Cargo onboard the derailed Norfolk Southern train in East Palestine wasn’t classified as “hazardous,” but clearly it was.

Trains hauling cargo designated as “high hazardous” require notice to Ohio’s office of Homeland Security and Department of Public Safety.

So why was this derailed train that ignited rail cars full of toxic carcinogens not classified this way?

Dan Tierney, spokesman for Gov. Mike DeWine, last week told me it simply was because not enough cars were hauling hazardous chemicals. The train did not have a high enough percentage of its freight cars containing hazardous chemicals.

Tell that to the people in East Palestine.

Tierney added that the governor thinks it’s absurd a train with at least 10 hazardous chemical tanker cars, including five with vinyl chloride, could not be a “high hazard” requiring notice to the state. He wants Congress to tighten the standard.

On that point, the governor and I concur.

This is just one of many, many questions arising out of the Feb. 3 derailment that left thousands of residents fearing for their health, their water and air, and their property values.

We know now the train was hauling toxic chemicals including vinyl chloride, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate, isobutylene and butyl acrylate. David Skolnick’s article in today’s newspaper outlines exactly what these chemicals are used for and dangers they pose.

Firefighters and first responders reacted quickly the night of Feb. 3 with little regard for their own safety, immediately jumping in to attempt to extinguish fires erupting in the twisted wreckage. They knew little about what they were battling and, in fact, that information didn’t come to light until the next day, when it became public that several of the cars contained vinyl chloride.

Days later, experts decided it was best to release the chemical into the atmosphere to head off a possible explosion from pressure rising in the still-burning tankers.

The resulting dark plume and pungent odors could be seen and smelled from miles away. Photos posted to social media, supposedly taken from airplanes passing over East Palestine at the time, show the billowing black smoke rising above the puffy white clouds, eerily resembling a mushroom cloud given off by exploding bombs.

It wasn’t until an entire week later, when our reporter Ed Runyan examined a letter the U.S. EPA sent to Norfolk Southern, were the names of all the other chemicals on board released.

And exactly who was overseeing these 150 rail cars, including several with dangerous chemicals? Norfolk Southern had three — yes, three — workers onboard, according to a letter sent by U.S. Sens. J.D. Vance of Ohio and Marco Rubio of Florida to U.S. Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg.

“The freight train had a three-member crew overseeing the entirety of its 150 cars: a locomotive engineer, a conductor, and a conductor trainee,” the senators wrote. “It is not unreasonable to ask whether a crew of two rail workers, plus one trainee, is able to effectively monitor 150 cars.”

Indeed, it is not.

Now, two weeks later, politicians are showing up and demanding answers.

Last week, both Ohio U.S. senators arrived on site, as did the top U.S. EPA official. Local Congressman Bill Johnson has been there a couple of times since the crisis began, as has Ohio Sen. Mike Rulli. Of course, DeWine has been here a few times, as well.

Other elected state officials have sent letters and press releases.

Buttigieg has been notably missing from the site, and in an interview last week he pointed fingers at the Trump administration for loosening regulations on the rail industry.

Now, Fox News reports that former President Donald Trump, running again for election, is planning a trip to the village.

I fear this whole mess is going to keep devolving into dog-and-pony shows, particularly as campaign season heats up.

The fact is, residents of East Palestine and surrounding communities don’t need political rhetoric. They don’t need finger pointing. And God knows they don’t need campaign stops.

What they need are fast answers and solid assurances that Norfolk Southern will dedicate needed resources to this cleanup, no matter what the cost. And all Americans need regulations ensuring this type of horrible situation never happens again.