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Friend -
It’s been one year since Norfolk
Southern’s catastrophic train derailment caused a massive explosion
and toxic chemical exposure in East Palestine, Ohio.
Here’s what we know:
Norfolk Southern KNEW there were problems.
There are widespread reports of
problems in Norfolk Southern’s safety operations. Many of the cars
aren’t rated for the kind of chemicals they’re transporting. The
chemicals aren’t clearly marked and the hazards not clearly
communicated. Engineers and yard workers don’t have time to properly
inspect the cars before they roll out, because the trains are too long
and staff has been cut to bare bones. When rail workers try to raise
their concerns, they’re brushed aside or silenced.
These systemic failures and safety
hazards in the daily operations of every major rail carrier were at
the center of the rail workers strike two years ago. President Biden
broke that strike less than two months before this
catastrophe.
Residents and first responders were exposed to a known
carcinogen and they’re STILL facing health problems.
First responders who arrived on the
scene of the crash were not told what chemicals were involved, and
were NOT given proper protective equipment. Everyone in the area,
including residents, were consumed in a toxic fog that spread across
state lines and impacted multiple communities.
But Norfolk Southern rushed the
incident response with the full complicity of the EPA and Gov. Mike
DeWine. They started running trains again the very same day they
declared an “all clear” – on tracks they laid down over still
contaminated soil.
Residents and first responders
immediately began testing positive for vinyl chloride (a known
carcinogen). One year later, they still suffer skin problems,
breathing problems, and a rapidly increasing rate of various cancers.
But no one is helping them with their medical bills, and no one is
holding Norfolk Southern accountable.
The EPA utterly FAILED this working class community – and
so has Congress.
The EPA allowed Norfolk Southern to
hire their own contractor to oversee testing and cleanup, something
watchdogs described as “the fox watching the hen-house.” And while EPA
observers tagged along with this contractor to monitor their testing
protocols, they were MONTHS into testing before “discovering” that
their monitors weren’t aligned and they weren’t properly reading
threat levels. But they never went back and corrected the readings on
the houses they’d already cleared for families to move back
into.
And where is Congress in all of
this? Aside from the fact they helped Biden break
the rail workers strike that raised all these flags, there are two
bills (a House and Senate version) addressing rail safety regulations
that are going absolutely nowhere while we’re still averaging 1000
train derailments every year.
Norfolk Southern ADMITTED they put profits
before safety.
I saved the most disgusting fact
for last, Friend.
Just in case you thought this was
all some tragic, unpredictable collision of circumstances, let’s put
that notion to bed right now. In a recent CBS video exposé, a
spokesman for Norfolk Southern practically screamed the quiet part out
loud.
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