America’s Heartland Is A Trainwreck
How generations of racism, classism, and capitalistic agenda have derailed public health and safety.
The train tracks lie just two blocks away from my current address. I wonder if I’m the only one in the neighborhood that gets a little nervous as the rail cars rattle their way across our small town. The train’s whistle, previously as unnoticeable as any white noise, now ear piercing and ominous as tornado sirens.
If you follow current events, you might’ve surmised that I’m referring to a series of misfortunate events that derailed more than just a “non-lethal amount” of toxic chemicals in Ohio, and three other states in the span of two short, volatile weeks.
Suddenly, Americans are coming to grips with the grim reality that their small town, their own backyard, could be the site of the next Chernobyl-like event. America’s heartland is one big train wreck.
Ohio is one of 13 States that comprises the Appalachian region.(1.) Did you know it’s also one of the areas being sized up for a “petrochemical renaissance”? More than 32% of US natural gas and 600k barrels of Natural Gas Liquids are extracted from this region every year. Everything from anti-freeze and car parts to gift cards and cell phones, are derived from the chemical compounds that are created through various refining processes. This industry makes up a quarter of US domestic products with an estimated worth of $528 billion. (2.) It’s fair to assume the Appalachian region is prime property and an essential asset to America’s production value.
Knowing that, it’s no far stretch of the imagination to understand why certain economic and ecological events are presently unfolding.
Regarding economics, historically this region has been the most impoverished of any in the United States aside from indigenous reservations.
It also serves as ground level for the most extractive industries known to mankind. Now that we’re moving into a new era wherein coal and steel no longer hold the same value as more versatile products, such as certain types of gasses and plastics, several market industries must adapt in order to stay relevant and profitable.
Appalachia is being targeted for the next petrochemical hub and it’s no coincidence the region happens to also be known for paying the lowest wages, having the highest teen pregnancy rate, the leanest high school graduate numbers, most formidable barriers to healthcare and epicenter to the opioid pandemic and methamphetamine crisis of the early 2000’s and ongoing.
The Appalachians are America’s own version of the Global South, in terms of exploitation.
Don’t believe me? Read on.
Take this statistic for instance, from F.A.H.E., a mortgage, loan underwriting and investment firm, which professes to be dedicated to making social and economic improvements to bring the “American Dream” to Appalachians, since the 1980's.
“The state with the worst poverty rate in the region is Kentucky with a 25.4% rate in the Appalachia portion versus 18.9% rate for the rest of the state.” (3.)
Similarly, the A.R.C. (Appalachian Regional Commission), stakes claim to strengthening Appalachia infrastructure through “job development” and “economic growth”, striving to achieve “economic parity” with the rest of the country. (1.)
(See below image.)
Coincidentally, Kentucky is home to the infamous Rubbertown factories (5.) and the largest portion of mountain top-blasting (MTR) coal mining industry. (6.)
A.R.C. was established in the same year former President Lyndon B. Johnson instated the ‘Appalachian Development Act’ of 1965.
Nearly seven decades later and supposed billions of dollars in investment, very little has changed in terms of “economic parity”, aside from worsening wealth inequality and public health risks. According to F.A.H.E.’s statistics, “the employed population of these states make significantly lower amounts of money than the rest of the US.”
Wait, there’s more!
Of the thirteen states that make up the Appalachian region, seven of these states are among the twelve whose prison population is predominantly black or non-caucasian. More than half of the prison population in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Virginia is composed of people of color.
Enter in — ‘Cop City.’ This mega-militant training facility is scheduled to be built atop the same location as the infamous Old Atlanta Prison Farm. According to Wikipedia, prisoners worked in farm fields to supply the prison system food all the way up until 1990. Aside from that bit of general knowledge,
“There are limited historical records detailing the operation of the farm, especially after 1965.”, (7.) the same year America’s federal government banned together with congressional leaders of 13 other states to enforce the ‘Appalachian Development Act’. … (6.)
Cop City is not only salt in the wound of a society still reeling from police brutality cases, such as George Floyd’s, but environmentalists say its a racial injustice based on the location’s history as well as the fact the $90 million facility will increase the amount of policing among an already racially oppressed populace and require deforestation of 85+ acres in a predominantly black community.
As foreboding as this project seems, it’s far from the first one of it’s kind. Rewind to December 7, 1941, Attack on Pearl Harbor, the day the United States became officially engaged in WWII.
The construction of warplanes as well as ‘The Manhattan Project’ became a National priority. Oakridge (TN) would need a significant source of hydroelectricity in order to meet production demands. Dandridge would subsequently be that source. Over 500 families and dozens of cemeteries would be relocated while over 33,000 acres were allocated for the Douglas Project.
This movement was devastating to the farming communities of the area. Generational farms would be flooded, rich fields and hills would be lost. Worst of all, family homes and the hard work of their ancestors, drowned. Remnants of which can still be seen during the winter when lake levels are low.
Got an afternoon to burn? Google “Chemical Valley” (9.) “Eastman Chemical Company” (10.), or simply “EPA violations”. (11.)
Want to know what’s really disparaging? There are some regions of the Appalachians which are predicted to be some of the milder places to live in the coming years as climate change takes its toll. But will all that change if petrochemical productions are allowed to keep dominating the landscape?
Nearly seventy years, ten different Presidents, both republican and democratic leadership, and dozens of environmental proposals later, what we have is a region whose known history is entirely rooted in racist and classist environmental, social and economic manipulation.
The world wars required resources for labor and goods. The Appalachia hills yield to the demand of extractive and destructive industry to this day. It’s people, it’s beauty and its abundance — treated like disposables. The East Palestine, Ohio train derailment is a prime example of that sentiment.
It’s people, it’s beauty and it’s abundance — treated like disposables.
Despite having government agencies in place such as A R.C. and EPA, there’s yet to be any meaningful change and protections for people and the environment. Instead, slap-on-the-wrist fines for megacorporations that violate regulation after regulation.
When asked, the EPA stated “they didn’t have the time or resources to create new PVC regulations and doing so wouldn’t have any meaningful benefit.” (12) Maybe because corporations call the shots?
Norfolk Southern, along with the rest of the railroad industry, has laid off over 30% of railroad workers, put off infrastructure repairs and fought against every regulation that’s been introduced in recent years.
Instead of a single measure being taken to protect public health, every measure was taken to expedite production and profits.
It’s been repeated in news coverage that there was no law in place which required the train companies nor the chemical companies to report when hazardous chemicals are being transported.
In fact, there is no federal regulation requiring the use of heat detectors and health-monitoring sensors, according to the Federal Railroad Administration.
Train car inspections have been shortened from a minimum of two minutes to 45 seconds, to accommodate for longer trains that stretch up to 1.9 miles long and carry unregulated, sometimes entirely undocumented hazardous materials.
The chemical industry’s and EPA’s solution? In home chemical emergency alert systems. Because that’s not as dystopian as hell.
These chilling facts should be, in and of themselves, a red flag.
Why do we require laws which force corporations to notify surrounding areas of when dangerous chemicals are being transported? Wouldn’t that just be something to do out of rationale and concern for life, public safety and public health?
Society has become far too dependent on a system of law making that falls grossly short of actually protecting anyone aside from capitalists.
No matter how many lawsuits are filed or how many new environmental acts are proposed, loopholes for the ruling class will always be written in between the lines to protect capital and profits. Not people and the environment. Laws are written for capitalist by capitalists.
So what is the solution? “Greener” manufacturing and products? Expansion of plant-based goods? Cleaner energy?
The first step is the most important and after which all resolutions will inherently emerge — abolition and obsoletion of Capitalism.
Then and only then can any form of rational, equitable and sustainable socioeconomics be brought forth and humanity survive the mistakes we’ve made up until this fateful time.
Sources:
- https://www.arc.gov/#:~:text=The%20Appalachian%20Regional%20Commission%20(ARC,strengthen%20economic%20growth%20in%20Appalachia.
- https://www.energy.gov/fecm/articles/appalachian-petrochemical-renaissance-within-reach
- https://fahe.org/appalachian-poverty/#:~:text=The%20state%20with%20the%20worst,the%20rest%20of%20the%20state.
- https://thrivingearthexchange.org/project/louisville-ky/#:~:text=Rubbertown%20is%20the%20nickname%20given,War%20II%20near%20existing%20refineries.
- https://appvoices.org/end-mountaintop-removal/mtr101/#:~:text=Mountaintop%20removal%20takes%20place%20primarily,southwestern%20Virginia%2C%20and%20eastern%20Tennessee.
- http://acsc.lib.udel.edu/exhibits/show/legislation/appalachian
- https://www.sentencingproject.org/reports/the-color-of-justice-racial-and-ethnic-disparity-in-state-prisons-the-sentencing-project/
- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Atlanta_Prison_Farm
- https://www.propublica.org/article/how-black-communities-become-sacrifice-zones-for-industrial-air-pollution
- https://apnews.com/article/health-business-tennessee-air-quality-climate-and-environment-6b3201e13c7c8e2833b73207eae0b960
- https://cfpub.epa.gov/compliance/cases/
- https://insideclimatenews.org/news/08022023/ohio-train-derailment-pvc-plastic/
Written by Amanda Smith, Co-Founder, Board Member and Social Media Manager at Moneyless Society. You can follow her on Twitter here.
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