his visit to palestine. and his response to criticism about the way that he has handled this derailment. plus, a member of ukrainian parliament joins us to talk about a year of war that is devastating her country. we will ask her about president biden s surprise trip to kyiv and what ukraine needs to defeat russia. i am simone sanders johnson, and i have something to say. fear, worry, and anxiety. that is what east palestine residents have been feeling since the norfolk southern chain went on the tracks, causing one of the most environmental disasters that we have seen an a while. right now we are waiting for a briefing from federal state and local leaders and east palestine and it is set to begin any moment. we will bring you any updates we learn from it as they have been. today, residents in east palestine, some of their concerns about the long term safety of the air they are breathing might be valid. daughters right, researchers at texas a&m took a closer look at epa
contaminated soil under the tracks, that is obviously a huge concern for all of us because we may be getting some good test results now where are we going to be years from now? those are huge concerns for us. there are long term implications here. they are telling me that we have to go, you all. we are going to stay on this story, and i think that i can confidently say i will be speaking to you to again. we will bring you back because this is absolutely critical. melissa, for you to say that your well water has not been tested yet? just, i don t even have the words. hundreds of wells need to get tested. melissa ben, thank you for your time. thank you for having us. we will turn to the war in ukraine when we come back. it is now into its second year and there is really no end in sight. next, i will talk with a member of ukraine s parliament about the days ahead and what new
during this hour. this weekend, teams from fema and the center for disease control, cdc, at the are going door to door in ohio and they are doing that to offer support to residents offered by the train derailment. the people who live near the site are worried about what lies ahead for them, and rightfully so. more than 1000 east palestine residents attended the town hall last night, hoping to get advice from environmental activist, erin brockovich. her advice, in a nutshell, was question everything and demand answers. i want to hear from residents myself about their concerns, so please welcome ben rattner and melissa sniff. both live near the side of the derailment. thank you both for being here with us today. you both heard my conversation with the transportation secretary, pete buttigieg. melissa, what is your reaction to what he said? i know that the community is
pretty upset, because they felt like pete should have adjusted a little quicker. i understand at the federal and of it, they were communicating early on. but there was a little delay and communicating that and i am glad to see that he is at least here and trying to accomplish all of the things that need to be done. i think we definitely need congress to be on board with whatever we need for the changes to move forward with the railroad, with safety issues. i think when he is speaking about that that is a very important issue for any community moving forward that house a railroad running through it. melissa, have you seen any fema or cdc teams in your neighborhood given that they said that they would be going door to door and canvassing the community this weekend? i live on a farm, a little over three quarters of a mile
chemical still in the air that had not been picked up going back to testing weeks ago, and on top of that there is all of the soil that was contaminated with thousands and thousands of gallons of oil. so i think that as much as the finger could be pointed at everybody in this circumstance because of the systemic issues we have with government, i really think that had our state stepped in sooner it would have got the mayor to step in sorry, the secretary. that is okay. you talk about the soil, melissa, we have pictures from your farm, actually. i will put it up on the screen. this is from the night of the derailment. these pictures are absolutely terrifying. are you worried about what this has done to your farm animals, or game in the area? ben talks about the soil, we now have this new information about the pollutants in the air. sure, we have major concerns