Buttigieg says better freight railroad safety is needed
OMAHA, Neb. — Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg wants the nation’s freight railroads to immediately act to improve safety while regulators try to strengthen safety rules in the wake of a fiery train derailment in Ohio that forced evacuations when toxic chemicals were released and burned.
Buttigieg announced a package of reforms Tuesday — two days after he warned the railroad responsible for the derailment, Norfolk Southern, to fulfill its promises to clean up the mess just outside East Palestine, Ohio, and help the town recover. He said the Department of Transportation will hold the railroad accountable for any safety violations that contributed to the Feb. 3 crash near the Pennsylvania border.
“While ensuring the safety of those impacted by this crash is the immediate priority, we also have to recognize that this represents an important moment to redouble our efforts to make this far less likely to happen again in the future,” Buttigieg said.
Even though government data shows that derailments have declined in recent years, there were still 1,049 of them last year.
Meanwhile, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency planned to return to the town of 4,700 along with the governors of Ohio and Pennsylvania on Tuesday to discuss the efforts to keep people safe.
Federal environmental regulators also took charge of the cleanup from the derailment and chemical burn and ordered Norfolk
Southern to foot the bill as officials opened a medical clinic staffed by contamination experts to evaluate residents’ complaints.
State and federal officials have reiterated that their testing of air and water samples in the area doesn’t show dangerous levels of any toxins, but some people have been complaining about constant headaches and irritated eyes as they worry about returning to their homes.
Buttigieg said railroads and tank car owners should take action themselves to accelerate their plan to upgrade the tank cars that haul flammable liquids like crude oil and ethanol by 2025, instead of waiting to comply with the 2029 standard Congress ultimately approved after regulators suggested the earlier deadline.
He also wants railroads to stop asking for waivers from inspection requirements every time they develop new technology to improve inspections, because he said the technology should supplement but not replace human inspections.
Railroad unions have also been raising concerns that car inspections are being rushed and preventative maintenance may be getting neglected after widespread job cuts in the industry in recent years that they say have made railroads riskier.
Buttigieg said regulators will be looking at whether they can revive a proposed rule the Trump administration dropped that would have required upgraded, electronically-controlled brakes on certain trains filled with flammable liquids that are designated “high-hazardous flammable trains.”