So for an update on EP, feel free to continue to highlight or to drop it down into the general prayer requests. Your call!
Things are a bit... murky. The town seems to be splitting into two factions, so prayers for unity or something similar might be warranted. There's the group, largely comprised of small business owners and leaning older/Baby Boomer, that wants to trust the authorities and help promote the town so it's not abandoned. There's another group that's younger, often with children, typically poorer, that wants to keep hyping up the damage and keep media attention focused on the town and the pressure on Norfolk Southern. Some of them are trying to get NS to buy them out of their homes or pay for relocation.
On the environmental front, the media attention and political pressure did get NS to rip up the tracks they hastily replaced and dig down to remediate the soil. NS waited so long (since they probably weren't planning to do it originally) that now they have to dig down some crazy amount. All this digging is kicking up dust and soil. NS paid for people within a mile radius to relocate if they want. One of my cousins is staying in an AirB&B in the next town until the work is done. But plenty of people can't do that because of kids in EP schools (which not in the evac zone since they're on the west side of town), lack of transportation, etc. So there's the immediate concern of recontamination from the soil remediation plus whatever they're doing with the local streams/creeks, then the long-term monitoring to see if there's an impact on groundwater and private wells.
no subject
Things are a bit... murky. The town seems to be splitting into two factions, so prayers for unity or something similar might be warranted. There's the group, largely comprised of small business owners and leaning older/Baby Boomer, that wants to trust the authorities and help promote the town so it's not abandoned. There's another group that's younger, often with children, typically poorer, that wants to keep hyping up the damage and keep media attention focused on the town and the pressure on Norfolk Southern. Some of them are trying to get NS to buy them out of their homes or pay for relocation.
On the environmental front, the media attention and political pressure did get NS to rip up the tracks they hastily replaced and dig down to remediate the soil. NS waited so long (since they probably weren't planning to do it originally) that now they have to dig down some crazy amount. All this digging is kicking up dust and soil. NS paid for people within a mile radius to relocate if they want. One of my cousins is staying in an AirB&B in the next town until the work is done. But plenty of people can't do that because of kids in EP schools (which not in the evac zone since they're on the west side of town), lack of transportation, etc. So there's the immediate concern of recontamination from the soil remediation plus whatever they're doing with the local streams/creeks, then the long-term monitoring to see if there's an impact on groundwater and private wells.