East Palestine
Priorities for rail safety bill debated in U.S. Senate hearing with Norfolk Southern CEO
Members of a U.S. Senate committee on Wednesday previewed what they would push for in bipartisan rail safety legislation likely to progress through Congress in the aftermath of the East Palestine, Ohio, derailment. Democrats and Republicans on the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hinted they wanted to strengthen requirements about reporting hazardous cargo, […]
Ohioans in the U.S. House and Senate have introduced rail safety bills, how do they differ?
Ohio’s congressional delegation was quick to promise legislative action in the wake of the East Palestine train derailment. Now, lawmakers have introduced bipartisan measures in both chambers of Congress. In a moment of divided government and fever-pitch partisanship, it’s notable lawmakers from both parties came together to propose substantive policy changes. However, proponents could still […]
U.S. Senate leader calls for safety audit into all major railroads after Ohio derailment
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called Wednesday for the federal authority responsible for determining the causes of transportation casualties to investigate the safety culture at all major North American freight railroads. Following the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern derailment that caused a toxic chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio, Schumer, a New York Democrat, said […]
Ohio Attorney General Yost sues Norfolk Southern over East Palestine train derailment
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed a 58-count civil lawsuit in federal court Tuesday seeking to hold Norfolk Southern financially responsible for the Feb. 3 train derailment in East Palestine that caused the release of over 1 million gallons of hazardous chemicals, “recklessly endangering” both the health of area residents and Ohio’s natural resources, a news […]
Norfolk Southern CEO apologizes for Ohio crash, but won’t back bipartisan rail safety bill
The CEO of Norfolk Southern, the railroad operating the train that last month derailed and spilled toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio, apologized for the derailment at a U.S. Senate hearing Thursday, but declined solicitations to endorse a bipartisan rail safety bill. Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw opened his testimony to the Senate Environment and […]
Opportunists exploiting East Palestine’s suffering population with politics and race-baiting
Poor East Palestine. It’s bad enough that the northeast Ohio village is living through the nightmare of a toxic train wreck. Apprehension and uncertainty grip the town. Nobody knows what the long-term health effects of air and water contamination will be after the controlled burning of cancer-causing chemicals from derailed tanker cars. Official reassurances that […]
What Norfolk Southern’s accident reports say about the company and industry
Last October in Sandusky, a Norfolk Southern train derailed 21 cars and spilled 10,000 gallons of paraffin wax. In 2020, a Norfolk Southern conductor tried to pull out of a Rossville, Tennessee train yard while one car was still connected to an unloading tower. The accident released about 500 gallons of maelic anhydride — an […]
Railroad workers warned us: Greed is dangerous
The toxic clouds that billowed up from a derailed freight train in Ohio this February are a chilling metaphor for the toxic greed that has infected so many of our big corporations. After having to evacuate, residents of East Palestine, Ohio are cautiously going back home, but they still don’t know the full extent of […]
ODNR Chief: Signs of life now present in waters near train derailment after 40,000+ fish killed
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources said Thursday they are encouraged by the signs of life reemerging in waterways near the East Palestine chemical spill, even after further observations showed more than 40,000 fish lost as a result of the spill. ODNR Director Mary Mertz said the department found 43,785 fish were lost, though less […]
A Norfolk Southern policy lets officials order crews to ignore safety alerts
This story was originally published by ProPublica. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. Norfolk Southern allows a monitoring team to instruct crews to ignore alerts from train track sensors designed to flag potential mechanical problems. ProPublica learned of […]
Pa.’s Shapiro blasts Norfolk Southern for ‘arrogance and incompetence’ in train derailment
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio – Freight hauler Norfolk Southern showed “arrogance and incompetence” in how it handled a fiery train derailment near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border earlier this month, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Tuesday. “The combination of greed, incompetence and lack of concern for our residents is absolutely unacceptable to me,” Shapiro said during a news […]
State Fire Marshal: First responders likely didn’t know hazardous substances were burning
The following article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland. When the call came in about a train derailment, first responders rushed to […]