According to a whistleblower who says he works at the Department of Transportation (DOT), East Palestine, Ohio, didn’t receive the help it needed due to the area’s pro-Trump voting record.
Benny Johnson, an affiliate of conservative political organization Turning Point, USA, recently visited Washington, D.C., to film a practical joke where he set up a table outside of the Department of Transportation to give away “East Palestine water” – in reality, Whole Foods water bottles with the labels removed.
One of the passersby claimed to be a Department of Transportation employee who has worked for the department for 25 years. Johnson kept his conversation in the video, while blurring the DOT employee’s face and altering his voice so that his job wouldn’t be in jeopardy.
“I’m in federal railroad,” said the anonymous whistleblower on video. “Nobody panicked. Nobody scrambled. And it's, like, why? Why aren't we taking this seriously?"
The whistleblower said that Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s failure to quickly respond to the environmental crisis - despite Buttigieg’s emphasis on environmental health - was due to the fact that East Palestine voted 70% for Trump in 2020.
"They'll step in—well we want this project because it's a blue state, no matter how bad it is," the Department of Transportation said, explaining that “they appoint these leaders of each group, and then they make sure the money will be directed.”
"That it goes to a blue state, not a red state?" Johnson asked.
"Right," the whistleblower replied.
"Do you think this was politically motivated in East Palestine?" asked Johnson.
"Yes," he replied.
According to the whistleblower, train derailments are becoming an issue and numbers are rising.
"Years ago they made a big fuss about trains carrying these chemicals that go through these urban areas,” he said. “And now they reroute them through all these little towns." He added that the news didn't cover the issue, but “I was here 20 years, I know that they made it a point to reroute these trains so all these little towns get a shaft.”
“You didn't hear this from me. Within the office there,” the whistleblower continued. “They're saying that derailments are down 15 percent since Covid, but we know the derailments are up. They're trying to paint that picture so as not to bring the harsh light.”
According to the employee, the Department is going off of old statistics from 2020-2021 when there were less trains running, to normalize the new statistics.
He said that the DOT is working to make sure that the Alaska oil pipeline stays closed, but “trains are rolling through middle America carrying all kinds of sh*t.”
Years ago, they had "a human being to walk the tracks or ride a vehicle over the track" for the sake of inspection, the whistleblower explained. But under President Trump’s leadership, the DOT transitioned to a system with “automatic inspection systems, computers on vehicles, they measure, they shoot laser beams. It's a fact. They capture information. That's better.”
"This administration put a hold on all that because it takes away union jobs," the whistleblower stated.
The employee added that Buttigieg has “his own dining room” and that he rarely shows up at the office unless there is an event or party.
"And then what they do is they come around and they want to make sure there's enough people in the office that day so that he has people to greet," he continued, calling it an “elaborate production.”
The effects of the train derailment and toxic spill in early February in East Palestine, Ohio, are still harming residents’ health in the town, according to local reports.
One local woman, Shelby Parker, says that she has had to live in and out of hotels out of concern for her health, her voice has gotten raspy and now has to use an inhaler, and she’s had massive headaches. She has also tested positive for vinyl chloride, a human carcinogen. Parker is just one resident who has reported toxicity symptoms, despite the government saying that the environment is now safe.
