critics? we start with the growing outrage in ohio. concerns escalating to the point where the governor there is now asking the federal government for help in east palestine. at this hour, the epa administrator and ohio senators are showing up to a community that is furious and full of questions. nearly two weeks after a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in their town, hundreds of locals desperate to air grievances and get answers to their questions arrived at a town hall to find that railroad representatives were no shows. residents say they still see fish dying, rashes on their kids, smell chemicals in the air and see a contradiction between being told the air and water quality is safe while also being told to drink bottled water. i had concerns with dead fish and the smell of the water. i am not a scientist, but i do have common sense, so when i see something cause death in a living creature, it causes fear.
the epa administrator also visited east palestine tied and met with a woman that begged for help from president biden. watch. the president called the governor directly and said whatever federal resources the governor needs, if he asks he s not talked to us. he talked to the railroad. i talked to the governor last night. he s talked to the white house this morning. so we re working hand and hand, trying to be sure that this information gets down to president biden, this is bigger than what people are understanding. martha: with that, we bring in jessica helpe. she is staying at a hotel now. tell us what your family has experienced in this?
government, norfolk southern? norfolk southern cancelled the meeting because they didn t feel comfortable for safety. so the questions were asked where are you taking the chemicals? did you see the explosion and the mushroom cloud? for the politicians a lot of them are on the ground. sherrod brown was here, j.d. vance was here. the e.p.a. administrator was here. all of which say the air quality registers that it s fine. j.d. vance is the first politician that said he wouldn t drink the water. even mike dewine says he believes the water is safe here. but every single person i have spoken to in this community, which is a lot including business owners, they say they would not drink the water here, they won t shower here. they want to get help.
now. trisha, i m sure you hear the emotion in jessica s voice and i m sure it s the same kind of emotion that you re hearing in a lot of places there. what can you share with us from the site of all of this today? the site i m not at the crash site. i at an area where the epa administrator just spoke. if you see the blue containers, that s part of the cleanup. these are all over the place. the person that you just spoke with, a lot of people are saying the same thing. they have headache, nauseous, crashes. the trains are still going 24 hours a day because the trains that were broken are pushed over in to these gullies in people s back yards. those people are physically ill. when i first arrived here, i kept saying is this in my head or am i getting sick? i was actually nauseated. last night i had a headache. it s stronger at night. anybody that says that they
said yesterday was the first time he had heard anything from the white house about the train derailment. could you talk a little bit about your the white house s outreach and what you plan to do in the days ahead and why you did not reach out earlier? the health and safety of the community is our top priority. i mentioned on tuesday epa had been on the ground since february 4th, so they have been on the ground for some time, but i can give you a little bit of where we are today. president biden spoke directly to governor dewine to offer federal assistance and the epa administrator is in east palestine, i believe he ll be holding a press conference in 20 minutes or so to talk about the ongoing efforts and what we are doing on the ground. multiple federal agencies have been on the ground, some since february 4th, working hand in glove with the state and local officials leading the emergency response efforts. they are working to get to the bottom of what caused the derailment, monitor