Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are demanding answers from the federal government over the response to the derailment of a train transporting dangerous chemicals in Ohio.
Republican Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and J.D. Vance of Ohio sent a letter to the Department of Transportation Wednesday calling for information over its oversight of the U.S. freight train system, while lobbing criticism over how Norfolk Southern was allowed to operate a train of some 150 cars with only three employees.
In the letter, addressed to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, that pair said they have concerns over the industry’s precision-scheduled railroading that permits companies to reduce costs by using fewer workers to transport more freight, as well as the administration of President Joe Biden’s “prioritizing of efficiency over resilience in its national infrastructure and transportation systems.”
Buttigieg has responded to criticism over the derailment by attempting to divert at least some of it to the former Trump administration, stating the Biden administration is “constrained by law on some areas of rail regulation,” referring to rollbacks committed under the previous White House, specifically pointing to the withdrawal of requiring electronically controlled pneumatic brakes on trains carrying flammable liquids.
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The Norfolk Southern Railway freight train transporting chemicals, including vinyl chloride, derailed Feb. 3 in the the Ohio city of East Palestine, located along the Pennsylvania border, and a controlled release of the hazardous material was performed last week to prevent rail cars from exploding.
Vance also joined Democratic Sens. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Bob Casey and Jon Fetterman, both of Pennsylvania, in calling on the National Transportation Safety Board to raise concerns over weak requirements on so-called high-hazard flammable trains, axle and railcar inspections, electronically controlled pneumatic brakes and railroad practices.
“NTSB must independently assess all factors and causes that may have contributed to this derailment, and the board can identify safety recommendations that might prevent similar derailments,” the bipartisan Senators said in a letter to Jennifer Homendy, chair of the NTSB.
The letter was sent a day after the NTSB announced that investigators believe the derailment may have been caused by a wheel bearing on a single car overheating and then completely failing.
In the update, officials said the wheelset has been collected as evidence and is undergoing examination.
It also clarified that of the 150 or so cars of the train 38 had derailed with another 12 damaged by the ensuing fire. There were also a total of 20 hazardous material cars, 11 of which derailed.
A list of the materials that were in the cars states five contained vinyl chloride, a highly flammable chemical that is associated with an increased risk of several cancers.
The four senators on Wednesday sent another letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan over fears of the hazardous materials released from the trains into the air last week, forcing officials to establish a since-rescinded evacuation zone.
“No American family should be forced to face the horror of fleeing their homes because hazardous materials have spilled or caught fire in their community,” they told Regan. “We ask that EPA uses its existing authorities … to ensure Norfolk Souther pays for the clean-up of these hazardous materials, as well as compensates residents and affected businesses as required.
“Additionally, we ask that EPA continue monitoring the land, air and water in East Palestine, Darlington Township and impacted communities until the long-term effects of the exposure are fully understood.”
Vance individually on Wednesday also sent a letter to Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw requesting to expand the criteria for reimbursement to all residents of East Palestine, and not just those within the 1-mile evacuation zone.
“They are all affected. They should be reimbursed,” he said. “I would strongly assert, however, that these checks should not and do not release the railroad from any liability it has incurred as a result of this disaster.”
Norfolk Southern announced Wednesday that it has distributed more than $1 million to families in East Palestine to cover the cost of the evacuation, which included cash lodging, travel, food, clothes and other items. It has also contacted 30 local businesses affected by the derailment.
Gov. Mike DeWine also announced that new water testing for the city’s municipal water system shows no detection of contaminates, tweeting that the Ohio EPA “is confident that the municipal water is safe to drink.”
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it sickens me to even look at this abomination
Name one person biden nominated to ‘lead’ something, that is NOT an abomination!
Buttigieg and the Democrat Whitehouse are to the handling of the Ohio environmental train disaster, what Gorbachev and the coverup Russian Communist party were to the Radioactive exploding Chernobyl disaster, which happened over a three day outdoor celebrating Ukrainian holiday celebration of unwarned people breathing in the radioactive poisons that people as far as 80 miles downwind in Kiev still suffer from today in cancerous thyroids, damaged female organs, and social anxiety. Nobody, like Biden today, said anything to the Ukrainian people for a week. The government apparatchiks of establishment were more concerned with protecting the interests of the party and the government than the people they were elevated into office to protect. Coverups cost people plenty then, and even years later, just like this mishandled botched Biden government response where silence is golden, and pretending things are OK now, will be revealed to be actually quite deadly later when the delayed medical effects start popping out faster then the political pimples now rapidly rising upon the incompetent cratered face of a despicable democrat run Whitehouse. You can bet the farm that some government agency inspector was bribed to look the other way to allow those toxic materials in that quantity to ride the rails, which is how the entire democrat run cities like Chicago have operated for years, now reflected in similar Biden Whitehouse.
The CDC and EPA said the same about the 9/11 survivors, or the Water at Camp Lejune.. ETC..
NOW LOOK AT ALL THE LAWSUITS!
Bootygiggles is as much a fraud as the entire “Federal Government”!! How about someone seriously studying the Netflix movie “White Noise” as precursor/announcement of the Ohio planned disaster!?!?
First off, I think it’s rather cynical to suggest what happened in Ohio was planned. Most accidents involve a confluence of multiple failures, and more often than not human error is somewhere in the mix.
Second, we know Bootygiggles wasn’t hired because he knows jack S about transportation, but solely because he’s gay. Ask him to plan a government party, or a government-sponsored drag queen story hour, he’s qualified for that, to be sure, but dealing with trains, planes, and automobiles, not at all.
Thirdly, Bootygiggles blaming Trump for the accident is silly on its face. True, the Trump admin got rid of the requirement for electronically-controlled pneumatic braking systems, but, as of yet, we don’t know if having them would’ve necessarily prevented this disaster. Perhaps it would have, but we just don’t know.
Fourth, if people aren’t following the rules already on the books, that’s on the companies and/or government agencies tasked with compliance with established regulations. Sadly, our ruling class will just make more rules, rather than enforcing the ones already there.
Finally, both parties are guilty of neglecting our vital infrastructure. Perhaps an infrastructure bill should deal strictly with infrastructure, not some nebulous woke agenda.
SINCE there was a massive influx of money, a good 10 or so years back, FOR THE RAIL AGENCIES TO UPGRADE their stuff.. WHY ARE we seeing MORE accidents now, than before?
DID THEY NOT UPGRADE ****> IF so, where then did the money go!/