Train derailment and chemical spill in Ohio

The railroad industry has had to do a lot of things to survive the competition from the trucking industry.

Reducing crew size has been one.

If you can have self-driving cars, unmanned trains are not too far behind.

 

Thanks for that. Your confidence in judging my character is really something.

 

‘We’re Scared, Too’: Ohio Residents Press for Answers on Train Derailment at Meeting

In Ohio Town Where Train Derailed, Anxiety and Distrust Are Running Deep

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/02/15/ohio-train-derailment-toxic-chemicals/

An Ohio town is reckoning with the aftermath of a train derailment that unleashed highly toxic chemicals into the air, water and ground on Feb. 3, causing a massive fire, displacing residents and threatening public health.

The derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, near the Pennsylvania border, has left residents uncertain and fearful about their town and the toxic mess that raises questions about the area’s water and soil.

The Environmental Protection Agency has said the air is safe to breathe and Norfolk Southern, the rail company, has pledged to clean up. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said Tuesday he was “not seeing” the need for further federal assistance, though President Biden had offered it. Without the full extent of contamination known, however, environmental advocates have questioned the response, and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has said Norfolk Southern mismanaged its response to the disaster.

“The reassurances that these front-line communities are being given that ‘We didn’t find anything terribly serious’ is just misleading,” Joe Minott, executive director of the Philadelphia-based Clean Air Council, told The Washington Post over the weekend.

As effects continue to emerge, here’s what to know.

 

Ohio residents demand answers two weeks after toxic chemical train derailment

 

Railroads’ Strategy Thrilled Wall Street, but Not Customers and Workers

The strategy is evident in head count, which has fallen at nearly all of the major railway companies in the United States and Canada. At CSX, for example, the number of employees plunged by a third over the past decade. This helped expand the company’s profit margins, and its stock is up over 300 percent since the end of 2011, far exceeding gains in the wider stock market.

 

Your reminder that Mike DeWine was overwhelmingly re-elected in November.

 

Ohio




Ukraine

 

Probably for the best. The heavy police presence needed to protect those railroad bosses could best be used elsewhere.

 

Oh, he’s blaming Antifa and climate protestors. Cool.