THE EAST PALESTINE DERAILMENT: A STORY OF GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION AND INACTION On the evening of February 3, 2023, residents situated around the Ohio-Pennsylvania border were settled in for a typical chilly Winter night, completely unaware that their lives and surroundings would be changed permanently in a matter of minutes. On that evening, in the small town of East Palestine, Ohio, only several miles from the Pennsylvania border, a 150-car Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in spectacular fashion. Residents of East Palestine who live near the train tracks have described the event as “seeming like a terrorist attack,” filling the skies with enormous fireballs and turning a peaceful February evening into a cacophony of twisted metal and distressing explosions. And just like that, thousands of innocent people became subject to perhaps the greatest environmental disaster within American borders in decades. Families who had settled in one community for 50-plus years were suddenly faced with the decision of evacuating their homes or risk staying and possibly facing prolonged toxic chemical exposure. Then, on February 6, a “controlled chemical burn” was performed on the site of the derailment, allowing Norfolk Southern to clear the tracks and resume scheduled rail operations. However, the controlled burn wildly compounded the problem, releasing massive amounts of the toxic chemical vinyl chloride into the air, where it eventually will come back down and settle into the soil and water, an enormous source of concern for residents in the area. A fairly sizeable region of the country has now been rendered a toxic wasteland, and there doesn’t seem to be any recourse for those affected or any punishment for those responsible. It’s a tale that’s sadly growing painfully familiar in modern America, just substitute out the names, industry, and circumstance. The intensity and frequency of malfeasance by corporate actors only increases every year, but it often feels like these cataclysmic events can only be addressed with a whimper. The government, which in theory exists to put a check on powerful corporate actors, has become so thoroughly co-opted that it now essentially acts as the counsel to corporations, helping them dodge any potentially nasty repercussions. The Norfolk Southern train derailment is so stunning because we see it in such naked terms: the inability to help people even in the slightest whose lives have been ruined through no fault of their own. Norfolk Southern has taken a series of steps in recent years to essentially ensure something like the catastrophic derailment in Ohio would happen in the near future. If one looks at it cynically, it seems like derailments are built into their business plan as they have calculated that dealing with derailments is less expensive than updating its infrastructure. In a 2021 Associated Press article, derailments like the one in East Palestine were foreshadowed. As the article details, “Even as railroads are operating longer and longer freight trains that sometimes stretch for miles, the companies have drastically reduced staffing levels, prompting unions to warn that moves meant to increase profits could endanger safety and even result in disasters. More than 22% of the jobs at railroads Union Pacific, CSX and Norfolk Southern have been eliminated since 2017 when CSX implemented a cost-cutting system called Precision Scheduled Railroading that most other U.S. railroads later copied. BNSF, the largest U.S. railroad and the only one that hasn’t expressly adopted that model, has still made staff cuts to improve efficiency and remain competitive. The railroads acknowledge they have cut staff, lengthened trains, and made other adjustments to reduce spending, but they are adamant none of the changes increase dangers. Regulators at the Federal Railroad Administration say they are tracking the changes and that the data so far does not show the new operating model is unsafe. But unions counter that with the stakes so high any time a train derails, the new system is risky.” By Mark Anderson, NMBA Legal and Legislative Assistant 22
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTg3NDExNQ==