This is going to be a long email, but it’s important that we talk about the lessons of East Palestine. If you don’t have time to read it all right now, skip to the end for a link to an informative video exposé. You can also donate to the victims of East Palestine here and make a contribution to my campaign so we can hold Norfolk Southern accountable.

Folks – It’s been one year since Norfolk Southern’s catastrophic train derailment caused a massive explosion and toxic chemical exposure in East Palestine, Ohio.

Here’s what we know:

Norfolk Southern KNEW there were problems.

There are widespread reports of problems in Norfolk Southern’s safety operations. Many of the cars aren’t rated for the kind of chemicals they’re transporting. The chemicals aren’t clearly marked and the hazards not clearly communicated. Engineers and yard workers don’t have time to properly inspect the cars before they roll out, because the trains are too long and staff has been cut to bare bones. When rail workers try to raise their concerns, they’re brushed aside or silenced.

These systemic failures and safety hazards in the daily operations of every major rail carrier were at the center of the rail workers strike two years ago. President Biden broke that strike less than two months before this catastrophe.

Residents and first responders were exposed to a known carcinogen and they’re STILL facing health problems.

First responders who arrived on the scene of the crash were not told what chemicals were involved, and were NOT given proper protective equipment. Everyone in the area, including residents, was consumed in a toxic fog that spread across state lines and impacted multiple communities.

But Norfolk Southern rushed the incident response with the full complicity of the EPA and Gov. Mike DeWine. They started running trains again the very same day they declared an “all clear” – on tracks they laid down over still contaminated soil.

Residents and first responders immediately began testing positive for vinyl chloride (a known carcinogen). One year later, they still suffer skin problems, breathing problems, and a rapidly increasing rate of various cancers. But no one is helping them with their medical bills, and no one is holding Norfolk Southern accountable.

The EPA utterly FAILED this working class community – and so has Congress.

The EPA allowed Norfolk Southern to hire their own contractor to oversee testing and cleanup, something watchdogs described as “the fox watching the hen-house.” And while EPA observers tagged along with this contractor to monitor their testing protocols, they were MONTHS into testing before “discovering” that their monitors weren’t aligned and they weren’t properly reading threat levels. But they never went back and corrected the readings on the houses they’d already cleared for families to move back into.

And where is Congress in all of this? Aside from the fact they helped Biden break the rail workers strike that raised all these flags, there are two bills (a House and Senate version) addressing rail safety regulations that are going absolutely nowhere while we’re still averaging 1000 train derailments every year. 

Norfolk Southern ADMITTED they put profits before safety.

I saved the most disgusting fact for last, folks.

Just in case you thought this was all some tragic, unpredictable collision of circumstances, let’s put that notion to bed right now. In a recent CBS video exposé, a spokesman for Norfolk Southern practically screamed the quiet part out loud.

They straight up admitted that safety takes a backseat to profits, and THAT is why we can’t allow corporations like Norfolk Southern or Boeing “police themselves.”

Unsurprisingly, both Boeing and Norfolk Southern are major donors to my opponent, Rick Larsen – who is the ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Rick Larsen has a long established record of looking the other way, as long as those campaign checks continue to clear.

There’s a reason I won’t take corporate PAC money. The kind of dark money Norfolk Southern shovels at Rick Larsen every year is more than corruptive – it’s deadly.

When I serve in Congress, if a corporation wants to send their lobbyists to talk to me, they are welcome to try. But they will never buy their way past my door and they will NEVER buy my vote.

If you want an unbought, unbossed representative fighting big corporations for you, pitch in $25 or $50 to my campaign today to unseat Rick Larsen and send the first Green Party member to Congress next year.

Folks, I know this has been a long email, but I haven’t even scratched the surface. I highly recommend the recent CBS News Report on East Palestine and this preventable disaster. Roxana Saberi spent the better part of the last year in Ohio reporting on this story, and everyone should watch.

We also can’t forget the people of East Palestine who are still suffering. GoFundMe has collated all the verified fundraisers on their platform for the victims of this disaster here – many of which are still languishing with less than $100 given. If you can only give to one today, please donate to one of these instead of to my campaign.

Share this email with your friends and family so they know what happened. Because until we get enough of the right people into Congress to hold bad actors like Norfolk Southern accountable, it’s just a matter of time before another disaster like this happens.

Will your town be next?

Not if I can help it.

In solidarity,

Jason Call