Rosie O’Donnell slams response to Ohio train derailment

Rosie O’Donnell did not shy away from sharing her thoughts about the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment on TikTok.

Nearly three weeks ago, the Norfolk Southern train derailed in the small Ohio town, with several of its cars carrying toxic chemicals that contaminated at least 15,000 pounds of soil and 1.1 million gallons of water to date.

The comedian, who has gone on passionate rants against the Environmental Protection Agency before, took to the social media platform over the weekend to talk about the tragic chemical spill, claiming that “nothing was being done” about it.

“I’ve been reading all the news about this horrible train derailment and chemical spill – toxic poisoning – in Ohio,” she said at the beginning of the three-minute clip. “Fish dying, chickens dying and animals getting sick and people getting sick, and then the EPA comes out with a very non-alarmist, ‘Everything’s OK; don’t worry about a thing’ statement, and it’s infuriating.”

In an update last week, the EPA wrote to the public that they were monitoring and testing the area’s air and water quality, both of which have not exceeded their standard for “quality concerns.”

“This is like a tragedy of epic proportion,” O’Donnell said. “And it’s criminal negligence by that chemical and train company. And nothing’s being done about it.”

She continued, “It’s not on the news enough. It’s not something that people are talking about. It’s like being pushed to the back burner, and it’s like, so many deaths are going to occur from this. I don’t know, it’s so depressing to me.”

The former talk show host also said in her rant that she doesn’t “trust” the EPA , comparing its recent response to the train derailment to the one the agency had after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

At the time, Christine Todd Whitman, who served as the EPA administrator under President George W. Bush, told the public that the air in New York was “safe to breathe” and the water was “safe to drink” in the days after the attacks that destroyed the Twin Towers. She resigned in 2003.

Whitman later apologized for her statement, telling the Guardian in 2016 that she felt “awful” about the aftermath.

“I’m very sorry that people are sick,” she said at the time. “I’m very sorry that people are dying, and if the EPA and I in any way contributed to that, I’m sorry. We did the very best we could at the time with the knowledge we had.”

During an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” last week, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown admitted that residents in the area are “right to be skeptical.”

The mayor of East Palestine also criticized President Biden during a television appearance Monday night for visiting Ukraine this week instead of the small Ohio town.