Speaker 1: If you've been watching the news or at least some outlets,
Speaker 1: because not everyone's been covering it. There was a recent
Speaker 1: train derailment that led to the release of toxic chemicals
Speaker 1: in East Palestine, Ohio. There have been reports of people
Speaker 1: saying they can't breathe, eyes are burning, chemical burns, reports
Speaker 1: of animals dying, reports of thousands of fish spanning across
Speaker 1: seven point five miles of streams dead. But the e
Speaker 1: p A Is saying everything is fine. So what's really
Speaker 1: going on? What is the truth about what's happening in
Speaker 1: East Palestine, Ohio. We're going to talk to one man
Speaker 1: congress from Bill Johnson, who not only represents that district,
Speaker 1: represents that part of Ohio, but he's been on the
Speaker 1: ground and he's trying to get answers. He's next on
Speaker 1: the Truth with Lisa Booth. Congressman. First of all, thank
Speaker 1: you so much for joining the show. Our heart goes
Speaker 1: out to the residents of East Palestine. Incredibly sad, and
Speaker 1: I just want to thank you for taking the time. Oh,
Speaker 1: you're welcome, You're welcome. This is a very important issue.
Speaker 1: While to try aginy that has occurred there in East Palestine,
Speaker 1: and and so we we've got a long way to go.
Speaker 1: But but I appreciate you bringing bringing focus to it
Speaker 1: here too. Why do you think it hasn't gotten more attention?
Speaker 1: Of course, the news cycle is is, you know, has
Speaker 1: a life of its own, and for the last couple
Speaker 1: of weeks, we've been focused on Chinese spy balloons and
Speaker 1: Chinese espionage and things of national security. Um and uh,
Speaker 1: I don't know. Now. The one thing I don't understand
Speaker 1: is why the Transportation Secretary seems to be mute on
Speaker 1: this issue. Um and, I mean I have not heard
Speaker 1: from him. You know, the President of the United States,
Speaker 1: even Joe Biden called our governor. Uh, it's my district.
Speaker 1: I'm the one on the ground with with first hand information.
Speaker 1: You would think that the Transportation Secretary would want to
Speaker 1: be talking to me. But I haven't heard from him,
Speaker 1: and I don't know that he has engaged with anybody
Speaker 1: uh there in in these palating And that just seems
Speaker 1: crazy to me, because we're talking about a huge disaster
Speaker 1: and a huge ecological disaster, huge human disaster. I mean
Speaker 1: we're talking about you know, people which you know you've
Speaker 1: been there, but people with chemical burns, eyes watering, and burning,
Speaker 1: were dead animals, fish dying. Talk about what you saw
Speaker 1: on the ground. How bad is it? What do people
Speaker 1: need to know? Well? And at least I'm gonna I'm
Speaker 1: gonna tell you. You asked me a question, I'm going
Speaker 1: to give you a very honest answer. I was there
Speaker 1: on Monday. I did not see anybody with burn skin,
Speaker 1: uh itching, burning eyes. I did not see any dead animals.
Speaker 1: Now I do know they exist. I know that there
Speaker 1: were fish that were killed, about thirty fish. They were
Speaker 1: killed in the early moments of the of the derailment,
Speaker 1: when the fire was so intense and and some of
Speaker 1: that early chemical exposure. I know that I know that
Speaker 1: that there were some foxes. The report that I got
Speaker 1: there was a fox sanctuary uh close by, and when
Speaker 1: the evacuation order was given, UH that gentleman could not
Speaker 1: get four of the foxes out. And so I'm not
Speaker 1: saying that there aren't dead animals. I'm telling you I
Speaker 1: haven't seen any and I didn't hear that from the
Speaker 1: mayor when I was there on Monday, and I was
Speaker 1: there at the site. Look, there are a lot of
Speaker 1: unanswered questions, and I think the people in that community
Speaker 1: have every right uh, to have their questions answered and
Speaker 1: to have their fears alleviated. I'm going there again today
Speaker 1: to participate in that town hall to do exactly that,
Speaker 1: to make sure that they are getting the straight story
Speaker 1: from the people that are supposed to know the answers.
Speaker 1: And if the people that are supposed to know the
Speaker 1: answers don't know those answers, then I'm going to be
Speaker 1: insisting that they go immediately to the experts outside of
Speaker 1: their purview and find those answers because the people in
Speaker 1: East Palestine need those well. And see, this is why
Speaker 1: I wanted to have you on, because you know, you've
Speaker 1: been there, so I want to make sure that you
Speaker 1: know we're bringing the truth or bring the information from
Speaker 1: someone who has firsthand knowledge of what's going on, you know,
Speaker 1: So we've got you know, the e p A. Great
Speaker 1: Lakes has said that, you know, they've been monitoring the air,
Speaker 1: monitoring you know, the water. They said they have not
Speaker 1: detected any levels of health concern that can be attributed
Speaker 1: to the incident. Do you buy that? Do you trust
Speaker 1: them when they say that? I think there's a certain
Speaker 1: degree of skepticism. I mean, the American people have a
Speaker 1: distrust of government right now on all sides, le Sa.
Speaker 1: I mean when you look at who President Biden has
Speaker 1: surrounded himself with and all of the crises that exist
Speaker 1: from what we see happening in the Department of Transportation
Speaker 1: with this collision. And I'm not going to segue into
Speaker 1: other topics, but to look at the border, you look
Speaker 1: at crime, you look at the incidents is with the
Speaker 1: with the Chinese and what's going on there. It just
Speaker 1: seems like a blanket of incompetence in the in the
Speaker 1: federal government, and the American people have every reason to
Speaker 1: be concerned about where to go to find the truth.
Speaker 1: So I think there is a healthy degree of skepticism
Speaker 1: right now. I can tell you that, uh, some of
Speaker 1: the testing that the e p A is claiming that
Speaker 1: they have done has been validated by the State e
Speaker 1: p A. Now, the State e p A is separate
Speaker 1: from the federal e p A, and so there are
Speaker 1: two different organizations. The State e p A has to
Speaker 1: comply with federal e p A regulations and rules. I
Speaker 1: get that, But the State e p A folks under
Speaker 1: the governor have a higher degree of accountability to the governor,
Speaker 1: to me to local residents than the federal EPA does
Speaker 1: because they're kind of arms distance away in Washington See.
Speaker 1: And I can tell you that according to the mayor
Speaker 1: take water, for example, the water being tested there. In
Speaker 1: East Palestine, they do their own tests with the villages
Speaker 1: water system. They test their water all the time. Anyway,
Speaker 1: we're doing it long before this train derailment occurred. And
Speaker 1: the mayor told me on Monday that they're testing indicates
Speaker 1: that their water in the village is safe to drink,
Speaker 1: and that's why he has told the residents that that's okay.
Speaker 1: Now they're going to continue that testing. There is another question, though,
Speaker 1: about well water, because a lot of people outside of
Speaker 1: that one mile and maybe even some within the one
Speaker 1: mile evacuation area I have wells and uh and so
Speaker 1: that well water is going to need to be continually
Speaker 1: retested because we don't know what we don't know. We
Speaker 1: don't know the long term implications of some of the
Speaker 1: hazardous material that that escaped, and I think that's where
Speaker 1: some of the skepticism is coming from. But I can
Speaker 1: only tell you, Lisa, what I have been told thus far.
Speaker 1: Some of the e p A s H information has
Speaker 1: been validated by the local authorities themselves. Well, I trust
Speaker 1: you because I know you have a healthy skepticism for
Speaker 1: government just like I do. So yeah, we can we
Speaker 1: can have a different and so you know, of course,
Speaker 1: obviously the skepticism or the fear comes from some of
Speaker 1: the chemicals that have been released. When you look at
Speaker 1: things like vinyl chloride and the fact that it's been
Speaker 1: linked to central nervous system effects as well as you know,
Speaker 1: chronic exposure has liver damage including cancerers, or you talk
Speaker 1: about phys gene which is highly poisonous, which has been
Speaker 1: used as chemical warfare. So you know, when you hear
Speaker 1: these sorts of things, you know, obviously it's you would
Speaker 1: hope that the e p A and that officials are
Speaker 1: viewer on the side of, you know, more caution than not.
Speaker 1: When you just look at some of the effects that
Speaker 1: some of these things could have, there has to be
Speaker 1: airing on the side of caution. There has to be
Speaker 1: going the extra mile. That's why I wrote a letter
Speaker 1: to UH the p of the CEO of Norfolk Southern
Speaker 1: this week UH requesting that they re evaluate they're they're
Speaker 1: one mile boundary for for compensation people that have expenses
Speaker 1: for testing of water, testing of air in homes and
Speaker 1: who's going to pay for that? Because here's the reason why. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I know how that I think I know,
Speaker 1: I think I know how that one mile evacuation boundary
Speaker 1: was set. And so because the CEO talked to me
Speaker 1: about that early in this process. The tankers that had
Speaker 1: the chemicals in them, when they began to show uh
Speaker 1: uh signs of instability and uh potential for explosion had
Speaker 1: they exploded on their own. And keep in mindly so
Speaker 1: what we saw on television was not uh it was
Speaker 1: a controlled explosion. It was not an uncontrolled explosion. Had
Speaker 1: it been an uncontrolled explosion, he said, it could send
Speaker 1: shrapnel along with the toxic chemicals, uh, for a radius
Speaker 1: of a mile or more. To take a quick commercial break,
Speaker 1: more on the trained railment in East Palestine, Ohio. So
Speaker 1: there was reports that the accident was likely caused by
Speaker 1: a mechanical issue with an axle of one of the
Speaker 1: hundred fifty cars. What are you hearing on the cause
Speaker 1: and the source of the accident. They have not released
Speaker 1: their report. I can tell you what I've heard, what
Speaker 1: I've been told. I got this from the mayor as well. Uh,
Speaker 1: there was an axle on the train that the bearings
Speaker 1: and the axle failed, which means that the wheel was
Speaker 1: not turning, So you were essentially dragging that axle down
Speaker 1: the tracks. What does that do? That creates friction, that
Speaker 1: creates a fire, and so the the axle, as I
Speaker 1: understand it was actually on fire. Uh. Sensors indicated that
Speaker 1: there was a problem. Who got the who got the
Speaker 1: see I've got a lot of questions about stuff like that,
Speaker 1: but I can't I can't get into those questions until
Speaker 1: I see if the National Transportation Safety Board report answers
Speaker 1: the questions where did the sensor information go to? Who
Speaker 1: did the censor information go to? What was their required
Speaker 1: response when they found out that they had an axle failure?
Speaker 1: What happened to the detectors along the track that we're
Speaker 1: supposed to be picking up heat signatures and things like
Speaker 1: that where there are enough detectors. I've heard that there
Speaker 1: may be an issue with inspections because of workforce issues. Uh,
Speaker 1: inspections on these axles. Uh, you know, so so much
Speaker 1: still look at before we jump to conclusions. But the
Speaker 1: bottom line is what I've been told it was a
Speaker 1: failed bearing set in an axle that froze up, and
Speaker 1: h that ultimately disintegrated, and that axle fell apart, and
Speaker 1: the try and bear it off the track at that point, Well,
Speaker 1: I actually really respect the fact that you're handling this
Speaker 1: from a very even handed you know, not trying to speculate,
Speaker 1: just really just trying to get the information, the facts
Speaker 1: for your district. I think you're doing right by them
Speaker 1: by approaching it that way. You know, I was wondering
Speaker 1: you had mentioned that the Department of Transportation people to judge,
Speaker 1: has not been helpful. It has not been responsive. You know,
Speaker 1: obviously he's too busy talking about that we have too
Speaker 1: many weight construction workers at a time of crisis. I
Speaker 1: was wondering, do you think part of the reason why
Speaker 1: maybe this administration has turned to die or Biden's not
Speaker 1: really addressed it, or they don't seem to care as
Speaker 1: much because this is a Trump district. I can only speculate,
Speaker 1: but I can tell you that this district that East
Speaker 1: Palestine resides in. According to the Washington Post after the
Speaker 1: seen election, it was the number one highest performing Republican
Speaker 1: district in the nation. The swing from the two thousand
Speaker 1: and twelve election to the two thousand and sixteen election
Speaker 1: when Donald Trump was elected was the biggest swing in
Speaker 1: the nation. And according to many of the political thinking
Speaker 1: heads in Washington, d C. This Eastern Seaboard, Eastern River
Speaker 1: Board of Ohio is the most Republican red trending region
Speaker 1: of the country. And so UM, I can certainly in
Speaker 1: today's uh, you know, just everything is ideological or political.
Speaker 1: You know, everybody's in there in their caves, hiding behind
Speaker 1: their barriers. They know that this is a red district,
Speaker 1: and they know that these are Republicans that live here.
Speaker 1: So I don't want to accuse the secretary of making
Speaker 1: that kind of determination, but I would hope that he
Speaker 1: would understand that these are Americans, and he is the
Speaker 1: Transportation Secretary for America. He's not the Transportation secretary for
Speaker 1: South Bend, Indiana, Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. What's
Speaker 1: her message to the residents of East Palestine. What would
Speaker 1: you like to say to them. I'm going to keep
Speaker 1: fighting until we get you the answers that you deserve. UH,
Speaker 1: not going to stop. We're on the we're on the
Speaker 1: task and UH and we're going to remain there until
Speaker 1: until you're satisfied that this has been resolved. I appreciate
Speaker 1: your time, sir. I know you've got a busy day,
Speaker 1: so I really appreciate you coming on the show and
Speaker 1: bringing this to my audience's attention. I love to have
Speaker 1: you back on to just see where things are in
Speaker 1: the coming weeks. But I really appreciate your time and
Speaker 1: appreciate you, you you know, bringing this to America's attention. Time, Lisa,
Speaker 1: you know, reach out. I'll be glad to come back home.
Speaker 1: That was Congressman Bill Johnson, who represents that part of Ohio.
Speaker 1: I really appreciate his approach. You know, he could have
Speaker 1: taken cheap shots at the administration. He did not. Instead,
Speaker 1: he seems intently focused on getting answers for his district
Speaker 1: and the residents of East Palestine, So you gotta respect that.
Speaker 1: I want to thank you guys at home for listening.
Speaker 1: I want to thank my producer, John Cassio for putting
Speaker 1: the show together every Monday and Thursday, but you can
Speaker 1: listen throughout the week. Please leave us a review on
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