by John Fredericks
MONACA, Pennsylvania—We are broadcasting live today from a packed house of about 300 local western Pennsylvania residents at the Community College of Beaver County in Monaca, just 21 miles from the site of East Palestine, Ohio’s toxic chemical spill disaster.
This is the scene of the first public hearing on the East Palestine chemical catastrophe, led by PA State Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Gettysburg), Chairman of the Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee.
Mastriano pledged to get to the bottom of the disaster and wants answers on how it happened, who gave the order for the control burn of the chemicals, and what harm has been done to area residents. The committee chair, who ran for PA governor in 2022, said he wants to see proof of action. “I’m from Missouri-show me,” Mastriano said on the John Fredericks Media Network.
Mastriano’s chief of staff, Dan Cox, a 2022 GOP candidate for Maryland governor, said on our show that the committee invited Norfolk Southern executives to the hearing. “They all either declined or ignored us. Next up subpoenas. If you don’t know Pennsylvania law, our subpoenas have real legal teeth. Don’t test us.”
Cox and Mastriano told us how after just a few hours in East Palestine, they suffered from severe migraine headaches, physical sickness, shortness of breath and overall fatigue. “It was downright disgusting,” Cox said.
In a riveting scene, witness after witness came in front of the committee senate panel and detailed their severe health problems just days after the spill and controlled burn.
One witness, Sarah Kuenlz of Beaver Falls, PA, about five miles from the spill, called it a “Little Chernobyl.” Detailing her injuries, Kuenlz said she has been sick since the fire, her throat burns incessantly and she has broke out in welts and rashes all over her body, including her face. “Take a good look at me,” she asked the panel. “Do I look OK to you?”
Another witness, who broke down in tears, asked a simple question: “We just want to know what the chemicals were, we don’t even know what we are dealing with.”
Another resident was livid that the trains are up and running across the tracks, saying every time they go by the smell of the chemicals intensifies.
One witness, who broke down in tears, asked, “What will happen to me and my children? I can’t get out. I work two jobs. Will my kids be alright? What will become of us?”
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John Fredericks is the editor-in-chief of The Virginia Star, and the publisher of The Georgia Star News and The Pennsylvania Daily Star.
Photo “Ohio National Guard” by The National Guard. CC BY 2.0.
