I took notes during the Ohio government update on the East Palestine train derailment and toxic chemical spill response.  The full press briefing is below. The media present was a mix of uncurious stenographers and some inquisitive journalists.

After about 20 minutes of generally obtuse outlines intended to downplay the seriousness of the crisis, which included a game and fish commissioner saying 3,500 fish were killed by the chemical pollutants – yet never actually saying what about the chemicals killed the fish, suddenly the Ohio EPA official admitted something important.

After the Ohio EPA spent several minutes of saying the released chemicals are CURRENTLY dissipating to “non traceable levels” at various points in the downstream waterways, suddenly she admits the “initial slack” of chemicals did reach the Ohio River. [Prompted 19:34, WATCH]  The “Contamination Plume” is travelling down the Ohio River at approximately 1 mph, providing the various municipal water systems the ability to disconnect from the Ohio River intake as the toxins pass by.

Top men: “we are pretty confident the low levels of toxins are not being passed on to the customers“….  So, there’s that.

The next soundbite below tells you a lot about the situation, TEN DAYS after the initial crisis…

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