During Wednesday night’s episode of Tucker Carlson Tonight, the show’s namesake called for Governor Mike DeWine of Ohio and Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania to resign, saying that the two signed off on the burning of chemicals from a Norfolk Southern train that derailed earlier this month in East Palestine, Ohio.
Speaking on the events leading up to and following the burning, Carlson said, "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 One-era bioweapon into the air over a populated area. Was that a good call?"
"Was that a good call? And was it really safe two days later for people to go back to their homes, and 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 and water in and around East Palestine? Well, no, apparently nobody is," Carlson added.
Carlson called it a "failure at all levels."
"The first duty of government is to protect its citizens. So it's bad," Carlson said, adding that it is "very bad news" for politicians like Shapiro and DeWine, "who may have helped make this disaster much worse."
Carlson said that DeWine and Shapiro are "desperately trying to revise their previous statements about the so-called controlled burn," now stating that the "toxic mushroom cloud over East Palestine, the one they signed off on and endorsed on television, was actually a bad thing. It wasn’t perfect."
"And both governors have now identified the villain here, not as themselves, oh, of course not, but as the railroad Norfolk Southern, both are considering lawsuits against the company," Carlson said.
Carlson noted a letter that Shapiro sent to the White House, which stated in part that Norfolk Southern was "unwilling to explore or articulate alternative courses of action to their proposed vent and burn," calling it "an amazingly brazen butt-covering."
Shapiro, Carlson said, stated that it was obvious that there was a "safer overall approach for first responders, residents, and the environment."
"For the record," Carlson said, "we're not defending Norfolk Southern here. We're only pointing out that Norfolk Southern had the strong endorsement of Josh Shapiro and Mike DeWine when it sent those chemicals on fire and caused the mushroom cloud."
Carlson said that "the Biden administration endorsed" the burning of chemicals as well.
"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 ministration did care. And that's an atrocity," Carlson said.
Carlson called for "the people whose indifference made it possible" to 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."
On February 3, a Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. 38 train cars derailed, five of which were carrying vinyl chloride. Ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate, and isobutylene were also in the derailed train cars.
Vinyl chloride is an odorless gas used to make PVC plastics, and was being transported in its liquid state. The National Cancer Institute states that exposure to vinyl chloride comes with an increased risk of rare liver cancer as well as brain and lung cancers, lymphoma, and leukemia.
In a Tuesday press conference, DeWine said when he traveled to East Palestine to meet with those on the ground, "it was clear at that point that we were faced with two bad options."
"One option was to do nothing and wait for the [train] car to explode," he said, which would result in a "catastrophic" spread of shrapnel going out in a mile radius. Ultimately, after weighing options, a controlled release was decided on, resulting in the burning of chemicals from the train cars.
While residents have been allowed to return home, officials have recommended the usage of bottled water as they continue to test public and private water supplies, and residents have reported dead animals, chemical smells, and symptoms.
On Wednesday evening, residents were expecting to ask Norfolk Southern representatives their questions. Those representatives though pulled out, citing concerns over safety and threats made.
The company said that they were concerned over "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."
"With that in mind, Norfolk Southern will not be in attendance this evening," the statement continued. "We want to continue our dialogue with the community and address their concerns, and our people will remain in East Palestine, respond to this situation, and meet with residents."
Residents during the meeting questioned whether they and their kids were safe, why people where getting sick when testing claimed that the air and water was safe, and where the Biden administration was.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has refused to provide assistance to the state, with the agency stating that "FEMA continues to tell Governor DeWine that Ohio is not eligible for assistance at this time."
DeWine Spokesperson Dan Tierney stated that FEMA said the train derailment did not qualify as a natural disaster, such as a tornado or earthquake, and was therefore ineligible for aid.
According to the "Current Disasters" portion of the FEMA website, "Disasters can come in many forms. FEMA responds to all declared domestic disasters and emergencies, whether natural or man-made."
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
The Post Millennial has reached out to Gov. DeWine and Gov. Shapiro’s offices for comment.
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