How the Nord Stream Explosion started the Nordstreaming Trend.
A Brief Analysis of Two Unrelated Events.
On September 27, 2022, the Nord Stream pipeline in the Baltic Sea was blown up, cutting Germany off from its main energy source. The leak is assumed to be the largest single methane emission ever recorded. The leak could have released between 56,000 and 155,000 tonnes of methane into the atmosphere, which is about twice the amount the oil and gas industry releases worldwide every second day.
At COP26 in November 2022, the Global Methane Pledge was proposed, according to which the 111 participants agreed to take voluntary actions to contribute to a collective effort to reduce global human-caused methane emissions by at least 30 percent from 2020 levels by 2030. The „most credible“ source on this topic, the International Energy Agency, says that 342 million tonnes (Mt) methane emissions per year originate form human activity.1 The IEA uses the data faked by another “very credible” organisation called the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), a non-profit organisation funded with your taxes. It might be important to know, that the inconsistent reports of the IPCC were also used to create international standards, for example the EN ISO 14067 Carbon Footprint of Products. The IEA does not provide a source for their estimation, except for mentioning the IPCC on the website and providing a link called „Methodology“, which leads to yet another propaganda website. Further research leads to a pfd-file Global Methane Tracker.2 A quick look at the sources used for this document reveals a very short list of references (p.29), that are either several years old, or refer to the website of the World Bank. Not very impressive, considering the fact, that this document is used to justify major social changes around the world. It’s interesting how minimal data and simple „guesstimations“ seem to be acceptable to prohibit meat, change the infrastructure of power grids, or introduce policies restricting mobility and bans of private property.
Back to the Nord Stream leak: the reporting about the leak is rather skimpy, and it makes the impression that the media wants to report about everything but Nord Stream. Of course, the public needs to be distracted from this event, as the circumstances around the leak give hints about the responsible for this disaster.
Personally, I do not think, that we are all going to die because of Nord Stream’s methane release, I do, however, believe that blowing up the pipeline started a trend that I call nordstreaming. One of them took place in the United States, and in my opinion, it will have a major impact on the environment, and it will create health issues for the residents of the affected areas.
According to the propaganda tabloid The New York Times, a train carrying chemicals and combustible materials derailed in the morning of February 3, near the town of East Palestine, Ohio. The American National Transportation Safety Board published a list of what the derailed rail cars were carrying.3 The NYT reports that „on Feb. 6, the authorities performed a controlled release of the toxic materials from five tankers, and the contents were diverted to a trench and burned off.“ I could not find out who exactly (the names) has made the emergency decision and gave the actual order to do it, but I assume that the East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway and the Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine were involved. The newspapers mention that the decision was made by the railroad company Norfolk Southern with the support of the Environmental Protection Agency and Ohio EPA officials. The Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro accuses Norfolk Southern of “inaccurate information and conflicting modelling about the impact of the controlled release”. The Washington Post reports that Norfolk Southern „failed to notify state and local agencies responding to the incident about its decision to vent and burn all five cars containing vinyl chloride instead of one.“4 The Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine says that the decision to burn off the hazardous chemicals from derailed cars was made to supposedly avoid a potential catastrophic explosion. Really? Or was this decision made for that Norfolk Southern can quickly clear the tracks and resume rail operations?
What I do not understand is, what exactly got avoided by this release?
The Environmental Protection Agency published an e-mail5 to the Norfolk Southern Railway Company form February 10, 2023, in which it says: „Approximately 20 rail cars were listed as carrying hazardous materials“.Approximately? You can track back every part of your control unit or a connector in a car, VW or Audi will even be able to tell when exactly a part was manufactured, but „the officials“ can only estimate how many rail cars sent on a route through the United States were carrying hazardous materials? There are certain words and expressions in reports and in the communication released for the public, that indicate that something isn’t right. „Approximately“ is one of them. The letter provides a description of the actions and observations taken by EPA at the site to date, and it informs that the Norfolk Southern Railway Company „may be responsible under CERCLA for cleanup of the Site or costs EPA has incurred in cleaning up the Site.“
Then, there is a sentence about Norfolk Southern having to respond to the letter, but they should tell if they can respond, or if they are limited by Covid-19. Imagine, they cleaned the site in few days, but they couldn’t have answered a letter..
The update from Norfolk Southern on East Palestine Derailment, OH, February 13, 2023: „Both mainlines were restored to service on February 7 – after our Engineering team and contractors worked to quickly clear the site and laydown new infrastructure. Norfolk Southern continues to make progress in two key areas: addressing the backlog of traffic; and getting power and crews back in cycle.“6
The update of the United States Environmental Protection Agency from February 17, 2023: „As of the evening of Feb. 16, EPA has assisted with the indoor air monitoring of more than 500 homes. To date there have been no detections of vinyl chloride or hydrogen chloride above levels of concern.“ „Has assisted“ means they outsourced it. I don’t know about this particular case, but usually the private sector performs those tasks. As I said many times, a government does not produce anything.
”Levels of concern“? Why not writing the number to make it as transparent as possible?
Form a document of the ATSDR form 2006 PUBLIC HEALTH STATEMENT Vinyl Chloride CAS#: 75-01-47: „Results from several studies have suggested that breathing air or drinking water containing moderate levels (100 ppm) of vinyl chloride might increase their risk for cancer.“ (..) “Studies of long-term exposure in animals showed that cancer of the liver and mammary gland may increase at very low levels of vinyl chloride in the air (50 ppm). Lab animals fed low levels of vinyl chloride each day (2 mg/kg/day) during their lifetime had an increased risk of getting liver cancer.“
And then: „OSHA regulates levels of vinyl chloride in the workplace. No employee may be exposed to vinyl chloride at levels greater than 1 ppm averaged over any 8-hour period or levels greater than 5 ppm averaged over any period exceeding 15 minutes. NIOSH recommends that the exposure limit (for a time-weighted average [TWA]) for vinyl chloride in air be the lowest reliably detectable concentration. Workers exposed to any measurable amount of it must wear special breathing equipment.“
The update form the Pennsylvania Department of Health and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection: „Thus far, no measurements of vinyl chloride, hydrogen chloride, or phosgene have exceeded health-based thresholds for short-term exposure. There was a brief period (less than 24 hours) when measurement of particulate matter slightly exceeded standards“. How long ist a „brief period“ and „less than 24 hours“?
Ok, let’s read further: “For monitored levels of particulate matter collected in PA, from February 4-8 within 2 miles of the derailment site, measured particulate matter exceeded National Ambient Air Quality standards of 35 µg/m3 PM2.5 (fine particles) for a 24-hour standard February 4-8, 2023.“ The maximum is supposed to be measured in early morning hours,at 4:25PM on February 8, when the maximum PM2.5 in PA was 40 µg/m3.
1µg/m3 (microgramm/cubic meter) = 0.001ppm (part per million)
In 2006 the „very low level“ of vinyl chloride in the air benefiting liver cancer was 50ppm (50000 µg/m3). (s.the document of the ATSDR above)
The National Ambient Air Quality standards of PM2.5 (fine particles) for a 24-hour standard is 35 µg/m3 (0.035ppm)8 - revised air quality standard from 2012.
In 2023 (form a draft for public comment, the final toxicological profile wasn’t released yet)9: health effects found in humans and animals following inhalation exposure to vinyl chloride, 0.5 ppm (500 µg/m3) - provisional acute MRL (Minimal Risk Level), the effect is delayed ossification; 0.02ppm (20 µg/m3) - intermediate MRL , the effect is increased incidence of centrilobular hypertrophy (my friends, who are medical doctors may forgive me this one: your liver becomes large).
The sources for those observations are from 1977, 1981 and 2002, which was before 2006.
I know that „the science is changing“, but the problem I have with those guidelines is that data older than the last guideline is used for the new one. So, the question I’m asking myself is: did „the experts“ not know about those results? Or did they ignore them?
I did not find any information about the measurement method and the evaluation method, but the data comes from a governmental office, so I distrust it by default. The Environmental Protection Agency participated in the decision making process, why should another governmental agency expose the potentially disastrous consequences of this decision?
Form the study published on the website of EPA Vinyl chlorideCASRN 75-01-4 | DTXSID8021434/Reference Concentration for Inhalation Exposure10:„Absorption of VC in humans after inhalation exposure is rapid. A study conducted in five young adult male volunteers showed that 42% of inhaled VC in the lung was retained, that maximum retention was reached within 15 minutes, and that the percent retention was independent of inspired VC concentration at least to the maximum used in the experiment, 60 mg/m3. After cessation of exposure, the VC concentration in expired air decreased rapidly within 30 minutes to 4% of the inhaled concentration“11
Carcinogenicity12:„The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) have classified vinyl chloride as a known human carcinogen. Vinyl chloride has caused angiosarcoma of the liver in heavily exposedworkers. It is also suspected to cause cancer of the brain, lungs, gastrointestinal tract, and lymphatic/hematopoietic system.
Reproductive and Developmental Effects: „Vinyl chloride is included in Reproductive and Developmental Toxicants, a 1991 report published by the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) that lists 30 chemicals of concern because of widely acknowledged reproductive and developmental consequences.However, there is no conclusive evidence of reproductive or developmental effects in humans. A few case reports describe decreased libido or fertility in men with chronic occupational exposure, and some animal studies also support this finding. Some studies in experimental animals have reported developmental toxicity associated with high-dose exposures, but vinyl chloride is not considered a developmental toxicant.“
„A few case reports“ - why don’t they just mention the number of reports?
Pregnancy: „Special consideration regarding the exposure of pregnant women is warranted, since vinyl chloride has been shown to be a genotoxin; thus, medical counseling is recommended for the acutely exposed pregnant women.“ So, there is „no conclusive evidence“ for „developmental effects in humans“, but it’s not good for pregnant women.
There are also waters that have been contaminated. The spill affected about seven and a half miles of stream, and according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, killed an estimated 3,500 fish as of February 8.
On February 14, Tiffani Kavalec, the surface water division chief for the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency said that the testing has detected two chemicals: ethylhexyl acrylate (carcinogen, can cause burning and irritation of the skin and eyes, inhalation can also irritate the nose and throat, causing shortness of breath and coughing), and butyl acrylate (can cause breathing difficulties and irritation of the eyes and skin). She also said, that a water treatment processes should filter the contaminants out. I’m wondering how they will perform it and who will pay for it.
I was watching the video of Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine update on the train derailment and toxic chemicals13 and it caught my attention, that the responsible officials giving statements didn’t really knew the geography of the region they were talking about, and didn’t give accurate information about the levels of contamination. Again, I might be very German on this, but „low contamination“ is nothing I would consider an accurate information.
On February 17, 2023, the Gov. Josh Saphiro posted from his Twitter account: „We're taking steps to independently verify our water quality after Norfolk Southern's train derailment.We continue to see no concerning air or water quality readings in PA — but as we work to hold @NSCorp accountable, we’ll ensure you have clean water and info you need.“
Yeah, well, I don’t believe this either, that’s why I’m writing this article.
Governments around the world are tirelessly working on impoverishing everyone because of the supposed climate catastrophe, but for some reason, the aiding of the environmental disaster in the USA has little priority. It will become increasingly difficult to justify carbon footprint policies, while allowing contamination with carcinogen toxins. It will become increasingly difficult to justify carbon footprint policies, while allowing contamination with carcinogen toxins. The handling of the crisis doesn’t improve the already weak confidence in the government. Blowing up Nord Stream pipeline seem to have started “nordstreaming” trend in the United States. Food processing plants, waste facilities and nursery plant warehouses - everything is on fire and emitting, well, carbon dioxide. The probability for those incidents to occur coincidentally in this short period of time is, in my opinion, not very high. Also, the “nordstreaming” will help the climate change cult to die. This cult relies on wealth. Carbon footprint is a problem of wealthy society. The „Nord Stream coincidences“ in the U.S. don’t only have very hight carbon footprint, they also destroy a lot of wealth. Nobody cares about climate change and carbon footprint in the face of environmental disasters, poverty and disruptions in the social order due to illness and sudden deaths. We can assume that the climate change cult will die of … pollution.
If I lived in the affected area, I’d do my own research and look for ways of how to protect myself and my family. Couple of days ago, I came across a Substack article from Clif High. I’m not a medical doctor, but I do have personal experience with chemical poisoning, and Clif’s elaborations make sense to me. I’ve tested Chaga powder and other detox supplements on myself, and I got very good results.
I’m sharing the link to Clif’s article14in the hope that it might provide some useful information for my readers in the affected region.
Here is the link to the document Toxicological Profile for Vinyl Chloride Draft for Public Comment January 2023.15 I advise you to contact the people involved in the creation and approval of the new guideline, not because I believe in this authority or in the peer-review process, but because I want those people to feel that every single of their steps is watched.
Greetings form commi Germany!
Until next time!
Sylwie
P.S. Thx to my dear friend Alex for sending me the Nord Stream meme. Sending love to NZ!