(NewsNation) — Vice President JD Vance will lead a group of lawmakers to East Palestine, Ohio, on Monday, two years after a toxic train derailment scarred the town for generations,
Vance will be joined by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, new EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, and Republican Sens. Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted. Husted recently replaced the vice president in the Senate.
After a train carrying chemicals derailed on the border of Pennsylvania and Ohio on Feb. 3, 2023, officials burned 116,000 gallons of vinyl chloride and forever changed the town.
Vinyl chloride is still being detected in the area, and residents have been sick, reporting rashes and upper respiratory issues.
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Independent testing found dioxins in Lori O’Connell’s home. Now, her husband has aggressive breast cancer. She said they were completely healthy before.
O’Connell said Vance needs to realize “these people still need help.”
“We still need health care monitoring. There are people who still want to be removed from this area, and they can’t do it,” O’Connell said. “Their hands are tied.”
Tammy Tsai said she has recently had difficulty climbing stairs because of a “lack of breath,” while her husband, Rick, says it’s been “nothing but doctor’s visits” and multiple diagnoses since the derailment.
Ever since he tested East Palestine creeks for chemicals, Rick Tsai said, he’s had “horrible acid reflux.”
“We’ve got people here on oxygen that were never on oxygen before,” Rick Tsai said. “So something is happening here.”
No public health emergency has been declared, and there is no long-term health monitoring plan.
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President Donald Trump has yet to sign a disaster declaration for East Palestine despite criticizing the Biden administration for not doing enough.
The declaration is something NewsNation asked then-Sen. JD Vance about a year ago.
“I think it’s shameful that (Biden) hasn’t signed it,” Vance said then. “I think the minute that Mike DeWine, the governor of the state asked for it, the president should have responded to it.”
Rick Tsai said he hopes Vance talks to residents of East Palestine and not just the mayor.
“I pray it’s not just the photo op,” Tsai said. “… I do believe that something tragic has happened here and is continuing to happen.”
