USA TODAY International Edition
CEO sidesteps responsibility for Ohio derailment
NTSB chair tells Senate panel of possible shifts
The chair of the National Transportation Safety Board urged U. S. lawmakers Wednesday to improve safety measures on freight trains – in light of Norfolk Southern’s train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, last month.
“The bottom line is there are no accidents,” said NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy. “This derailment, as all accidents we investigate, was 100% preventable.”
Homendy suggested broadening the definition of a high- hazard flammable train, phasing out less protective tank cars, ensuring communities know what’s moving through their towns and requiring railroads to set up crash recording equipment that can capture at least 12 hours of data.
She spoke at a U. S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing just days after Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael S. Regan said he believed Norfolk Southern should be moving faster to remove contaminated soil from East Palestine – and that, at the current rate, the site would take roughly three months to clean up.
The derailment near the rural town of 4,700 people along the Ohio- Pennsylvania border resulted in massive black plumes of smoke and concerns about air, water and soil quality. Five of the derailed cars contained the highly toxic carcinogen, vinyl chloride, which Norfolk Southern officials released and burned off to prevent an explosion.
Ohio’s Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown and Republican Sen. J. D. Vance have introduced a bill that aims to prevent train future train derailments by improving rail safety, especially for cars carrying hazardous materials.
Brown said Atlanta- based Norfolk Southern had 579 violations in cases that have been closed and paid an average fine of less than $ 3,300 in the most recent fiscal year available.
“The company, keep in mind, planned to spend $ 3.4 billion on stock buybacks, and they already did that and even more, right before, and they were about to do it again when the train derailed,” Brown said. “It’s now a cost of doing business, the fines – it really is a rounding error.”
Only 20 minutes of crash recording data preserved
The locomotive involved in the Feb. 3 derailment was equipped with an inward- facing camera, but because it was immediately put back into service, the data was overwritten, Homendy said. “That means the recorder only provided about 15 minutes of data before the derailment and five minutes after.”
Homendy noted that Amtrak and commuter railroads are required to maintain crash, and fire- hardy, inwardand outward- facing image recorders in all locomotives that can record for a minimum of 12 hours nonstop. Such information is crucial for investigators, she said.
CEO sidesteps responsibility
Under pressure from lawmakers, Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw was unwilling to commit to suspending stock buybacks, noting that “buybacks never come at the expense of safety.” Shaw also was unwilling to support a legislative requirement for two- person crews on all freight trains.
While Shaw acknowledged that the accident was preventable, under questioning Shaw declined to say that it was Norfolk Southern’s responsibility to prevent it.
“I’m taking responsibility to enhance safety throughout the entire industry,” Shaw said. “I think about safety each and every day.”
EPA orders states to accept waste
So far, the EPA said more than 6,801 tons of contaminated soil and 7.4 million gallons of liquid wastewater have been transported out of East Palestine to designated waste facilities.
Regan said the agency sent Shaw a letter Monday telling Norfolk Southern it’s expected to find appropriate disposal facilities and, as necessary, take legal action to enforce contracts with waste disposal companies or to gain access to EPA disposal facilities. Otherwise, Regan said, the company may face civil penalties and potential legal action.
Regan said states including Oklahoma have turned away or impeded waste shipments from East Palestine. The agency has alerted states of their legal obligations and notified every state environmental regulator that the shipments cannot be unilaterally stopped.
Dozens of lawsuits
This month, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said the state would sue Norfolk Southern for the derailment and to force the company to pay for costs incurred by the state, including emergency response, economic damage and harm to natural resources.
The lawsuit cites 58 violations of federal and state environmental laws and Ohio Common Law.
The railroad operator faces roughly two dozen lawsuits filed by residents and businesses.
Senators push for rail safety bill
The bipartisan bill introduced by Brown and Vance addresses, in part, a request by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine that Congress examine how trains are classified when transporting dangerous chemicals through states. The Norfolk Southern train that derailed was not considered a high- hazard flammable train because it didn’t meet a technical definition requiring a certain number of railcars carrying such cargo, so the company didn’t need to notify state regulators about its passage.
Shaw noted that there are many components of the bill that the company fully supports and the rail industry has been advocating and pushing for stronger tank car standards for the last eight years.
The bill, as introduced, also would:
● Require trains carrying hazardous materials to give advance notice to states, even if they aren’t high- hazardous flammable trains.
● Require trains carrying hazmat cargo to be scanned by hot- bearing detectors every 10 miles.
● Update inspection rules to ensure they are conducted by qualified railcar inspectors at regular intervals.
● Require two- person crews.
● Increase the maximum fine for rail carriers that break the rules to 1% of their annual operating income, instead of $ 225,000.
● Increase HAZMAT registration fees paid by railroads to fund grants for emergency response training.