Salena Zito: East Palestine Reckons With the Shattering of Its Sense of Place

EAST PALESTINE — Rick Tsai, standing knee-deep at the Lesley Run stream, is a mile downstream from where the devastating derailment occurred in this Columbiana County community. He is wearing thick, blue rubber gloves, heavy boots, and a respirator. He wants to see if any of the chemicals he detected earlier are still visible.

Tsai lifts a large rock and then a milky purple-colored surface appears in a burst if percolating bubbles. The substance is transported to a deeper water pool; petroleum-based chemicals remain, swirling and floating against the rocky shoreline.

“Did you see that?” He shouts. It was impossible not to.