East Palestine: "People Are Already Leaving. I've Seen Realtors Over There Today..."

[GGoss]

Link to tweet

[blueinredohio]

1. Sad, but true

and if they don't live close they don't care.

[Deuxcents]

2. Their losses will be immeasurable

Homes, community, health issues...things that don’t have monetary value but are priceless. Speculators will be out for the easy finds at a loss for the victims of the railroad company and not smart decisions made by their governor. This is tragic n I just cannot imagine how these families cope with must be done. And they are not the only ones..derailments and environmental accidents happen all the time n sometimes we don’t even know.

[Hortensis]

3. But, they don't KNOW yet what the environmental and health effects will be.

If any significant. Or RE values in 3 years.

The media are stoking anxiety and seeking out people who'll express a lot of it for the cameras, but the residents don't KNOW yet. And neither do any of us. Of course tests have been showing levels of some chemicals "higher than normal" (!), but what does that mean? Only expert evaluation of the specific chemicals and exposures will tell.

From what I'm reading so far, it seems probable that the reality will not bear out the arm-flapping, knock wood. Authorities are reporting that there's been no release of the kind of chemicals that poison an area for decades -- you know, PCBs and such. Vinyl chloride is reportedly volatile and evaporates from even the soil within a day or so and is about as carcinogenic as alcohol, less than aspirin.

Unfortunately, this occurred in a period of heightened irrationality and widespread grievance syndromes -- an anti-science, anti-expert, heavy-conspiracist period of radicalized distrust. If that should lead people to distrust the truth that will increasingly be available, this family could be only one of many who provide real estate windfalls for those happy to take advantage, the most long-lasting damage toxic fallout from the current zeitgeist.

Btw, no one has to wait for "the evil government" to lie to them. Anyone and any organization can take soil and water samples to a lab, and no doubt many are.

[ProfessorGAC]

5. One Odd Thing I Saw...

...was the elevated level of acrolein. That has nothing to do with a spill of, or combustion of vinyl chloride.
Same with the modest increase in benzene, toluene, & the 3 xylenes.
I think that area might already have a toxic soup and all the VC, the heat from the fire & 10 million gallons of water has stirred up a mess that was already there.
I read somewhere that there was some sort of refining there in the past. Theis recent spill may have exacerbated an already bad situation that would otherwise have been ignored.

[Hortensis]

6. Yes, that was the biggest question mark for me so far.

And what you mention seems at least possible. No surprise in today's world if an area turns out to have a chemical problem. And some should be no surprise at all, but we're not used to thinking of them when we look for homes.

Like one ordinary residential property I remember back in SoCal that had to have the soil excavated and removed to 9 feet deep to remove the toxins the previous, garden-chemical-happy resident had been adding to the soil for years. The new owner wanted to plant some vegetables and had innocently taken a soil sample to the local county extension office to find out if she should add potassium, etc., only to be informed her yard was a health threat just to walk around in and best to keep her windows closed. Remediation to make this property livable (forget veggies) was extreme, but I learned lesser toxic levels of garden chemicals in the soil are fairly common.

And then there're the subdivisions built along major roadways, where vehicles throw off emissions and toxic chemicals and particulate matter 24/7/365/forever. Those so often are entry-level subdivisions that appeal to young couples who want a nice new house to start their family in.



Not that these are standards, but so far East Palatine is sounding cautiously comparatively good.

[slightlv]

4. The non-monetary treasures that are lost are just gone...

never to be gotten back. But these people must be made whole monetarily so that they can rebuild their lives someplace else. And that must happen by the corporation. Not by the government. I wouldn't mind if the government helped, after all Trump did kill the regulation, even if it wouldn't have helped here. But the largest share of the burden should fall on the corporation. Period.

Corporations are people. I'm tired of them privatizing the profit and socializing the loss. If they take the risk, they should bear the cost. If they kill, the CEO should be tried for murder and if convicted, sent to prison. Enough of this "on paper only" bullcrap.

[mathematic]

7. People have been leaving that area for four decades.

Of course they're going to pretend it's because of some train derailment but it's really because anybody with an ounce of hope for their future bails out of the racist, backwards looking, death cult of rural and small town eastern OH and southwest PA as soon as they hit 18.

[Takket]

8. leaving is the smart thing to do.

no doctor is ever going to be able to tell you your risk of staying. Honestly the smart thing for the courts/NS to do is a settlement to shut the town down, move everyone out, and return it to mother nature.

There are only 4700 residents and 1800 households. it is safer for everyone to shut the town down. we have hurricanes that cause way more displacement and destruction than that.

make the settlement for everyone's relocation. The value of their home IN 2022 BEFORE THE ACCIDENT + one year of their household income for lost wages and the time/expenses it will take to move + $100,000 per person for their trouble plus guaranteed lifetime medical coverage.

i'm just spitballing on cost but assuming each home is $150k, and average resident makes $50,000, the cost of this whole "move everyone out" plan is about 1 billion dollars. A bargain for destroying a town. That's not including the "lifetime medical coverage" which could be a few more billion. Again, a bargain.