EPA Secretary Michael S. Regan spoke to CNN on Thursday: “It’s All in our Best to Keep You Responsible” for the East Palestine Train Derailment
The leader of the US Environmental Protection Agency traveled to East Palestine, Ohio, on Thursday, and said that the agency would hold the train company Norfolk Southern accountable for their part in the train carrying hazardous chemicals.
Speaking to CNN’s Jason Carroll Thursday morning, EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said the agency has full authority to use its enforcement capabilities over the crisis.
The company will be responsible for the clean up after they sign the notice of accountability, Regan said. As this investigation continues, and new facts arise, I will use the full authority of this agency, and the federal government in order to ensure that this company is held accountable.
The interview comes nearly two weeks after a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine, a town of under 5,000 people along the Ohio-Pennsylvania border. The air and water were deemed safe for people to return about five days after the wreck, after local and state officials declared the air and water safe.
State officials have repeatedly said water from the municipal system – which is pulled from five deep wells covered by solid steel casing – is safe to drink. The EPA encouraged people who use private wells to get water tested, the governor’s office said.
Officials estimated that thousands of fish were killed by the chemical tainting of the streams and rivers, fueling residents concerns about water and air safety.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/16/us/ohio-train-derailment-east-palestine-thursday/index.html
The Ohio River is Safe: Environmental Response to a Heavy Ion Collision During the Second High-Energy Heavy-Ion Collisions
Hundreds of East Palestine residents attended a town hall Wednesday night to express their frustrations and mounting distrust. The train operator was supposed to attend the event, but later withdrew due to safety concerns.
The town was visited by Regan Thursday where he observed some of the work being done after the train wreck. The EPA was prepared to partner and provide necessary resources for the scene, despite the state having primary responsibility.
“I want the community to know that we hear you, we see you, and that we will get to the bottom of this,” Regan said. “We are testing for all volatile organic chemicals, we’re testing for everything. We’re testing for everything that was on that train. So we feel comfortable that we are casting a net wide enough to present a picture that will protect the community.”
Mike DeWine requested that the CDC immediately send medical experts to East Palestine to evaluate and counsel members with questions about their health.
In case of a disaster, emergency response teams have plans in place to avoid the release of harmful materials into local waterways when the storms hit, DeWine said in a statement.
The governor said a chemical plume of butyl acrylate in the Ohio River is currently located near Gallipolis, Ohio, and will be near Huntington, West Virginia, sometime tomorrow. The CDC considers the chemical to be hazardous, but the test results indicate it is currently below that level. Agencies will continue sampling the river water out of an abundance of caution as no vinyl Chloride has been detected in the Ohio River.
The Ohio Department of Agriculture’s assured that its food supply is safe and that the risk to livestock is low, according to DeWine.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/16/us/ohio-train-derailment-east-palestine-thursday/index.html
The East Palestine Train Derailment Commission – How Safe is Your Community? Lenny Glavan, J.P. Conaway, John C. Glasmund, Lyman Edwards, D. Pearce, David
Isn’t it alright to still be here? Are my kids safe? The people should be safe. Is the future of this community safe?” East Palestine resident Lenny Glavan told reporters at the meeting. We are all aware of the seriousness of that question and what is at stake. Some people think they are downplaying; some people don’t think so – let’s find out.”
Further spurring residents’ questions about safety were crews’ decision to conduct controlled detonations February 6 of some of the tanks that were carrying toxic chemicals, including vinyl chloride that has the potential to kill at high levels and increase cancer risk.
“I need help,” Conaway told reporters Wednesday night. I have the village behind me and I will do my best to make this right. I am not leaving and I am not going anywhere.
The representatives of the train’s operator will be at the meeting on Wednesday to tell residents how they are responding to the crisis. But the company was forced to back out due to threats to its employees.
The company said in a release that it was becoming increasingly concerned about the growing physical threat to employees and members of the community because of the increasing likelihood of outside parties.
The company’s absence from the meeting was a slap in the face, according to a man who lives less than half a mile from where the train derailed.
Velez and his family are staying in rentals away from the town. He had previously told CNN that when he visited the town, a chemical odor gave him headaches and left him burning his eyes and throat.
“Most people did not want to go home, but they had to. He said that all the people who went home were complaining of smells, headaches, nausea, and other symptoms. “I have gone back a few times, and the smell does make you sick. It hurts your head.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/16/us/ohio-train-derailment-east-palestine-thursday/index.html
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg: “We need to take care of the public interest” after the deadly sinking of a freight train into flames
“I was extremely disappointed that they didn’t show up at the town hall meeting last night. The public deserves transparency,” he said. The public requires the most up to date information. It’s our job to hold this company accountable, and I promise you we will.
Speaking to CNN, Cozza claimed that the railroad company said it was okay for her to return home after the air testing. However, she insisted the railroad company run soil and water tests, and only then did a toxicologist deem her house unsafe.
Had I not said that, I would be sitting in that house now, when the people there tell me that it’s safe.
The wreck of a freight train that derailed and exploded into flames near East Palestine, Ohio, has caused environmental and health concerns, and transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg is taking steps to impose stronger regulations on trains carrying toxic chemicals.
He’s also calling on Congress to “untie” the agency’s hands in regards to legislation that weakened the Department of Transportation’s ability to enforce certain safety and accountability rules.
“Profit and expediency must never outweigh the safety of the American people,” Buttigieg said on Monday. “We at USDOT are doing everything in our power to improve rail safety, and we insist that the rail industry do the same — while inviting Congress to work with us to raise the bar.”
Buttigieg, who has faced some criticism for not visiting the crash site, says he has stayed away to allow the National Transportation Safety Board take the lead on the investigation of the cause and for emergency management to focus on the immediate response. He is hoping to visit the site eventually, but no date has been set.
Speaking to reporters on Monday night, Buttigieg said he wanted rail companies to roll out more puncture-proof tank cars that carry volatile or toxic substances. The DOT mandated the new tank cars be in use and older, weaker ones to be phased out by 2025. Congress delayed the new tank car deadline for another 30 years.
“The maximum fine we can issue, even for egregious violations involving hazardous materials resulting in the loss of life, is just over $225,000,” he said. For a rail company that earns billions of dollars every year, it’s not enough to have an adequate deterrent effect.
Buttigieg added that the DOT is considering revising how it classifies certain toxic and volatile chemicals. While the derailed Norfolk Southern train was considered one carrying hazardous materials, it was not considered a “high hazard flammable train,” or HHFT, which requires certain safety protocols be followed.
He wants to move forward with requirements that trains carrying hazardous materials be equipped with a higher level electronically controlled braking system. In 2015, the DOT enacted a rule requiring electronically controlled pneumatic brakes on trains with more than 20 HHFT cars, but Congress mandated a cost benefit analysis be conducted before it could take effect, and then in 2017, the Trump administration repealed the rule.
“The Palestinians have a responsibility to their own safety,” Buttigieg, M. S. Chan, C. N. R. Bjorken, and A. Ramirez, D. A. Iwasawa
“We can’t treat these disasters as inevitable or as a cost of doing business,” Buttigieg said. After what happened in East Palestine, I believe there’s a window of opportunity for Congress to help raise the bar on safety.