Ohio governor grilled on train derailment response: 'What are you waiting for?'

I've had a headache and just the odd tingling sensation like in the gums and on my lips occasionally. A lot of children are having some issues with rashes, discoloration of the skin. My brother-in-law actually went to the hospital and got checked out. He was having some severe symptoms, some breathing issues. We're not getting no answers. Nobody's wanting to help us. They've got a couple of East Palestine residents demanding answers this morning as the EPA chief finally visited their city in the wake of that toxic train derailment two weeks ago.

However, the Transportation Secretary, Pete Buttigieg, is nowhere to be found. How Governor Mike DeWine joins us now to discuss the tragedy impacting his state. Governor, what did the EPA director accomplish yesterday? What do you think that since the visit he will do? Well, we had a number of people who visited yesterday. We had Senator Brown was there. Senator Vance was there. We had other people there. Look, here's kind of where we are.

We continue to monitor the air. The air is good. We've gone into hundreds and hundreds of people's houses to test that air. It's good. We got the results back. Who's testing it? Who's testing it? Let me just, I'm sorry. Can you just tell me who's testing the air? Yeah, the testing we're doing, there's dual testing being going on every single time.

The railroad has people testing, but the most important thing I think for the public is that our Ohio EPA is doing the testing of the air. So we've got monitors all over the village. The water we have tested comes back good. We are telling people that if you're on the city water, the village water, you certainly can drink that. We are testing anybody who has a private well. We're going out and testing that. But look, I understand people's concerns.

They've been through a very, very traumatic, horrible, horrible experience. And so we really get it. So we've reached out to HHS and the federal government. They're going to bring in people who are real experts in toxicity and exposure to chemicals. They're going to have access to literally the best people in the country. Okay, governor. We're going to set up a clinic early, early next week and deep right in the middle of the community.

So people will be able to go in there. And we're doing that out of an abundance of caution. Again, we're showing nothing on the water. The water is good. The air is good. But we understand people have concerns. Well, governor, why if the air is good and the water is good, why are residents saying, here's some of the quotes, I don't see birds in my property anymore.

The rivers have dead fish in them and worms. My throat has been burning a horrible cough, sneezing, congestion, eyes burning. I mean, clearly they're experiencing this. So if the air is clean and the water is clean, how do you explain that? Look, this is why we're going to bring in the best experts in the country. What are you waiting for? It's already been two weeks. It's already been two weeks. We've already had, we've already had, excuse me, we've already had, you know, we've had our director of health, Dr.

Vanderhoof, who has been in the community talking with people. We've told people, you know, you need to go see your individual doctor. But we also know there are people who may not have an individual doctor. We know there are people who may not have insurance. And that's why setting up this clinic to assure people and to talk to people one on one, have them come in and do an assessment. And again, the docs who will be there will have direct access to the best people in the country who understand toxicity. Okay, which we do not.

So we have to rely on the experts. But Governor, a final quick question for you and that is because we know you're busy. Are you confident that this railroad, which put out a full page ad that said, you know, we're not going anywhere. We're going to take care of the people. Are you confident they will financially compensate everybody for anything they have lost or anything they may lose in the future? Should this turn out to be a, you know, a cancer cluster, God forbid, or anything like that 20 years from now? Look, we're going to make them do it. They're responsible for this. The railroad created this problem.

Yeah. People didn't create this problem. They brought this into the community. It was their railroad that had had the huge, huge, massive rack, traumatic for the people. We're going to hold them feet to the fire. We're going to stay on them. They're going to do it.

I have a quick question for you. Can they drink the water? Two days ago, you said only a bottle of water. Now you said, you know, some people are saying you can drink the water. Do the people have that bottle of water? The difference is the test came back. We now have the test. If you're on the city water, the village water, you can drink it. We'll continue to test it.

But we came back absolutely clear. And, but if you have a private well, you should not drink it until it has been tested. And we will test it for you. Yeah. Because the municipality gets water from a mile away, I think, and that's the water that's clean. That's not the well water. I grew up with well water.

And so you wonder about, you know, groundwater, seepage and stuff like that. I get why you're going to test all that. I just don't understand why this chemical testing's taken two weeks. Look, testing has been started. We've tested all the way through. We've felt as far as the wells, the wells were far away. The wells were deep.

We've always felt that there was going to be no problem with that water. But until we had the test back, we couldn't tell people that and absolutely guarantee them that. And there's abundance of caution. Very, very cautious. Absolutely. All right. Governor, thank you very much for joining us on this Friday.

Good luck. Thank you. I'm Steve Ducey. I'm Brian Kilmeade. And I'm Ainsley Earhart. And click here to subscribe to the Fox News YouTube page to catch our hottest interviews and most compelling analysis.

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