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Ohio train derailment (1 Viewer)

One guy who lives there is really angry about the whole thing. This is about a 2-minute NSFW video about it with footage of the sky during the chemical burnoffs. It's worth listening to until the end.

https://twitter.com/more_shower/status/1624937676292907008
I would be gone. Use your vacation time and go someplace else for a while.

Again, I'm not an alarmist about this stuff. I grew around all kinds of pesticides and herbicides and never lost a minute's sleep over it. There's no way it's safe to breath in that air. It seems like the whole town should have been evacuated and I would need a lot of convincing to change my mind.
 
The company responsible reportedly offered the entire town $25k in compensation. Which comes out to $5 a person.

If capitalism works like it’s supposed to, they’d have to buy out every single home in the affected area as they all are worth almost nothing because nobody will want to live there. I certainly wouldn’t want to live in an area where the soil and groundwater could be contaminated with those types of carcinogens.
How do you know the right amount of compensation isn't $0?

At this point, none of us have any idea whether the railroad was in any way at fault here. If the railroad followed all regulations and best practices common to the industry, why should they be held to a strict liability standard, and what would be the likely consequences of such a choice? 19th century tort lawyers spent a lot of time thinking through exactly this kind of issue. Apparently all trains ever did during that era was run over trespassers and burn crops.
 
The company responsible reportedly offered the entire town $25k in compensation. Which comes out to $5 a person.

If capitalism works like it’s supposed to, they’d have to buy out every single home in the affected area as they all are worth almost nothing because nobody will want to live there. I certainly wouldn’t want to live in an area where the soil and groundwater could be contaminated with those types of carcinogens.
How do you know the right amount of compensation isn't $0?

At this point, none of us have any idea whether the railroad was in any way at fault here. If the railroad followed all regulations and best practices common to the industry, why should they be held to a strict liability standard, and what would be the likely consequences of such a choice? 19th century tort lawyers spent a lot of time thinking through exactly this kind of issue. Apparently all trains ever did during that era was run over trespassers and burn crops.

That’s fair. I think there’s a pretty long history though of big companies vastly underpaying for their negligence. It’s tough because we probably have an overly litigious system, but we also do a terrible job of disincentivizing reckless behavior from big companies.

It’s difficult to quantify losses sometimes, but way too often corporations have gotten away with poisoning the environment with little penalty for doing so.
 
Not to get political.........................but I think a good goal would be that within a few years, ZERO of the current people in office should still be in office. Vote every single one out. Make lobbyists illegal.
Unfortunately, nothing will ever change, because the people in power are the most corrupt people. "Good" people don't go far in politics.
It's also funny to hear the left yell at the right, and the right yell at the left. Guess what people, you ALL suck. Both sides suck. Every one of those idiots you vote for sucks, every one of those idiots you didnt vote for sucks. None of them give a flying F about any of you.

Ok that was poitical, but whatever. I didnt take a side obviously.

Anyway, I live like 75 miles or so from the derailment, and I have no idea if I should be worried about any of the fallout. I cant imagine what the people right there are doing/thinking.
 
When the rails are down, the rail companies lose millions. They pay ungodly fees to companies like Hulcher to reopen the tracks with very little regard for safety. Hulcher pretty routinely have 3-5 deaths a year doing this work. The surrounding towns and folks who live there are an afterthought to getting the trains rolling again. You don't get in these guys ways when they are working.

As the burn came to an end and residents were told it was safe to return to their homes, they were held up by trains rolling through their community again. This is all about money, Norfolk & Southern will pay a pittance and in about 5-10 years East Palestine will become an EPA clean up site because we the people should pay for this rather than the railroad who was responsible for it. Pretty much standard operating procedure.
 
Long article I found informative on the ongoing health problems faced by residents even after they've been told it's safe to go back to their homes.
https://newrepublic.com/post/170570...rouble-breathing-dying-animals-saying-goodbye

Amanda Greathouse, who resides near the crash site, evacuated about one hour after the incident. She only returned home on February 10, a full week later, to retrieve personal effects like bank and ID cards. Even then, as she and her family walked through the home donning N-95 masks and gloves, an ominous odor pervaded. After leaving, her eyes burned and itched, her throat was sore, and she had a rash; her husband and both her sisters had migraines.
The next day, the family went to Norfolk Southern’s community family assistance center to obtain the $1,000 convenience check. After a four-hour wait, Greathouse was informed they needed more documents. The family was forced to return to their home again to retrieve additional documents, and left with renewed symptoms.
On February 6, the day of the controlled burn, Therese Vigliotti, who lives 15 miles north of East Palestine, was having a cigarette and cup of coffee as she noticed a slight odor in the air. During her next smoke break, she noticed her coffee tasted strange. She then realized her tongue felt funny, and her lips and soft palate felt numb. Her throat began to hurt. Throughout the week, her throat continued to hurt and she felt a burning sensation on her tongue. She even found blood in her stool. “I appreciate the hell out of you for reaching out to me [because] I’m honestly really scared,” Vigliotti said. “And please understand I am not losing my wits over the whole thing.”
 
One More...


PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – A train derailment at the Georgia-Pacific Mill in Toledo, Ore. spilled about 2,000 gallons of diesel Friday and state officials said some of it entered a slough that feeds into the Yaquina River.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality responded to the emergency Friday. Officials said some of the spilled diesel may have entered a storm drain that flows into the nearby Depot Slough, which feeds into the Yaquina River.
 
Not to get political.........................but I think a good goal would be that within a few years, ZERO of the current people in office should still be in office. Vote every single one out. Make lobbyists illegal.
Unfortunately, nothing will ever change, because the people in power are the most corrupt people. "Good" people don't go far in politics.
It's also funny to hear the left yell at the right, and the right yell at the left. Guess what people, you ALL suck. Both sides suck. Every one of those idiots you vote for sucks, every one of those idiots you didnt vote for sucks. None of them give a flying F about any of you.

Ok that was poitical, but whatever. I didnt take a side obviously.

Anyway, I live like 75 miles or so from the derailment, and I have no idea if I should be worried about any of the fallout. I cant imagine what the people right there are doing/thinking.
I live about 30 miles north of the derailment. Fortunately, it is north and not east since the prevailing westerly winds will push the air contamination for miles. The folks miles downwind should have evacuated immediately. The contamination entering water ways is another big concern. Testing can indicate where the contamination is to predict where it’s going but nothing will stop it. Soil can be tested, removed, and disposed as hazardous waste. No idea the volume involved but hazardous waste clean up is big business. I was involved in that business for 4 years right out of school. It was interesting but physically and mentally demanding. Lots of people are going to make a lot of money at the disaster. Lots of people in the area of the crash are going to have their lives completely upended also. Humans are destructive as hell.

Life has been normal here. Lots of news coverage of the derailment but that is it. My daughter was in a travel volleyball tournament about 3-5 miles northwest of the crash site this past weekend. The derailment was discussed by a few of us, especially when crossing the RR tracks that lead to the crash.

East Palestine is a run down old town with a small population. Had this occurred in a more populated or wealthier area, the media coverage would like have been more intense.
 
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Pretty amazing this isn't get any coverage in the main stream media.
It is
I dont see it on the front page of any of CNN, MSNBC, FoxNews or ABC News :shrug:
I have seen/heard semi regular reports about it since it occurred. It has never been the lead story. But it’s been reported on. I’m in CA. :shrug:
Me too. I saw it talked about on multiple nights on the national news on CBS. I'm in NC. CNN is having a segment with Erin Brockovich on the Ohio train derailment and the toxic chemicals in the next hour.
 
I remember a similar incident in Elm Grove, WI (Milwaukee area) when I was in high school. That took forever to clean up iirc.
 
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine Tuesday said Congress must act following the Feb. 3 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio — in which 38 rail cars derailed, including 11 which contained hazardous materials — and hundreds of nearby residents were forced to evacuate for several days.

At a news conference, DeWine told reporters he was informed that the train was not considered a "high hazardous material train," so the state was not notified, prior to its derailment, that it was passing through.
https://www.cbsnews.com/live-update...estine-chemicals-update-governor-mike-dewine/

Not sure what notification would have done. What's needed is bypass routes constructed around cities for trains carrying hazardous materials. But that would be hideously expensive and would require a lot of public money and will to accomplish. At most it might happen on a case by case basis, based on how loud the city is about it, how much money the city and its state will put up to get the feds to pony up even more, and (sadly) what the casualty count is.
 
Pretty amazing this isn't get any coverage in the main stream media.
It is
I dont see it on the front page of any of CNN, MSNBC, FoxNews or ABC News :shrug:
I have seen/heard semi regular reports about it since it occurred. It has never been the lead story. But it’s been reported on. I’m in CA. :shrug:
Me too. I saw it talked about on multiple nights on the national news on CBS. I'm in NC. CNN is having a segment with Erin Brockovich on the Ohio train derailment and the toxic chemicals in the next hour.

Erin Brockovich reacts to EPA response in Ohio train spills
 
When the rails are down, the rail companies lose millions. They pay ungodly fees to companies like Hulcher to reopen the tracks with very little regard for safety. Hulcher pretty routinely have 3-5 deaths a year doing this work. The surrounding towns and folks who live there are an afterthought to getting the trains rolling again. You don't get in these guys ways when they are working.

As the burn came to an end and residents were told it was safe to return to their homes, they were held up by trains rolling through their community again. This is all about money, Norfolk & Southern will pay a pittance and in about 5-10 years East Palestine will become an EPA clean up site because we the people should pay for this rather than the railroad who was responsible for it. Pretty much standard operating procedure.
This all sounds like a bad movie...
 
The company responsible reportedly offered the entire town $25k in compensation. Which comes out to $5 a person.

If capitalism works like it’s supposed to, they’d have to buy out every single home in the affected area as they all are worth almost nothing because nobody will want to live there. I certainly wouldn’t want to live in an area where the soil and groundwater could be contaminated with those types of carcinogens.
I had an opportunity years ago to buy A beautiful beach house. Right on Lake Michigan. Problem was, there was an Air Force fuel site (abandoned) less that 500 yards away. I passed. This past summer (10 years after I passed on it) I rented a place out to. Guy who was here to clean it up. He actually said “I would not eat any fish out of the Great Lakes.” I was stunned.
 
I think if we're being exact here we should say that railroads and their usage are heavily regulated and the companies that use the railroads fight the regulations.

I still don't get how it's inherently political, though. It sounds more like a disaster story that might have political underpinnings.
I am not sure how I can talk about the President blocking a strike that had (along with many other elements) rail safety as a major complaint. Presidential involvement in labor disputes seems very political. With this story, talking about why it happened, who is to blame and what can be done to prevent it from happening again seems extremely essential.

Getting information on this stuff is wild. It's almost like they make it hard to comprehend on purpose. So what I can gather is the strike was the result of a sequence of events set in motion when the train length more or less doubled. Since in the USA passenger rail, and commuter rail, and freight often share the same tracks this caused lots of problems and freight rail would have to wait for days to go anywhere because they wouldn't fit otherwise.

This exact derailment though doesn't seem related to the strike, the strike was because train engineers weren't given basically any time off once the train length more or less stuck them in the middle of nowhere for days on end.
I found this interesting but not sure how much was actually tied to the strike. You are right clear info isn’t easy to find.


If you’re not using it already- DuckDuckGo opens up the internet- for all topics.

If your don’t believe me, use the same search words on google and DDG and notice the drastic difference in results.

(You don’t get the “there are no more search results but do you want to look anyway” nonsense.
 

There have been reports of a significant amount of animal deaths

Following the controlled burn of chemicals to prevent a deadly explosion, residents say foxes, chickens, and other domesticated animals have died. There have also been approximately 3,500 dead fish counted in four nearby waterways, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources said Tuesday.
-----------------------------------
ODNR estimates 3,500 fish killed by East Palestine train derailment, spill
...Linda Murphy, who lives about three miles from the site of the train derailment, confirmed to News 5 last week that she saw dead fish floating in several locations on Leslie Run. She says her family isn't touching the well she uses for water on her property until they get assurances that it's safe.

“That’s what we bathe in, that's what we drink, that's what we cook with and that’s what I also give to my animals, so it’s a major concern and they could not reassure me the water was safe to drink. They didn’t say it wasn’t and absolutely refrained from saying that it was,” Murphy said.
...Residents who are concerned about the air and water quality in their homes can request a test by calling 234-542-6472.

-------------------
LINK to video
Citizen Free Press
@CitizenFreePres

"Hundreds of dead fish" found belly up in Leslie Run stream located in East Palestine, Ohio. Youngstown, Ohio is only 30 miles north and Pittsburgh 1 hour south.
 
This is just awful. Ancient rail system, can’t see balloons, roads and bridges are a disaster.

Where is all that infrastructure money going?
My guess. It is just going into corporate hands and propping up stock prices. I seem to remember somebody saying years ago to the affect of “if one regulation goes in, two have to come out.” This place voted for this deregulation. Sometimes you make a few bucks on your 401k, others your livestock dies a horrible painful death and your property becomes Chernobyl-lite.

Yay capitalism.
 
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This is just awful. Ancient rail system, can’t see balloons, roads and bridges are a disaster.

Where is all that infrastructure money going?
My guess. It is just going into corporate hands and propping up stock prices. I seem to remember somebody saying years ago to the affect of “if one regulation goes in, two have to come out.” This place voted for this deregulation. Sometimes you make a few bucks on your 401k, others your livestock dies a horrible painful death and your property becomes Chernobyl-lite.

Yay capitalism.

Capitalism is fine, corruption isn’t.
 
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine Tuesday said Congress must act following the Feb. 3 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio — in which 38 rail cars derailed, including 11 which contained hazardous materials — and hundreds of nearby residents were forced to evacuate for several days.

At a news conference, DeWine told reporters he was informed that the train was not considered a "high hazardous material train," so the state was not notified, prior to its derailment, that it was passing through.
https://www.cbsnews.com/live-update...estine-chemicals-update-governor-mike-dewine/

Not sure what notification would have done. What's needed is bypass routes constructed around cities for trains carrying hazardous materials. But that would be hideously expensive and would require a lot of public money and will to accomplish. At most it might happen on a case by case basis, based on how loud the city is about it, how much money the city and its state will put up to get the feds to pony up even more, and (sadly) what the casualty count is.
If if there was a willingness and resources to re-route hazardous rail traffic, where are you re-routing towards? East Palestine is a small rural village of a few thousand people. This isn't New York City. This is exactly the type of area where you would be re-routing things.
 
I think if we're being exact here we should say that railroads and their usage are heavily regulated and the companies that use the railroads fight the regulations.

I still don't get how it's inherently political, though. It sounds more like a disaster story that might have political underpinnings.
I am not sure how I can talk about the President blocking a strike that had (along with many other elements) rail safety as a major complaint. Presidential involvement in labor disputes seems very political. With this story, talking about why it happened, who is to blame and what can be done to prevent it from happening again seems extremely essential.

Getting information on this stuff is wild. It's almost like they make it hard to comprehend on purpose. So what I can gather is the strike was the result of a sequence of events set in motion when the train length more or less doubled. Since in the USA passenger rail, and commuter rail, and freight often share the same tracks this caused lots of problems and freight rail would have to wait for days to go anywhere because they wouldn't fit otherwise.

This exact derailment though doesn't seem related to the strike, the strike was because train engineers weren't given basically any time off once the train length more or less stuck them in the middle of nowhere for days on end.
I found this interesting but not sure how much was actually tied to the strike. You are right clear info isn’t easy to find.


If you’re not using it already- DuckDuckGo opens up the internet- for all topics.

If your don’t believe me, use the same search words on google and DDG and notice the drastic difference in results.

(You don’t get the “there are no more search results but do you want to look anyway” nonsense.
I guess I meant it’s difficult to find info that isn’t either clearly taking the corporate line or coming in with a strong agenda against the railroads.
 
I think if we're being exact here we should say that railroads and their usage are heavily regulated and the companies that use the railroads fight the regulations.

I still don't get how it's inherently political, though. It sounds more like a disaster story that might have political underpinnings.
I am not sure how I can talk about the President blocking a strike that had (along with many other elements) rail safety as a major complaint. Presidential involvement in labor disputes seems very political. With this story, talking about why it happened, who is to blame and what can be done to prevent it from happening again seems extremely essential.

Getting information on this stuff is wild. It's almost like they make it hard to comprehend on purpose. So what I can gather is the strike was the result of a sequence of events set in motion when the train length more or less doubled. Since in the USA passenger rail, and commuter rail, and freight often share the same tracks this caused lots of problems and freight rail would have to wait for days to go anywhere because they wouldn't fit otherwise.

This exact derailment though doesn't seem related to the strike, the strike was because train engineers weren't given basically any time off once the train length more or less stuck them in the middle of nowhere for days on end.
I found this interesting but not sure how much was actually tied to the strike. You are right clear info isn’t easy to find.


If you’re not using it already- DuckDuckGo opens up the internet- for all topics.

If your don’t believe me, use the same search words on google and DDG and notice the drastic difference in results.

(You don’t get the “there are no more search results but do you want to look anyway” nonsense.
I guess I meant it’s difficult to find info that isn’t either clearly taking the corporate line or coming in with a strong agenda against the railroads.

My comment was only related to helping you (and others) to get better search results.
 
Where is all that infrastructure money going?
"SHOVEL READY PROJECTS!!!"

One of my many pet peeves is politicians all, at some point, espouse the need for significant investment in infrastructure yet we can all look around and see the crumbling roads & bridges, the electrical grid held together with duct tape & tie wire, the antiquated rail system, etc and see for your own eyes that's it all a lie every time one of these gets pushed through. Rarely does it make it down to a level where you actually see progress. When you hear "infrastructure bill" it's an excuse to line some pockets. End of rant.

This won't be the last time an accident like this happens, hopefully it never happens in a populated area. I think about Columbia, SC that is crisscrossed with train tracks.. Something like this would have had a significant impact on that city and even that is a small population center.
 
This is just awful. Ancient rail system, can’t see balloons, roads and bridges are a disaster.

Where is all that infrastructure money going?
The one signed 3 months ago? Yeah, why isn't everything fixed now !!!!!!

The bill was signed November 15, 2001.

I am intimately knowledgeable on construction projects throughout North America and can say with confidence that most of that money will never be seen.

It’s a big club and you ain’t in it

-George Carlin.
 
Saw a video on this that was pretty alarming. Guy is/was an engineer and placed a ton of blame on the railroad industry. Said with the cuts they've made trying to improve the bottom line said trains are longer than ever nowadays. Explained the longer the train the more dangerous it is to operate. The front could be stopping while the rear is still accelerating. Said takes a ton of skill for engineers to run longer trains. Also was saying hazardous material should never been placed that far back of the train. Not sure how much truth there was in that but it made sense.
 
Saw a video on this that was pretty alarming. Guy is/was an engineer and placed a ton of blame on the railroad industry. Said with the cuts they've made trying to improve the bottom line said trains are longer than ever nowadays. Explained the longer the train the more dangerous it is to operate. The front could be stopping while the rear is still accelerating. Said takes a ton of skill for engineers to run longer trains. Also was saying hazardous material should never been placed that far back of the train. Not sure how much truth there was in that but it made sense.
I’m not sure if I read it here or on Reddit, but a company has security footage showing a fire under one of the rail cars miles and miles before it derailed. There are supposed to be detection systems along the tracks that catch that and notify the train, but they failed to do so.

I did also see on Reddit a report that over the last ~30 years the railroad industry in the US has averaged 5 derailments a DAY. Now, the definition is pretty broad and includes anytime a rail car’s wheel touches the ground, but 5 derailments a day every day seems not great.
 
I kept hearing train derailment East Palestine and thought Middle East until about yesterday
It cannot be good when there is immediate wildlife popping up dead left and right, if in fact those stories are true.
This seems like a terrible place to be living in right now and the people there are not safe if these stories coming out are true.
From an exposure stand point it might be too late for some of these people.
 
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This is just awful. Ancient rail system, can’t see balloons, roads and bridges are a disaster.

Where is all that infrastructure money going?
My guess. It is just going into corporate hands and propping up stock prices. I seem to remember somebody saying years ago to the affect of “if one regulation goes in, two have to come out.” This place voted for this deregulation. Sometimes you make a few bucks on your 401k, others your livestock dies a horrible painful death and your property becomes Chernobyl-lite.

Yay capitalism.
Yeah I feel like a lot of the corporate stimulus money just went to stock buy backs and shareholder profit, not infrastructure or workers.
 
Try it. Doesn’t have to be political. Just any random search will yield so many more results.
+1 for this, did it a few years back. Pick a topic, search the Googles and DDG, guaranteed you will have different results. The more controversial the topic, the bigger the gap in results. Quit using Google after that.
 
Try it. Doesn’t have to be political. Just any random search will yield so many more results

I tried it for “Ohio train derailment” and the results were essentially the same. :shrug:

Could be because it’s a pretty hot story but I’ve done enough comparisons that I primarily use DDG as my default search engine. I still use google for image searches as it seems to be a little better at that.

Google for sure leans left politically but I really do try and stay out of politics.
 
One guy who lives there is really angry about the whole thing. This is about a 2-minute NSFW video about it with footage of the sky during the chemical burnoffs. It's worth listening to until the end.

https://twitter.com/more_shower/status/1624937676292907008
I would be gone. Use your vacation time and go someplace else for a while.

Again, I'm not an alarmist about this stuff. I grew around all kinds of pesticides and herbicides and never lost a minute's sleep over it. There's no way it's safe to breath in that air. It seems like the whole town should have been evacuated and I would need a lot of convincing to change my mind.

Pretty disappointed Mayor Pete`s non-reaction and failure to address this until forced.

I was a Pete fan, but he seems to already been jaded by the big government speak.
 
I know someone whose family is not too far away from the site (5 miles or so). This apparently really is much worse than is being reported. Friends of this family came home to dead pets. This guy does work for DEP and EPA, and without anything specific, he just said this is much more extensive than is being lead on in the media.
 
Is this something that FEMA should be involved with? Or are they already?
Should be or is?

Should be...maybe. The town has 2,200 people in it, does that warrant FEMA involvement? I don't know
Is...need some government official to kick that off. I don't think they can just show up willy nilly where they please but I really don't know that either

So, in short, I've been zero help but I feel better about myself so we have that :thumbup: Honestly, the derailments I've been involved with have always been handled at the local level but I only had one that was on par with this and we were able to vent off the stuff before it got to this phase. EPA is there monitoring the situation and hopefully the clean up, at least the gross decontamination. They will/should test until they hit clean levels, whatever that is for OH and leave. Actually, it's probably not even EPA, it's probably local DNR or whoever handles spills. Whatever, they will scrape up the dirt to clean and move on. All the stuff in the river is gone and will be monitored but eventually dissipate down river and cease to be an issue. Anything after that will probably require lawyers hired by the locals. Erin Brockovich is schlepping around there now so there is probably already something in the works but once they hit clean dirt, the government involvement is pretty much over.
 
Is this something that FEMA should be involved with? Or are they already?
Should be or is?

Should be...maybe. The town has 2,200 people in it, does that warrant FEMA involvement? I don't know
Is...need some government official to kick that off. I don't think they can just show up willy nilly where they please but I really don't know that either

So, in short, I've been zero help but I feel better about myself so we have that :thumbup: Honestly, the derailments I've been involved with have always been handled at the local level but I only had one that was on par with this and we were able to vent off the stuff before it got to this phase. EPA is there monitoring the situation and hopefully the clean up, at least the gross decontamination. They will/should test until they hit clean levels, whatever that is for OH and leave. Actually, it's probably not even EPA, it's probably local DNR or whoever handles spills. Whatever, they will scrape up the dirt to clean and move on. All the stuff in the river is gone and will be monitored but eventually dissipate down river and cease to be an issue. Anything after that will probably require lawyers hired by the locals. Erin Brockovich is schlepping around there now so there is probably already something in the works but once they hit clean dirt, the government involvement is pretty much over.
This is a very helpful post actually. Contains more info more succinctly than I've seen basically anywhere else.
 
Pretty disappointed Mayor Pete`s non-reaction and failure to address this until forced.

I was a Pete fan, but he seems to already been jaded by the big government speak.
Ohio Gov. DeWine (R): President Biden called me and said ‘we will give you anything you need.’ I have not called him back.

Also, has Dewine declared a state of emergency? I don't think FEMA or any feds can do much of anything until requested by Dewine. States rights and all you know
 

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