• Theblarglereflargle [any]
    ·
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    If it had happened in one the many well off suburbs around Youngstown or 6 hours away in Pittsburg yeah it would have been huge news and the response would have been greater if only because they know the people could fight it. Like how in Michigan the wealthy suburbs are still suing the state over infrastructure issues related to the flooding that happened last year

      • Commander_Data [she/her]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Yeah, I don't think people realize how close this is to very densely populated areas. Columbiana County is right between the Cleveland-Akron-Canton CSA (4 million people) and the Pittsburgh-Parkersburg, WV CSA (3 million people). It's 40-70 miles away from several major population centers and a national park.

        It's crazy to think about, but one of the causes for the political urgency that resulted in Nixon and Congress creating the EPA were the many times the Cuyahoga river caught on fire south of dowtown Cleveland in 50s and 60s. People were furious that industry was destroying their cities. Now that kind of thing is barely talked about. I was living in downtown Cleveland in 2007, when one of the chemical plants on the Cuyahoga caught on fire. It took firefighters hours to put it out, and the next day the river mouth at lake Erie was covered with football fields of dead fish. The fire itself was maybe two minutes on the evening news and no follow up regarding the huge fish kill.

      • Theblarglereflargle [any]
        ·
        edit-2
        2 years ago

        I thought it was further? Either way East Palestine was poor. It already had some of the worst air quality. If it hit, say, around Murrysville there would be a bigger freak out and more money from the company due to the ever present issue of things affecting the well off now.

        • red_stapler [he/him]
          ·
          2 years ago

          It is about 38 miles in a straight line from the crash site to the point park fountain.

          • Theblarglereflargle [any]
            ·
            2 years ago

            That’s still far enough. You know how Americans communities treat anything that’s not in their own line of site/community.