and extending to governors Josh Shapiro and Mike DeWine. They didn’t care and they got caught not caring. Even tonight, Mike DeWine clearly still doesn’t care.

 

Carlson played a clip of DeWine telling reporters, “We’re going to continue to test the air. We’re going to continue to test the water, but what that is indicating is that it is very, very safe.”

Asked if he would be okay with everyone returning to their homes if it were his family, the governor replied, “Yeah. Look, I mean, we indicated that.”

Easy for him to say, Carlson said.

“Kind of a clinical response and a dishonest one,” he remarked, “because of course, Mike DeWine is not living in East Palestine and there’s no chance of that ever.”

The bottom line, the host said, is, “Animals in East Palestine are dying by the thousands and you don’t need to be a chemist to know that’s not a good thing. The town has been poisoned.”

Don’t listen to what the officials are saying, Carlson told viewers. Instead, “watch what they do.”

“Words are cheap and people lie,” he cautioned.

“Mike DeWine may say it’s safe to be in East Palestine, but you’ll notice he’s not spending the night there,” he said. “One woman who does live there noticed that federal officials, while assuring everybody everything was fine, were wearing hazmat suits.”

For those old enough to remember, the safety assurances from government officials are reminiscent of another environmental disaster that occurred in Pennsylvania back in 1979: Three Mile Island.

When the nuclear power plant almost experienced a “China Syndrome” meltdown, officials decided to release radioactive gas into the air.

Residents of the small town were assured that radiation levels did not pose a threat, but, decades later, in 1997, a study revealed that people who lived near the facility “may have suffered from a higher rate of some cancers in the first several years after the accident.”

“After the accident, residents near the plant in Pennsylvania began to report nausea, vomiting, hair loss, and skin rashes–signs of radiation exposure,” Science reported in 1997. “Exactly how much radiation was released is a big question.”

And the subject is still a matter of great debate, especially among those labeled as “conspiracy theorists.”

In Ohio, Carlson said, “the people who live there obviously want some answers.”

But officials are clearly hesitant to provide them.

The East Palestine “mayor has just told residents that he has not heard from anyone in the White House, didn’t until yesterday, when it started to become a political liability for them,” Carlson said. “The mayor also said he has no idea where [Transportation Secretary] Pete Buttigieg is tonight.”

At a town hall meeting, Mayor Trent Conaway lashed out at rail company Norfolk Southern for failing to attend and face residents who fear they may suffer long-term health issues, such as cancer.

“The people want answers. I want answers,” he fumed. “Norfolk Southern didn’t show up.”

When asked why the company was a no-show, Conaway answered, “Because they are scared for their safety.”

Norfolk Southern did, however, release a statement, the Daily Mail reports: “Unfortunately, after consulting with community leaders, we have become increasingly concerned about the growing physical threat to our employees and members of the community around this event stemming from the increasing likelihood of the participation of outside parties.”

It is an unconscionable act of cowardice.

“I am a mayor of a town of 4,700 people. If you think I can fight against a railroad or fight against the EPA you’re crazy,” Conaway told reporters, according to the Daily Mail. “I don’t feel safe in my town. I tell everybody they’re safe, think our citizens are safe, I think our drinking water is safe. Everybody is concerned. I’m concerned.”

The frustrated mayor said, “I have the village on my back and I’ll do whatever it takes. They screwed up our town, they’re going to fix it.”

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