Guardian: the US is averaging one chemical accident every two days
Site of train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio (Wikipedia)
The USA is having a lot of problems with chemical accidents. The UK Guardian reported the following:
Revealed: the US is averaging one chemical accident every two days
Guardian analysis of data in light of Ohio train derailment shows accidental releases are happening consistently
25 February 2023
Mike DeWine, the Ohio governor, recently lamented the toll taken on the residents of East Palestine after the toxic train derailment there, saying “no other community should have to go through this”.
But such accidents are happening with striking regularity. A Guardian analysis of data collected by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and by non-profit groups that track chemical accidents in the US shows that accidental releases – be they through train derailments, truck crashes, pipeline ruptures or industrial plant leaks and spills – are happening consistently across the country.
By one estimate these incidents are occurring, on average, every two days. …
In September, for instance, nine people were hospitalized and 300 evacuated in California after a spill of caustic materials at a recycling facility. In October, officials ordered residents to shelter in place after an explosion and fire at a petrochemical plant in Louisiana. In November, more than 100 residents of Atchinson, Kansas, were treated for respiratory problems and schools were evacuated after an accident at a beverage manufacturing facility created a chemical cloud over the town.
Among multiple incidents in December, a large pipeline ruptured in rural northern Kansas, smothering the surrounding land and waterways in 588,000 gallons of diluted bitumen crude oil. Hundreds of workers are still trying to clean up the pipeline mess, at a cost pegged at around $488m.
The precise number of hazardous chemical incidents is hard to determine because the US has multiple agencies involved in response, but the EPA told the Guardian that over the past 10 years, the agency has “performed an average of 235 emergency response actions per year, including responses to discharges of hazardous chemicals or oil”. The agency said it employs roughly 250 people devoted to the EPA’s emergency response and removal program. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/25/revealed-us-chemical-accidents-one-every-two-days-average
Be vigilant, hold your ground’: Erin Brockovich rallies Ohio town after train disaster
25 February 2023
Residents continue to suffer an array of acute medical complaints and mounting anxieties about the long-term risks posed by the contaminated air, soil and water. And despite the opening quip, the message from Brockovich was fiery and sobering.
“I feel your angst, I feel your frustration. You are not alone. Every community I’ve gone to has been given the runaround. You’ll be told that it’s fine, that you’re safe, but it’s not fine. I’ve never seen anything like this in 30 years,” she said to 400 or so people in the main hall, and hundreds more watching a livestream in the gym.
“Please be vigilant, hold your ground. We’re gonna give you as much information as we can, some of it you might not want to hear and could scare you. But the more you know, the better you can prepare as we move forward … There is no quick fix or sweet answer, this is going to be a long game. Don’t let what’s happened here divide you. This is not my first rodeo. You have to band together and protect each other,” Brockovich added.
Brockovich, a legal clerk-turned-whistleblower and environmental activist, was instrumental in building the case against Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) for water contamination in Hinkley, California, in 1993. …
“The political blame game doesn’t do you any good,” said Mikal Watts, a trial lawyer spearheading the lawsuit, referring to the warring words by visiting Democrats and Republicans. “The law says that it’s this company’s responsibility to keep their trains from jumping the tracks … What happened here was preventable but not prevented.”
Some residents are making plans to leave East Palestine, but most can’t or don’t want to move away. Robert Bowcock, a water expert who has also worked with Brockovich on multiple environmental lawsuits, didn’t hold back. “You’re in a situation that you’re going to be dealing with for the rest of your lives – if you stay here.”
Lawyers need hard evidence to win in court, and they urged people to get blood and urine tests as soon as possible. But Ohio prohibits lawyers answering specific questions at public meetings, which left many people frustrated. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/25/be-vigilant-hold-your-ground-erin-brockovich-rallies-ohio-town-after-train-disaster
Related to the Ohio spill, some in Texas are complaining about some of that waste going there:
February 24, 2023
Residents and officials in Harris County, Texas have expressed alarm since learning that contaminated water used to extinguish a fiery train crash in East Palestine, Ohio has been transported more than 1,300 miles to a Houston suburb for disposal.
Houston’s Coalition for Environment, Equity, and Resilience tweeted Thursday: “We are disturbed to learn that toxic wastewater from East Palestine, Ohio will be brought to Harris County for ‘disposal.’ Our county should not be a dumping ground for industry.”
The Norfolk Southern-owned train that derailed and ignited near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border on February 3 was carrying vinyl chloride and other carcinogenic chemicals. After ordering evacuations, authorities released and burned hazardous materials from several tanker cars to avert a catastrophic explosion. Hundreds of thousands of gallons of water used to put out the flames have been collected and trucked to Texas Molecular, a private company in Deer Park that specializes in injecting hazardous waste underground.
“There has to be a closer deep well injection,” Deer Park resident Tammy Baxter toldABC13 on Wednesday night. “It’s foolish to put it on the roadway. We have accidents on a regular basis. Do they really want to have another contamination zone? It is silly to move it that far.”
ABC13 reported that Baxter “first heard that the waste may be transported to the city she lives in from a video circulating on social media.” After calling the mayor’s office in Deer Park—one of 34 communities in Harris County—”she expected a return phone call dispelling the rumor. Instead, it was confirmed.”
“I am disturbed,” said Baxter. “I am shook by the information.”
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality told ABC13 that Texas Molecular “is authorized to accept and manage a variety of waste streams, including vinyl chloride, as part of their [Resource Conservation and Recovery Act] hazardous waste permit and underground injection control permit.” https://www.commondreams.org/news/toxic-east-palestine-wastewater-moved-to-texas
Pollution is a big problem.
There are also major problems caused by industrial chemicals as well as chemicals that are called medicines.
Humans often act like they have all the answers when they do not.
Twice the Bible warns:
There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death. (Proverbs 14:12, 16:25)
The Bible teaches:
1 Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; (Psalm 127:1)
Many in the world do not understand.
Jesus warned:
8 “These people draw near to Me with their mouth,
And honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
9 And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” (Matthew 15:8-9)
Christians should be stewards of the earth.
Notice:
15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. (Genesis 2:15)
Humans were to be stewards over God’s creation.
But humans have not been good stewards.
Humans need to live God’s way to correct this, but since they have refused to, for about 6,000 years (see also Does God Have a 6,000 Year Plan? What Year Does the 6,000 Years End?), we have increasing pollution and other problems.
According to Jesus it is going to get worse:
21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened. (Matthew 24:21-22)
Humans are not properly tending the Earth. They are destroying it, and they will be judged for it:
18 The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, And the time of the dead, that they should be judged, And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, And those who fear Your name, small and great, And should destroy those who destroy the earth. (Revelation 11:18)
Pollution, which tends to be caused by greed and/or ignorance (which is not always intentional), is destroying the Earth. It will take the return of Jesus to save the planet.
There is a solution to pollution.
Notice the words of Moses:
19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; 20 that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; (Deuteronomy 30:19-20)
Yes, for life we need to OBEY the God of the Bible.
It will take God to truly fix the polluting and warring disasters that humans are causing through sin.
Jesus’s kingdom will be the solution to pollution. Notice what will happen:
3 For the Lord will comfort Zion,
He will comfort all her waste places;
He will make her wilderness like Eden,
And her desert like the garden of the Lord;
Joy and gladness will be found in it,
Thanksgiving and the voice of melody.4 “Listen to Me, My people;
And give ear to Me, O My nation:
For law will proceed from Me,
And I will make My justice rest
As a light of the peoples.
5 My righteousness is near,
My salvation has gone forth,
And My arms will judge the peoples;
The coastlands will wait upon Me,
And on My arm they will trust. (Isaiah 51:3-5)
Yes, a better world is coming. The gospel of the kingdom of God brings hope.
The Bible shows that God uses weather matters, including high heat (Revelation 16:8-9) and what is often called climate change today (Amos 4:4-9) to encourage repentance and obedience to Him (Haggai 2:17).
Furthermore, the Bible shows how to resolve climate change:
3 ‘If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them,
4 then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.
5 Your threshing shall last till the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last till the time of sowing;
you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.
6 I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid;
I will rid the land of evil beasts,
and the sword will not go through your land. (Leviticus 26:3-6)
Yes, there is a biblical solution to climate change, but COP27 and the associated religious ceremony have overlooked that.
But, people will heed God and His ways during the millennial Kingdom of God.
Until the arrival of that Kingdom, all human beings should strive to obey God while being careful about waste and pollution. And all should also pray for God’s kingdom to come (Matthew 6:10).
Related to human efforts and the solution to polution, we madel following related video on our Bible News Prophecy YouTube channel:
COP 27 and Solving Climate Change
The dates for the United Nations Climate Change meeting called COP 27 are November 6th through 18th, 2022. During that time, on November 13, 2022, a ‘Chrislam’ type group composed of leaders from the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Protestant, Islamic, Buddhist, Hindu, and other faiths associated with the Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development and the Elijah Interfaith Institute are making what they titled ‘A Prophetic Call for Climate Justice’ and are having a ‘Ceremony of Repentance’ on what is referred to as Mount Sinai, in Egypt. Do this sound Gaia, mother goddess worship? Are Christians supposed to have religious ceremonies with pagans? What did the Apostle Paul write? What did Jesus say would happen to the earth? Are humans, apart from God, going to solve climate problems before Jesus returns? Is there any type of false gospel associated with aspects of the climate change movement? Would obeying God solve the issues of pollution and climate change? What about the good news, the gospel of the Kingdom of God? Does the Bible have the solution to pollution? Does the Bible have the answer to solving climate change? Dr Thiel and Steve Dupuie discuss these issues.
Here is a link to our video: COP 27 and Solving Climate Change.
The Bible does reveal that there is a solution to pollution and ‘climate change.’
As there are toxic chemicals in many places, remember that as another reason to pray for the Kingdom of God to come (Matthew 6:10).
Some items of related interest may include:
The Bible, Christians, and the Environment How should Christians view the environment? Does the Bible give any clues? What are some of the effects of air, water, and land pollution? Is environmental pollution a factor in autism and death? Do pollutants seem to double the autism risk? What will Jesus do? Here is a link to a related sermon: Christians and the Environment (there is also a YouTube video available titled Air Pollution, Autism, and Prophecy, one titled Will Pollution lead to the End?, and one called COP 27 and Solving Climate Change).
Is God Calling You? This booklet discusses topics including calling, election, and selection. If God is calling you, how will you respond? Here is are links to related sermons: Christian Election: Is God Calling YOU? and Predestination and Your Selection; here is a message in Spanish: Me Está Llamando Dios Hoy? A short animation is also available: Is God Calling You?
Christian Repentance Do you know what repentance is? Is it really necessary for salvation? Two related sermons about this are also available: Real Repentance and Real Christian Repentance.
The Gospel of the Kingdom of God This free online pdf booklet has answers many questions people have about the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and explains why it is the solution to the issues the world is facing. It is available in hundreds of languages at ccog.org. Here are links to four kingdom-related sermons: The Fantastic Gospel of the Kingdom of God!, The World’s False Gospel, The Gospel of the Kingdom: From the New and Old Testaments, and The Kingdom of God is the Solution.
 |
Tweet |
|