In Ohio, after a train carrying chemicals crashed, residents began to complain of symptoms of poisoning.
On February 3, a train carrying chemicals crashed near the small town of East Palestine, with a population of about 5 thousand people, in Ohio, 40 miles from Pittsburgh. Of the 150 cars owned by Norfolk Southern, 38 left the tracks and some of them caught fire. Five of them were carrying vinyl chloride, an industrial chemical used to make plastic. If it gets into water or air, it can cause various types of cancer. Initially, the tanks with the chemicals survived the crash and did not leak, but Norfolk Southern employees decided that due to the fire they might explode, so they simply dumped the vinyl chloride right on the city territory, and then set it on fire, which caused a plume of black toxic smoke to rise up. , containing hydrogen chloride and phosgene, which was visible even from passing passenger planes.
Ohio Republican Governor Mike DeWine began evacuating residents of the area (and parts of neighboring Pennsylvania), but assured that within 3 days the air would be clear enough. Local residents, of course, did not believe him and began to complain about physical symptoms of poisoning, mass death of animals and chemicals getting into the waters. An EPA report confirmed that numerous toxic chemicals had leaked into the soil and water. It is completely incomprehensible why the cleaning of chemicals was essentially outsourced to the culprit of the accident. The meeting of local residents with company representatives ended before it began, because the latter simply did not come, citing threats to their safety. In return, the company offered a ridiculous compensation of $25.
Many Norfolk Southern workers told reporters that the company has always prioritized speed of freight delivery over safety, so it has for years cut costs and time on inspections (no more than 90 seconds per car) and safety procedures, and workers have been encouraged not to report problems, or simply ignored when they did talk about it. In one of the presentations to employees, managers said that speed should come first, followed by train speed and reducing downtime at the depot. After this, the humorous slogan “Safety comes fourth” appeared.
Personnel were actively reduced, and the number of cars in the trains, on the contrary, was increased. And this applied not only to the company as a whole, but also to the ill-fated train 32N, which crashed in Ohio. Workers nicknamed it the “Ugly 32” because of its numerous malfunctions, difficulties in handling and lack of an electronic brake system. The train itself is almost two miles long, but the problem is that 40% of its weight was in the rear third, although it is usually done the other way around. According to the video, the axle of the cars began to burn about 20 miles before the train crash and special detectors should have alerted the drivers about this.
In addition to Norfolk Southern and the Ohio authorities, the Biden administration, which did not declare a state of emergency and did not carry out a coordinated evacuation, provide medical care and all the necessary residents of the areas affected by the accident, also deservedly suffered. And this is not to mention the tightening of regulation of railway cargo transportation.
Residents plan to sue Norfolk Southern to demand free medical screenings. By the way, the Supreme Court is now considering the company’s request to limit the possibility of bringing it to trial and, surprisingly, the Biden administration supports it in this.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said he will push Congress to increase maximum fines against companies that cause crashes. It now stands at $225, and over the past year Norfolk Southern made a profit of $12,7 billion.
During the Obama administration, regulators passed new rules that tightened requirements for trains to have electronic brakes and minimum equipment requirements for trains. But the first rule was eventually repealed after pressure from trucking lobbyists, and the second was rescinded by the Trump administration.
Author: Yan Veselov
