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“Hundreds of irate residents of the Ohio town where a train derailed and spilled toxic chemicals packed into a high school gym on Wednesday, seeking answers to what health dangers they face…
“The Norfolk Southern Railroad-operated train's derailment caused a fire that sent a cloud of smoke over East Palestine. Thousands of residents were forced to evacuate. After railroad crews drained and burned off a toxic chemical from five tanker cars, residents were allowed to return to their homes on Feb. 8…
“Much remains unknown of the dangers posed to residents by the toxins that spilled, experts said. Many in the area have complained of headaches and irritated eyes, and noted that chickens, fish and other wildlife have died off. Despite that, state health officials have insisted to residents that East Palestine is a safe place to be.” Reuters
Many on both sides criticize the federal response to the incident:
“The question, of course, is what kind of effect these chemicals can have on humans if they’re causing sudden illnesses, burns, and even paralysis in animals. But don’t bother trying to get an answer from government officials at either the local or federal level or you might find yourself charged with trespassing and resisting arrest, as NewsNation reporter Evan Lambert was after he concluded a live report from a press conference on the government’s cleanup efforts last week. (The charges against Lambert have since been dropped.)…
“We’re dealing with what could be one of the worst environmental disasters in decades. Yet the EPA has denied that residents have reason to be concerned about their drinking water or that the gases in the air could cause problems beyond making the nearby area smell bad… Meanwhile, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg waited 10 days even to address the matter.”
Kaylee McGhee White, Washington Examiner
“The federal government could have paid for medical treatment for those affected and their pets, rather than leaving them on the hook for large medical bills or forcing them to put beloved animals to sleep. It could have organized emergency workers to collect, clean, and transport people’s property, so residents are not forced into the danger of having to return and get that property themselves…
“It could reinstate Obama-era railroad regulations and move to beef up safety in the industry so something like this doesn’t happen again. It could send the president to an evacuation zone to reassure scared, confused locals and give them a shoulder to cry on, something we’re told over and over is one of the president’s strengths. I just came up with this list off the top of my head. Imagine what an entire bureaucracy of federal workers well versed in emergency response could come up with.”
Branko Marcetic, Jacobin
Other opinions below.
“Train derailment is not just a problem in East Palestine, Ohio… Newsweek has confirmed a dozen train derailments already this year, and it cited Bureau of Transportation Statistics data showing that ‘54,539 train derailments occurred in the U.S. from 1990 to 2021, an average of 1,704 per year.’…
“[Formerly] the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Buttigieg had no particular experience solving transportation problems. In fact, the track record he did have was poor to failing. During his watch, the city’s pothole problem grew so notorious that Domino’s Pizza offered to pay the city to fix the potholes so its delivery drivers would have smoother routes…
“It would be unfair to hold Buttigieg entirely responsible for every transportation crisis that has arisen on his watch. But he can and should be held responsible for the manner in which he has dealt with them—or not.”
Joshua Arnold, Daily Signal
“If it seems like Buttigieg is a bit slow to address safety issues that actually matter to the average American — such as the hazardous train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio — it’s because he is… On Monday, Buttigieg made it a point to address the racial makeup of construction workers before even addressing the situation in East Palestine… What does it matter if the person wielding a jackhammer is black, brown, yellow, or white? It doesn’t. What should matter is that he has the competency to not hurt himself, his coworkers, or the public…
“Equity is one of the Department of Transportation’s four main priorities according to the website: Climate and Sustainability, Equity, Safety, and Transformation… [Meanwhile] the Department’s ‘Safety First’ website still touts the goals of Secretary Elaine Chao, who was running the show for former President Donald Trump… [It] hasn’t been updated since May 2020.”
Tim Meads, Daily Wire
“In 2014, following a series of derailments and explosions, the Obama administration weighed new rules for trains carrying hazardous materials. But after caving to mounting pressure from major railroads, ‘the final measure ended up narrowly focused on the transport of crude oil and exempting trains carrying many other combustible materials, including the chemical involved in this weekend’s disaster,’ The Lever reports…
“One of the new rules that made it through was the use of new brakes by 2021. Known as modern electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) braking systems, these brakes stop trains faster than the Civil War-era braking systems that the railroad industry currently uses. Specifically, ECP brakes ‘decrease the chances of a catastrophic pileup, reduce the number of punctured cars in an accident, [and] allow train operators to stop faster if there was an obstacle on the tracks.’… In 2017, industry groups succeeded in encouraging the Trump administration to repeal the ECP brake rule.”
Judd Legum and Tesnim Zekeria, Popular Information
“The labor dispute that almost created a rail strike last fall was not about pay… Rather, it was about working conditions… Management was insistent that rail workers not be granted the minimally decent benefit of sick days because that would require them to hire more people, and the big ‘Class I’ carriers are all about getting rid of workers, not hiring more…
“Work crews have shrunk over the past three decades from a minimum of six people to a minimum of four to a minimum of two, even as the trains have gotten longer… We don’t know a lot about what caused the February 3 derailment… But what we do know raises suspicions about whether a sufficient number of human beings was paying attention to those 141 freight cars.”
Timothy Noah, New Republic
