By Alexa Schwerha
Daily Caller News Foundation
The Biden administration turned down Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s request for federal disaster assistance after a train derailment in East Palestine caused several hazardous chemicals to be released into the air and water ways, Dan Tierney, DeWine’s press secretary, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said that Ohio is not eligible to receive assistance because the incident did not classify as a national disaster, Tierney told the DCNF. The rejection came nearly two weeks after a Norfolk Southern train, which carried harmful chemicals, derailed and nearly 2,000 residents were evacuated before a controlled release of the fumes cast a large plum over the town.
FEMA classifies a national disaster declaration as when there is property damage caused by a tornado, flood, hurricane or earthquake, Tierney explained. The state currently does not have associated costs it could “demonstrate to FEMA to be able to get a disaster declaration” since the derailed train cars did not cause any power outages, block any roads or impede resident’s property.
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“FEMA is in constant contact with the emergency operations center in East Palestine and with the Ohio Emergency Management Agency,” Jeremy Edwards, FEMA press secretary, told the DCNF. “We are closely coordinating with EPA, HHS, and the CDC, who are helping to test water and air quality, and to conduct public health assessments.”
Norfolk Southern is paying for expenses related to the derailment including hotel costs for residents who were temporarily displaced, Tierney told the DCNF. Ohio is ineligible for FEMA relief unless it can prove the town suffered property damage that is not reimbursable.
“Certainly if FEMA tells us there is a program we can apply for, that we’re eligible for, we will, but there is nothing that we are eligible for or that we’re aware that Ohio is eligible for that we can apply for at FEMA,” Tierney said.
He said that the state received aid from the Department of Health and Human Services, Environmental Protection Agency and the Pentagon.
The EPA tested 396 homes and had scheduled to screen 64 more as of Tuesday and reported no detection of vinyl chloride or hydrogen chloride, regional administrator Debra Shore said in a statement.
Residents, however, remain concerned about the long-term effects the disaster could have on their health. They are being advised by the Ohio Department of Health to drink from bottled water until private wells are tested, according to a Wednesday water quality update from DeWine’s office.
Residents vocalized their concerns during a public hearing Wednesday at a local high school. While Norfolk Southern representatives were supposed to attend, they pulled out at the last minute because of safety concerns.
“I’m just as frustrated. I live in the community, just like you,” Trent Conaway, East Palestine mayor, reportedly told the crowd. “I’m trying to get answers.”
HHS, the EPA, the Pentagon and Conaway did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment. Norfolk Southern could not be reached.
This story originally was published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: Long the world’s most Christian nation, America today is being taken over by a new “official” national religion, one being imposed on the entire populace by every major societal institution, from government, media and big tech, to academia, entertainment and business.
This new state religion is Wokeism. “Going woke” conjures up visions of someone claiming to be acutely sensitive (“awake”) to “systemic social and political injustice.” And not just alleged bigotry against blacks, but toward every other “minority” as well, from LGBT folk – especially everything transgender and “nonbinary” – to “undocumented immigrants.” All of them, being VICTIMS, intrinsically more virtuous than the shameful oppressor class: primarily heterosexual white males.
This new “woke” consciousness has turned America upside-down – from the nationwide Antifa and Black Lives Matter riots in 2020, to tearing down of historic monuments, to demanding multi-million-dollar reparation payments for blacks, to appointing transgenders as top government officials, to rampant reverse discrimination in every area of life, to the U.S. military imposing mandatory “diversity training” and transgender pronoun use on all personnel, causing recruitment to disastrously plummet.
Yet there is hope. Being “saved” – which in Wokeism is called being “woke” – is largely a matter of worshipping victimhood by becoming an “ally” and “defender” of all the many victim classes, and a determined enemy of the straight white male oppressor class. Thus, “joining the righteous” as an ally – even if one is cursed to be a straight white male – opens the door mercifully for salvation, even to the most wretched.
That is the power of the religion of Wokeism. And it’s explored as never before in the February 2023 issue of WND’s critically acclaimed monthly Whistleblower magazine. If you’ve ever wondered, for example, exactly how the most radical elements in American society are successfully pressuring the biggest corporations into adopting the most outrageous and immoral policies imaginable, even when doing so permanently damages and devalues the company, the stunning answers are in this issue of Whistleblower, titled “WOKEISM: AMERICA’S OFFICIAL STATE RELIGION.”
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