“Stop hurting us:” Protestors plead for their health outside a Pittsburgh gathering of coal and steel execs

”I’ve had to live in fear and uncertainty and in danger” 

Several protestors from East Palestine, Ohio, held posters with enlarged photos of wounds on their childrens’ arms, legs and faces that they say resulted from Norfolk Southern’s toxic chemical disaster.

Hilary Flint, a former resident of a town near East Palestine, Ohio and a member of the community advocacy group Unity Council East Palestine, said her great grandparents originally purchased her family’s land and she was the fourth generation to live in the family home. She said that after the spill she was told her home was safe, but paid for independent testing that found toxic chemicals including vinyl chloride, ethyl hexyl acetate and dioxins. She had to take a second job to afford relocating her family.

“Since February, I’ve had to live in fear and uncertainty and in danger,” she said. “I’ve had to give up all that I enjoy to fight for justice for myself, for my family and for my community. I wouldn't wish this disaster on anyone else, and I don't want your community to be next.”

Angelo Taranto, a member of the environmental health advocacy group Allegheny Clean Air Now, shared that he used to live downwind of a nearby coke plant that shut down in 2016. Research has shown that levels of sulfur dioxide, a byproduct of cokemaking linked to respiratory and heart problems, decreased by 90% after the plant shut down, which resulted in 42% fewer emergency room visits for heart attacks and 38% fewer ER visits for asthma attacks in surrounding communities after the plant’s closure.

“County officials, health department officials, heard the story of many residents who were being harmed by this,” Taranto said. “But we never did get that better regulation. In 2016 the company voluntarily shut down… Communities downwind from coke plants shouldn’t have to wait until the plants voluntarily shut down to get the types of health benefits that we got.”

Political winds shift 

The rally took place the day after Allegheny County, which encompasses Pittsburgh and is home to several of the region’s largest industrial polluters, elected Sara Innamorato as its new county executive.

Community advocates have long complained that the county’s major industrial polluters operate under a “pay to pollute” model because it’s cheaper to pay the fines levied against them for repeatedly violating clean air laws than it would be to clean up their operations — a practice Innamorato pledged to end during her campaign.

NaTisha Washington, a longtime environmental justice advocate and newly elected councilwoman for Wilkinsburg, said on social media that Innamorato’s election gives her hope for the future, particularly when it comes to the health of the environment. Speaking at the rally, Washington said she’s tired of the companies that pollute local communities saying they’re environmental stewards and good neighbors.

“I’m over it, and I’m sick of it, and that’s why I became a politician,” Washington said. “We’re all here asking our politicians, our decision makers, the people that have the money that's supposed to be owed to us, the people that have the power over the land that’s supposed to be owed to us, to finally do their jobs.”