If you've been watching the news or at least some outlets, because not everyone's been covering it. There was a recent train derailment that led to the release of toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio. There have been reports of people saying they can't breathe, eyes are burning, chemical burns, reports of animals dying, reports of thousands of fish spanning across seven point five miles of streams dead. But the e p A Is saying everything is fine. So what's really
going on? What is the truth about what's happening in East Palestine, Ohio. We're going to talk to one man congress from Bill Johnson, who not only represents that district, represents that part of Ohio, but he's been on the ground and he's trying to get answers. He's next on the Truth with Lisa Booth. Congressman. First of all, thank you so much for joining the show. Our heart goes out to the residents of East Palestine. Incredibly sad, and I just want to thank you for taking the time. Oh,
you're welcome, You're welcome. This is a very important issue. While to try aginy that has occurred there in East Palestine, and and so we we've got a long way to go. But but I appreciate you bringing bringing focus to it here too. Why do you think it hasn't gotten more attention? Of course, the news cycle is is, you know, has a life of its own, and for the last couple of weeks, we've been focused on Chinese spy balloons and Chinese espionage and things of national security. Um and uh,
I don't know. Now. The one thing I don't understand is why the Transportation Secretary seems to be mute on this issue. Um and, I mean I have not heard from him. You know, the President of the United States, even Joe Biden called our governor. Uh, it's my district. I'm the one on the ground with with first hand information. You would think that the Transportation Secretary would want to
be talking to me. But I haven't heard from him, and I don't know that he has engaged with anybody uh there in in these palating And that just seems crazy to me, because we're talking about a huge disaster and a huge ecological disaster, huge human disaster. I mean we're talking about you know, people which you know you've been there, but people with chemical burns, eyes watering, and burning, were dead animals, fish dying. Talk about what you saw on the ground. How bad is it? What do people
need to know? Well? And at least I'm gonna I'm gonna tell you. You asked me a question, I'm going to give you a very honest answer. I was there on Monday. I did not see anybody with burn skin, uh itching, burning eyes. I did not see any dead animals. Now I do know they exist. I know that there were fish that were killed, about thirty fish. They were killed in the early moments of the of the derailment, when the fire was so intense and and some of
that early chemical exposure. I know that I know that that there were some foxes. The report that I got there was a fox sanctuary uh close by, and when the evacuation order was given, UH that gentleman could not get four of the foxes out. And so I'm not saying that there aren't dead animals. I'm telling you I haven't seen any and I didn't hear that from the mayor when I was there on Monday, and I was
there at the site. Look, there are a lot of unanswered questions, and I think the people in that community have every right uh, to have their questions answered and to have their fears alleviated. I'm going there again today to participate in that town hall to do exactly that, to make sure that they are getting the straight story from the people that are supposed to know the answers.
And if the people that are supposed to know the answers don't know those answers, then I'm going to be insisting that they go immediately to the experts outside of their purview and find those answers because the people in
East Palestine need those well. And see, this is why I wanted to have you on, because you know, you've been there, so I want to make sure that you know we're bringing the truth or bring the information from someone who has firsthand knowledge of what's going on, you know, So we've got you know, the e p A. Great Lakes has said that, you know, they've been monitoring the air, monitoring you know, the water. They said they have not detected any levels of health concern that can be attributed
to the incident. Do you buy that? Do you trust them when they say that? I think there's a certain degree of skepticism. I mean, the American people have a distrust of government right now on all sides, le Sa. I mean when you look at who President Biden has surrounded himself with and all of the crises that exist from what we see happening in the Department of Transportation
with this collision. And I'm not going to segue into other topics, but to look at the border, you look at crime, you look at the incidents is with the with the Chinese and what's going on there. It just seems like a blanket of incompetence in the in the federal government, and the American people have every reason to be concerned about where to go to find the truth. So I think there is a healthy degree of skepticism
right now. I can tell you that, uh, some of the testing that the e p A is claiming that they have done has been validated by the State e p A. Now, the State e p A is separate from the federal e p A, and so there are two different organizations. The State e p A has to
comply with federal e p A regulations and rules. I get that, But the State e p A folks under the governor have a higher degree of accountability to the governor, to me to local residents than the federal EPA does because they're kind of arms distance away in Washington See. And I can tell you that according to the mayor take water, for example, the water being tested there. In East Palestine, they do their own tests with the villages water system. They test their water all the time. Anyway,
we're doing it long before this train derailment occurred. And the mayor told me on Monday that they're testing indicates that their water in the village is safe to drink, and that's why he has told the residents that that's okay.
Now they're going to continue that testing. There is another question, though, about well water, because a lot of people outside of that one mile and maybe even some within the one mile evacuation area I have wells and uh and so that well water is going to need to be continually retested because we don't know what we don't know. We don't know the long term implications of some of the hazardous material that that escaped, and I think that's where
some of the skepticism is coming from. But I can only tell you, Lisa, what I have been told thus far. Some of the e p A s H information has been validated by the local authorities themselves. Well, I trust you because I know you have a healthy skepticism for government just like I do. So yeah, we can we can have a different and so you know, of course, obviously the skepticism or the fear comes from some of
the chemicals that have been released. When you look at things like vinyl chloride and the fact that it's been linked to central nervous system effects as well as you know, chronic exposure has liver damage including cancerers, or you talk about phys gene which is highly poisonous, which has been
used as chemical warfare. So you know, when you hear these sorts of things, you know, obviously it's you would hope that the e p A and that officials are viewer on the side of, you know, more caution than not. When you just look at some of the effects that some of these things could have, there has to be airing on the side of caution. There has to be
going the extra mile. That's why I wrote a letter to UH the p of the CEO of Norfolk Southern this week UH requesting that they re evaluate they're they're one mile boundary for for compensation people that have expenses for testing of water, testing of air in homes and who's going to pay for that? Because here's the reason why. Uh, you know, I know how that I think I know, I think I know how that one mile evacuation boundary was set. And so because the CEO talked to me
about that early in this process. The tankers that had the chemicals in them, when they began to show uh uh signs of instability and uh potential for explosion had they exploded on their own. And keep in mindly so what we saw on television was not uh it was a controlled explosion. It was not an uncontrolled explosion. Had it been an uncontrolled explosion, he said, it could send shrapnel along with the toxic chemicals, uh, for a radius of a mile or more. To take a quick commercial break,
more on the trained railment in East Palestine, Ohio. So there was reports that the accident was likely caused by a mechanical issue with an axle of one of the hundred fifty cars. What are you hearing on the cause and the source of the accident. They have not released their report. I can tell you what I've heard, what
I've been told. I got this from the mayor as well. Uh, there was an axle on the train that the bearings and the axle failed, which means that the wheel was not turning, So you were essentially dragging that axle down the tracks. What does that do? That creates friction, that creates a fire, and so the the axle, as I understand it was actually on fire. Uh. Sensors indicated that
there was a problem. Who got the who got the see I've got a lot of questions about stuff like that, but I can't I can't get into those questions until I see if the National Transportation Safety Board report answers the questions where did the sensor information go to? Who did the censor information go to? What was their required response when they found out that they had an axle failure?
What happened to the detectors along the track that we're supposed to be picking up heat signatures and things like that where there are enough detectors. I've heard that there may be an issue with inspections because of workforce issues. Uh, inspections on these axles. Uh, you know, so so much
still look at before we jump to conclusions. But the bottom line is what I've been told it was a failed bearing set in an axle that froze up, and h that ultimately disintegrated, and that axle fell apart, and the try and bear it off the track at that point, Well, I actually really respect the fact that you're handling this from a very even handed you know, not trying to speculate, just really just trying to get the information, the facts for your district. I think you're doing right by them
by approaching it that way. You know, I was wondering you had mentioned that the Department of Transportation people to judge, has not been helpful. It has not been responsive. You know, obviously he's too busy talking about that we have too many weight construction workers at a time of crisis. I was wondering, do you think part of the reason why maybe this administration has turned to die or Biden's not really addressed it, or they don't seem to care as
much because this is a Trump district. I can only speculate, but I can tell you that this district that East Palestine resides in. According to the Washington Post after the seen election, it was the number one highest performing Republican district in the nation. The swing from the two thousand and twelve election to the two thousand and sixteen election when Donald Trump was elected was the biggest swing in
the nation. And according to many of the political thinking heads in Washington, d C. This Eastern Seaboard, Eastern River Board of Ohio is the most Republican red trending region of the country. And so UM, I can certainly in today's uh, you know, just everything is ideological or political. You know, everybody's in there in their caves, hiding behind their barriers. They know that this is a red district, and they know that these are Republicans that live here.
So I don't want to accuse the secretary of making that kind of determination, but I would hope that he would understand that these are Americans, and he is the Transportation Secretary for America. He's not the Transportation secretary for South Bend, Indiana, Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. What's her message to the residents of East Palestine. What would you like to say to them. I'm going to keep fighting until we get you the answers that you deserve. UH,
not going to stop. We're on the we're on the task and UH and we're going to remain there until until you're satisfied that this has been resolved. I appreciate your time, sir. I know you've got a busy day, so I really appreciate you coming on the show and bringing this to my audience's attention. I love to have you back on to just see where things are in the coming weeks. But I really appreciate your time and appreciate you, you you know, bringing this to America's attention. Time, Lisa,
you know, reach out. I'll be glad to come back home. That was Congressman Bill Johnson, who represents that part of Ohio. I really appreciate his approach. You know, he could have taken cheap shots at the administration. He did not. Instead, he seems intently focused on getting answers for his district and the residents of East Palestine, So you gotta respect that. I want to thank you guys at home for listening.
I want to thank my producer, John Cassio for putting the show together every Monday and Thursday, but you can listen throughout the week. Please leave us a review on Apple Podcast, give us a rating. Until next time,