‘It Is a Miracle’ No Lives Were Lost in Ohio Derailment: Rep. Bill Johnson

Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) speaks on NTD's "Capitol Report." Screenshot/NTD

Divine intervention is what prevented any loss of life from the Feb. 3 derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in East Palestine, Ohio, according to Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio).

“I mean, it is a miracle,” Johnson told NTD News, The Epoch Times’ sister outlet, on Monday, Feb. 20. “It is absolutely by the grace of God that that train didn’t wreck a mile or so back and just take out the whole downtown area of East Palestine.”

As the representative for the district where the incident occurred, Johnson also praised the efforts of the local first responders who were quick to arrive on the scene, including not only the local volunteer fire department but dozens of other fire departments from across the region.

“I think it’s a credit to those first responders that this wasn’t worse than it was,” he added.

But those silver linings aside, the congressman also noted that the accident and resulting leakage of hazardous chemicals into the environment has done a great deal of damage to the local community.

“The people there have—as I’ve said many, many times before—they have every reason to be fearful, anxious, frustrated.”

Since the derailment and subsequent “controlled burn” of the chemicals, residents in the area have reported strange occurrences, including mysterious animal illnesses and deaths, an “acid mist” in the air, and more recently, adverse health reactions like rashes, headaches, vomiting, and burning sensations.

However, last week, testing results for the air and public water quality showed both to be safe, according to federal and state authorities. To demonstrate their confidence in those results, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan volunteered to drink the tap water while visiting an East Palestine residence on Feb. 21.

“We believe in science, so we don’t feel like we’re being your guinea pig, but we don’t mind proving to you that we believe the water is safe,” Regan said, according to Fox News.

But with some residents—including Sens. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)—still concerned, Johnson reassured Monday that environmental testing was likely to continue for some time.

“I’m not an engineer; I’m not a chemist,” he noted. “But I can tell you that they are going to be going to great distances to make sure that they test, and there will likely be testing done here for years down the road to make sure that they are sampling the water—make sure that they didn’t miss anything. This is going to be an ongoing-for-a-while scenario.”