171 replies to this topic

[KevinKorell]

The Vindicator, 2/4/24:

 

 

    Crowds gather to remember derailment disaster, commit to move on    

 

 

It didn’t take Walter Call long to become emotional as he recalled the premature loss of his girlfriend.

 

Continue reading this.

[KevinKorell]

News Nation, 2/3/24:

 

 

 Mayor: East Palestine residents plagued with health fears    

 

 

One year ago, a Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, releasing toxic chemicals into the environment. Now, fear and anxieties continue to plague the residents of the town as the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency continues to insist the air and water are safe.

 

Story

[KevinKorell]

News Nation, 2/3/24:

 

 

  EPA kept secret elevated level of dioxins in East Palestine: Whistleblower report    

 

Did the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Norfolk Southern keep concerning test results for toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio, secret from the public?

 

That’s the question in response to a damning whistleblower report exclusively obtained by NewsNation on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the train derailment.

 

Full story

[CNJRoss]

Trains News Wire

 

NTSB to return to East Palestine for meeting on final report on NS derailment     

 

 

By Trains Staff | February 7, 2024

 

Meeting set for June 25; two community sessions also planned

 

WASHINGTON ­— The National Transportation Safety Board will return to East Palestine, Ohio, on June 25 for a public meeting on its final report on the Feb. 3, 2023, Norfolk Southern derailment and toxic chemical release, the board announced today.

 

During the meeting, set for 9:30 a.m. ET at East Palestine High School, the board will vote on its final findings, probable cause, and recommendations, as well as any changes to its draft report. The meeting will also be carried live on the NTSB YouTube Channel.

 

NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy also announced plans for community meetings on June 24 and 25 at the high school, providing an opportunity for the public to ask about the NTSB and its investigative process. Details on those meetings are still to come.

 

 

Continue here.  

[CNJRoss]

NTSB news release

 

NTSB Board Meeting on East Palestine, Ohio, Train Derailment Set for June 25

 

2/7/2024

 

​​​Community meetings also planned

 

WASHINGTON (Feb. 7, 2024) — The National Transportation Safety Board announced today that it will return to East Palestine, Ohio, on June 25 for its final board meeting on the 2023 train derailment and subsequent hazardous material release and fires. 

 

During the public meeting, NTSB board members will vote on the final findings, probable cause, and recommendations. The board will also vote on any changes to the draft final report. 

 

The NTSB board meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 25 at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time at East Palestine High School, 360 West Grant Street in East Palestine. The public can attend in person or watch a livestream on the NTSB YouTube channel.

 

Also, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy is planning two community meetings on June 24 and 25 at East Palestine High School. The meetings will provide an opportunity for the public to ask about the NTSB and its investigative process. Times and details to come.

 

“The NTSB is returning to East Palestine for our final board meeting for the same reasons we went last summer: Because the communities most affected by this tragedy deserve to hear our findings in-person and in real-time,” Homendy said.

 

Media planning to attend the board meeting and/or the community meetings in person should RSVP at mediarelations@ntsb.gov.

 

On Feb. 3, 2023, an eastbound Norfolk Southern train derailed railcars on main track 1 in East Palestine. The derailed equipment included 11 tank cars carrying hazardous materials that subsequently ignited, fueling fires that damaged an additional 12 non-derailed railcars. First responders implemented a 1-mile evacuation zone surrounding the derailment site that affected up to 2,000 residents. There were no reported fatalities or injuries. 

 

The NTSB held a two-day investigative hearing last June in East Palestine as part of the agency’s investigation. The NTSB has released in the accident docket more than 1,800 pages of factual information, such as factual reports, interview transcripts and other investigative materials. Documents from the June 2023 hearing are available in the hearing docket, which contains over 5,000 pages of information, including the complete hearing transcripts.

 

See our East Palestine investigation webpage​ for more details. 

 

[CNJRoss]

USA Today, 2/16/24

 

Biden drinks the water in Ohio and praises 'Herculean' cleanup after train derailment

 

WASHINGTON – He drank the water.

 

President Joe Biden saw firsthand on Friday the cleanup efforts in East Palestine, Ohio, more than a year after a Norfolk Southern train derailment released hazardous chemicals into the soil, water and air. Biden praised what he called the “Herculean” cleanup and announced grants from the National Institutes of Health to study the short- and long-term effects of the containment released by the derailment.

 

“We’re not going home, not matter what, until this job is done,” he said. “And it’s not done yet.”

 

During a brief stop at a candle company, Biden demonstrated his confidence in the cleanup efforts by sipping a glass of tap water and drinking coffee that had been brewed with tap water.

 

 

Continue here with video clip.  

[CNJRoss]

Inside Climate News, 2/22/24

 

One Year Later, Pennsylvanians Living Near the East Palestine Train Derailment Site Say They’re Still Sick

 

Residents of Beaver County, many of them women and children, are suffering from alarming symptoms that began at the time of the accident—and say they’re struggling to access testing and medical guidance.

 

On March 20, 2023, Hilary Flint uploaded a new video to her TikTok account. The clip starts with a close-up of her face, her cheeks flushed and her gaze trained on the camera. The post is tagged #eastpalestine. “I live in Enon Valley, Pennsylvania,” she says. “Less than five miles from the Norfolk Southern train derailment.” 

 

“Since the train derailment, my skin has been red like a lobster, especially any time after I shower. I’ve been breaking out, I’m incredibly congested, and I have psoriasis, but now it’s so bad that it bleeds,” she says, pressing one finger to her pink face, leaving a white impression behind. “So when they tell me that everything is safe here, that’s really hard to believe.” 

 

A year after the derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, and seven months after her first post about her symptoms, Flint is still sharing videos tagged with #eastpalestine, and she is still experiencing health effects that she says began at the time of the accident.

 

 

Continue here.  

[CNJRoss]

Associated Press, 3/6/24

After Ohio train derailment, tank cars didn’t need to be blown open to release chemical, NTSB says

 

The decision to blow open five tank cars and burn the toxic chemical inside them after a freight train derailed in Eastern Ohio last year wasn’t justified, the head of the National Transportation Safety Board told Congress Wednesday. But she said the key decision-makers who feared those tank cars were going to explode three days after the crash never had the information they needed.

 

The vinyl chloride released that day, combined with all the other chemicals that spilled and caught fire after the derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, have left residents with lingering fears about possible long-term health consequences.

 

Experts from the company that made the vinyl chloride inside those tank cars, Oxy Vinyls, were telling contractors hired by Norfolk Southern railroad that they believed that no dangerous chemical reaction was happening, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said. But Oxy Vinyls was left out of the command center.

 

Continue here.  

[CNJRoss]

Associated Press, 3/7/24

 

Norfolk Southern alone should pay for cleanup of Ohio train derailment, judge says

 

Norfolk Southern alone will be responsible for paying for the cleanup after last year’s fiery train derailment in eastern Ohio, a federal judge ruled.

 

The decision issued Wednesday threw out the railroad’s claim that the companies that made chemicals that spilled and owned tank cars that ruptured should share the cost of the cleanup.

 

SNIP

 

U.S. District Judge John Adams said that ruling that other companies should share the cost might only delay the resolution of the lawsuit that the Environmental Protection Agency and state of Ohio filed against Norfolk Southern. He also said the railroad didn’t show that the derailment was caused by anything the other companies could control.

 

 

More here.  

[CNJRoss]

Insurance Journal, 3/18/24

 

State Farm Sues Norfolk Southern Over Ohio Train Derailment

 

State Farm Insurance brought forth a subrogation lawsuit against Norfolk Southern over damages to a pair of East Palestine, Ohio homes allegedly caused by the railroad company’s February 2023 train derailment.

 

State Farm filed a complaint in Columbiana County, Ohio Common Pleas Court seeking judgment of more than $85,000 for payouts to two homeowners whose property was damaged by chemical fires.

 

 

Continue here with audio article.