The Ohio Train Disaster: Corporate Greed & Regulatory Failure | The Problem With Jon Stewart Podcast
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- Опубліковано 14 лют 2023
- A freight train derailed in Ohio and released a mushroom cloud of toxic chemicals, so why has the media buried this story so low? This week we’re breaking down the shocking conditions that led to this train derailment being entirely predictable, how rail companies have chosen their own profits over safety, and what regulatory changes need to be made in order to avoid a mess like this again. Our guests are Julia Rock, reporter at The Lever (levernews.com), Matt Weaver, BMWED-IBT Legislative Director, Ohio & member of the Railroad Workers United ISC; and Julie Grant, Managing Editor and Senior Reporter for the Allegheny Front. We’re also joined by writers Alexa Loftus and Henrik Blix who share their thoughts on what the media gets wrong about small town America.
Road Map:
00:00: Interview with Julia Rock, Matt Weaver, and Julie Grant
38:27: Wrapping it up with writers Alexa Loftus and Henrik Blix
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#ohio #train #podcast - Комедії
If we start sending CEOs to jail for this sort of stuff, it will change.
But the CEOs through lobbying control the politicians who could make such laws, so.. here we are
Try the board of directors!!!
@@lilmoe4364 Yup u got it right. The greatest enemy for America is American capitalists, not any other countries the politicians made out to be.
Thank you.
LOL
americans unaware their institutions and corporations are completely corrupt
A friend in Taiwan called me yesterday because I live in Ohio and he was concerned. I knew that there had been a train derailment but it seemed like the typical type that happens everyday I told him. Well it seems there was far more coverage and details about it in Taiwan than here in Northeast Ohio where I live! That speaks volumes about corporate control of our democracy!
Sinclair Broadcast Group owns all the local stations, and they have a vested interest in not reporting stories about corporate greed.
Wow, in your own state no less... That's a travesty.
And naturally Congress is silent about it because they already threw their backing behind the railroad industry just a couple of months ago by forcing the union to accept those terrible contract terms. The very officials we elected to represent the American people have made it clear that they actually represent corporations. Not that this is particularly new, given that the prior President was personally responsible for rolling back hundreds of environmental and safety regulations, and for gutting the agencies responsible for protecting workers and citizens.
Yup, I first learned about this from friends in China
I read about another Ohio resident learning about this from her friend in England.
I remember when the train went off the rail in Newton Falls several years ago, I only knew of it right away as my then wife worked for OSHP Warren DHQ.
People often forget that while they are screaming at the railroad CEOs who are cutting costs that threatened the public safety, they need to point at least one finger at the SHAREHOLDERS who demand those cuts in order to make more money.
Greed and stupidity will be the death of us all.
Blame your politicians too... This could have been prevented during the Obama or Trump era
@@deejay5102 Yup.
false. shareholders never 'demand cuts in regulatory compliance etc'. these cuts are in fact hidden on the balance sheets and kept from shareholders.
The law that allows shareholder to sue CEO's for not creating adequate profits needs to go away as this is a axe over any CEO that wants to do the right thing.
The entire system is so corrupt anyone that tries to take it on is instantly in a minefield created to stop them.
This is a relevant case in Canada, but it's also from the 2008 financial crisis, and the way CEOs and shareholders operate seems to have changed versus the 'long term interests' stated by the Supreme Court.
"The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that the fiduciary duty is owed at all times to the corporation. The Court has also stated that acting in the best interests of the corporation is not synonymous with acting in the best interests of shareholders:
“The fiduciary duty of the directors to the corporation is a broad, contextual concept. It is not confined to short-term profit or share value. Where the corporation is an ongoing concern, it looks to the long-term interests of the corporation. The content of this duty varies with the situation at hand. […]
“In considering what is in the best interests of the corporation, directors may look to the interests of, [among other things], shareholders, employees, creditors, consumers, governments and the environment to inform their decisions. […]
“There is no principle that one set of interests-for example the interests of shareholders-should prevail over another set of interests. Everything depends on the particular situation faced by the directors and whether, having regard to that situation, they exercised business judgment in a responsible way.” (BCE v 1976 Debentureholders, 2008 SCC 69)"
Just an anecdote as a person who works in the industry: a coworker who left heavy rail during the pandemic said they cut maintenance staff by half. It seems to me that this "accident" was inevitable and will occur more often going forward.
Also, derailments should almost never happen period. They are 100% preventable.
Derailments will happen, they are a part of railroading. Catastrophic derailments like this one in question are preventable, yes in the sense that deferred maintenance as a result of PSR is the likely culprit; but as somebody who runs DPU trains over mountain grade with 14-degree curves, 4 horseshoes, and a loop, I can PROMISE YOU, derailments are NOT 100% preventable. You sound like a manager.
This isn't exclusive the railroad industry either
I worry less about foreign terrorists and more about US lobbyists and their greedy masters. It's horrendous. Where I grew up companies spent years poisoning their surroundings and then got to skip out, leaving responsibility behind them.
US lobbyists are foreign terrorists.
Say it again for the folks in the box! 😊💝
na you should worry when domestic terrorists realize how easy they can cause massive damage to the people by simply sabotaging poorly maintained and operated infrastructures with in America. Wanna bet how many nuclear power planets properly maintains security and waste management? I bet none. What I’m afraid is some one detonate a dirty bomb in NYC. So bomb a train carrying toxic chemicals.
Jack POS CEO of GE did it to Pittsfield Mass...
You should be. They've caused the deaths of infinitely more people then terrorism ever has.
Investigative reporter here, retired. I was reporting on the dangers of these chemical train-bombs traveling through urban areas in the 1970s. Same attitudes then as now at the political and corporate levels. Hope you - Jon - can make some headway ,given your track record on burn pit toxins. Thanks for this video.
Burnpits was a LONG battle, up hill, in the mud, against stiff resistance....to benefit people that the government is supposed to pretend to like and support. The people in Ohio are nobody to anyone with the power to change this. So yeah, I wish him luck on this.
thank u for doing such work! I've noticed the train industry for a long time. I worked in stock investments and noticed how well they started doing around '04 maybe, such easy easy money. My best friend was killed by train when rode bicyle right into one bcuz of pathway crossing tracks in a public park. No gate, no noticeable signs, and most importantly, the tracks were not visible to ppl on the trail until the last moment, so if u ride a bike, then u might forget there's a track there and then run right into it. Dead at midlife, and she was needed soooo badly by several ppl. Devastation. All for no motherloving traintrack gate. Motherbleeper train co's are the ONLY deeply pathetic co's in these United States. (and i say this as pretty much life-long near-apologist to corporate interests in many situations, so this is realy saying something. As i aged and learned more, i realized that maaany co's in the entire western world have serious issues in ethics and controls. Even reknown co's like some german co's including their two main gun makers, have commited gross crimes, each did one, in the US, skirting the law and getting tens of K's of guns into the wrong hands in Mexico of course, and other latam countries. One of the most egregious things for any biz to ever do--making the rail co's look pretty nice.
I am retired now and I remember, way back when, all the reports about the danger of bad stuff on trains, thanks for trying. I ran trains and been on derails. I ran on tracks at the very edge of the Colorado River, disaster waiting still. Trains are not bad but ...............
Check with the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, now subsumed into the larger rail unions. My grandfather got BRT news in the '60's and 'featherbedding' was the term the railroads used to fight hiring enough crew to run a safe train. I remember him talking about it. One engineer in the cab? Deadman's switch would stop the train if something happened to him, e.g. a heart attack. But an accident in Chicago, where it didn't.
Are you on Twitter? I'm a little surprised no one has yet talked about another disaster that occurred in Ohio - the Cuyahoga River catching fire because it was so polluted with industrial waste. People saw the pollution as a sign of progress and prosperity. I'm pretty sure they saw the trains rolling by as the same and not the time bombs they actually were and still are. Time to draw comparisons.
“Corporate Greed and Regulatory Failure” seems to be the overarching theme of the 2020s decade thus far.
Mmmmm, try since Regan
This is the format I like. Just Jon and important guests with actual truthful information. That’s all we need!
Yes. Actual news with intelligent commentary by people who know what they're talking about.
So Lucky that John stewart supports the USA backing neo nazi nationalists of ukriane when they threatened Zelensky with hanging from a tree if he sued for peace with russia... Bidens Azov battalion . Dont forget to fall of a bike and smell children guys!
We need this on the 6 o'clock news on mainline media on every channel. DREAM ON. NORFOLK, and all the rich assholes win as always.The U.S. is screwed as always. The workers are in overt and horrific danger 24/7.
it's interesting how he is much less woke when away from his Apple show.
The mainstream media has avoided this topic like it was a toxic train wreck in Ohio. Thanks for keeping it in the forefront. Capitalist failure. Profit before people. Rail workers unite! Solidarity!
I haven't seen if she has mentioned it, but Maddow has been talking about rail disasters like this in populated areas for years, and that we need to do a lot more to prevent it.
Y'know fascist has become a catchall insult with no meaning. It refers to govt. owned industry. Oddly enough Germanys rail is still govt. owned and operated. Same with France and Italy. It doesn't matter whether yer socialist,capitalist or fascist you still get corruption, discrimination and totalitarianism but fascist trains are safer.
@@kellyfehr5240 "it refers to government owned industry"... ah shit the Libertarian has logged on
Meanwhile the GQP is yelling about balloons! Not that it wasn’t important but it was under control.
@@inhumANthropoid Ok do me a favor. Define "Libertarian". I'm a fascist. I want Nationalized health care, energy, communication, and infrastructure. The Capitalists have made a botch of it.
This was said on reddit, but if you live around this area GET A BASELINE HEALTH CHECK FROM YOUR DOCTOR. Don't let them lie about pre-existing conditions if you end up with long term health complications from this.
How many people actually have a doctor? 💔
Also moving away asap from Chernohiobyl! Sadly, only the local 1%ers will be able to do that.
They're just 90 miles from the BEST HOSPITAL in the nation - Cleveland Clinic.GET THEE TO CLEVELAND!
By the reports I've read and seen, the people in danger because of this spill don't have a lot of money. They can't afford to run out and have full physicals, including blood tests, for every member of their families. NS should be offering to cover their medical costs from the date of the derailment. Plus, I've seen no info on any of the chemical interactions between/among the at least FIVE chemicals spilled and burned and what effect that may have on those people.
The MSDS (Material Safety Data sheet) hazardous handling instructions we used when I used to work for the railroad (retired 2008) for vinyl chloride says in case of spill, regular face masks, even the K96s, are inadequate; the minimum is a full-face glass faceplate mask with its own ATTACHED OXYGEN SUPPLY. That sounds hazardous to me!
Even when I was still working, the NS had a reputation of being "lean and mean" and cutting jobs to the bone. The bad news in all this is railroads run through almost every city and town in the country, so each railroad's compliance to the rules endangers almost every American.
+
This is why "Standing Rock" occurred. Its all fine and dandy, until tragedy happens in more populated areas. Standing Rock Warriors didn't just do it for their community, they were standing for everyone so that environmental disasters do not happen in the future.
This is not the same. Trains and trucks are considerably more likely to cause this situation. Pipelines by the numbers are the safest option. This is what happens when people fight against what is in their best interest.
THIS is the Jon Stewart that inspired me to become a journalist
This is a side note, but my Dad was a NS engineer for 40 years and retired with a zero-incident record.
He told us to ALWAYS slow down and look both ways at EVERY crossing because the monitoring and maintenance of the crossing signals was deeply insufficient. And that was back in the 70s & 80s.
Be careful out there, people. 💛
Thanks,
Likely a lot worse now. What was the work culture like at NS then?
Isnt that a rejection of expert authority? That sounds awfully INDEPENDENT. You're not a white supremacist are you? Are you full of distrust because of your White Culture? Huh?
I was an inadvertent participant in a rail crossing accident in the LA area. There was a crossing that cut through the middle of the parking areas of our Hawthorne facility. You had to swipe you badge to open it. One day my carpool partner asked to get out and see if his badge would open it. A woman tried to "beat the train" through, and her car got spun around. I think she lived, but she was on the far side of the track, and the train finally stopped straddled across the crossing point. We stuck around until EMT's arrived but there wasn't anything else we could do. It did seem like a pretty flimsy system. (1980)😔
As Julia suggested, corporate lobbyists have created this world for us, but they did not do it alone. We the People need to take back Congress by stripping it of corporate money.
Vote for representatives who will remove citizens United ruling
It wasn't corporate lobbyists... it was you. For voting for people that accept lobbyists pushing deregulation.
Citizens United, 2010, decided by 5 rw sociopaths on SCOTUS that if you have money (CEOs, uber rich) you can now legally buy politicians.
"Money is free speech," they basically said.
Millions of Americans need to call & write Biden & insist he take action to give RR workers all the days off they asked for but Biden didn't help them get before.
Congress is useless when one whole tribe is all about their greedy rich donors & Democrats don't have large majorities.
@@mikey4021 EXACTLY!!
In meantime, fellow American, please let's all get online to write or call Biden to get him to give the RR workers the sick days they need.
I did but I'm just one person. Strength in masses.
@@mikey4021 One whole tribe is dedicated to promoting greedy rich over ppl. This puts Democrats as the ONLY adults in the room. Then about 50% of those Democrats are bought off. We already have a slim majority in the Senate, the House is pro-corporate fascist. Executive orders aren't Biden's style.
You're right it's the voter. Braindead voters aren't only on the right.
Black Americans as a majority vote for pro-corporate, STAUNCH conservatives. In South Carolina, they followed their "heroes" the late John Lewis in 2016, then again, James Clyburn in 2020 to pro-corporate, conservadems Hillary then Biden in those primaries. Bernie's run was killed both times in that state.
Publicly both black congressman hated Bernie openly bashing him & his progressive ideas. Black ppl nationwide follow black ppl in SC. That's what they do. For a group of Americans that say they desperately need progressive change yet shoot themselves in the foot--and really all of us when they vote, unless & until they wake the f up, nothing in our lives will get better.
No surprise that Biden now wants 2024 primary to start in South Carolina!!
Jon’s clarity of mind never ceases to amuse and impress.
but he only talks about things that get nothing accomplished. He feeds things back to the problematic mainstream media, WEF owned.. same as Norfolk Southern.
Find independent media.
@@ericb6048 hey Eric, your point isn’t really fleshed out in a meaningful way so I’m gonna go ahead and call this a bad take brother
The reason the mainstream news is not covering this story is that they are owned by the same companies that own Norfolk Southern.
I grew up 50 miles from East Palestine. Even in the 70's the infrastructure was crumbling. I can't imagine how bad it is now. Corporate greed is a cancer on this country. It's time for the working class to cut that tumor out once and for all.
Buddy rural Americans are the tumor. They're the voters who keep voting for republicans and blue dog democrats.
That’ll start by people not voting republikkkan.
@@KaozVirtus unfortunately the democrats are not much better then rethuglicans. The wealthy have 2 political parties, would be great if workers could have one.
@@theboyisnotright6312 Considering the dems didn’t do January 6th, I’d say that’s not a very accurate statement. Considering all of the other treasonous shit the republikkkans have done, I don’t understand how you can honestly say that with a straight face.
@dannylawrance1078 nor pedophile democrats either, which they 100 percent of all of them.
People deciding to cut costs at the cost of everyone else's well being has got to stop being tolerated and treated with these ' slap on the wrist' bullshit fines.
You.can't run a business on the razor's edge without getting someone cut, and when the businesses are as large and necessary as the rail industry, the people getting cut are gonna be all of us.
@@hugsxkissesftw3959 why is that funny? The rail companies went from 1 mill employees to about 200,000. That's pretty precarious
@@hugsxkissesftw3959 "precision scheduled railroading" is the razors edge they are referring to. It's the same principle that much of our supply chain adopted that ended up causing the crisis in 2020 - 2021, when it was impossible to get various goods like PPE, lumber, computer chips, etc. It's all about only holding precisely as many assets / inventory / workers as is needed to meet typical demand, leaving zero buffer to handle any sudden fluctuations in activity. It also often means not re-investing profits back into the core business, ignoring important upgrades, and focusing primarily on the company's stock price.
@@heartdragon2386because the company is question makes multiple billions in profit every year. Not even fucking close to having thin margins.
Absolutely.
I live about 15 miles north. I have friends all over the Mahoning county and a lot of them that were up at this time were posting on Facebook about a weird smell. A common description was it smelt like recently cut grass. I thought this was a weird description until a few days later when I seen one of the chemicals was phosphine and it smells like cut grass and it’s a heavy gas so the lower you are the more you’ll notice it. I’m not telling anyone because I don’t want to create panic but I think the entirety of the Mahoning county and possibly part of Trumble county got phosphined and man it’s not a good chemical at all. Phosphine has a half life of about a day. This is badddd and I’m worried about everyone around me especially those close to the burn off they would have got it worse especially if they were in a lower region. Anyways thanks for taking about it the more voices the better. I might not agree politically with you but your a true American through and through.
There are some things a lot of us can agree on. And I'm really sorry to hear about this.
No one agrees with another single person on everything. However, it is great when we find common ground. This situation is a mess though.
Nothing to worry about, Norfolk Southern is doing everything they can to maintain their bottom line.
When I was a kid, they were spraying DDT from trucks all over Long Island. Rachel Carson's Silent Spring opened my eyes up to the long-term effects of these chemicals. Many of us developed thyroid issues, gastrointestinal problems, and cancers. Nothing has changed. Business as usual.
My heart breaks. I grew up 5 miles from the accident, and my family is there. My parents aren't sure what to do. My cousins' house is directly across the road from the accident off Taggart St. Most people there are POOR. They may not think of themselves that way, but it is a very depressed area that the opioid epidemic has decimated. I fear this is the perfect overlap of people being desperate for money and a corporation dangling a small amount of cash to get rid of them. Mike DeWine gutted the Ohio EPA. They have no power. He also signed a bill yesterday allowing fracking on public land, including areas around East Palestine. I fear this will affect children's health 5 to 10 years later, and nobody will be held accountable. It's a tight-knit community, and I hope they will stick together and fight. If there are any environmental lawyers out there, please help these people out if you can.
If you can't leave, don't drink local water from now on, only drink and cook with bottled water produced in other states, and stop eating food produced in Ohio. When going out, wear tighter clothes and wrap your body up. Be sure to wear gloves to minimize the time your skin is in contact with the air. Take less baths or even do not take a bath, just simply wipe your body with boiling hot water, and close the windows and curtains. Ordinary masks, including n95 and 3mm masks, are useless. Try to minimize going out. If you have the conditions and must go out, it is best to wear an industrial gas mask. These should be available on Amazon or the local home-depot. Try to get it Change the filter element of the mask every 6 hours, you can prepare some antibiotics, do not buy iodine tablets, iodine tablets are only useful for radiation. The chemical burns to produce Agent Orange, the defoliant used by the United States in Vietnam, where it has suffered to this day. I have to remind again that this disaster may last for decades, and it is best to be psychologically prepared to live with it for a long time.
@@xijinping2538 Thank you for the information. My worry is that the race to get back to normalcy will negate the caution needed to stop exposure. Just found out my cousins daughter went to the hospital and has elevated liver enzymes.
sorry to hear that, Now that the flames have been extinguished, it will only take a few days for the monsoon to blow the airborne toxins into DC and New York. So I feel the air is not the problem, the problem is the pollution of food and water. Children are extremely sensitive to this chemical pollution. keep them safe, if possible, let them go to school in other states in a while
This will decimate the whole area for decades. There's no way you can trust the air and water there anytime in the near future.
Do what it takes for your family to make sure their water and food is okay to eat if they stay there. Please be careful and let them know everyone is on their side
My step-dad worked for the railroad 42 years. He developed 2 different types of cancers. He was part of a class action settlement because the railroad used a cheap grade of diesel fuel. Something to check into.
It should be investigated why railroad workers have so much higher rates of cancer than others
disgusting
My dad was an engineer for csx for 42 years as well! We live 14 miles from the derailment. So this all hits too close to home.
People that live there should video record their live stock and keep a journal on the problems they encounter day to day or weekly
The sad thing is....the actual health issues might appear months or even years later...and then they'd say that its "natural causes", "bad luck", "fate"....whatever :/.
So happy JS is back on the air 🙏🏻. He helps us organize our thoughts around an informed, realistic opinion. We really missed you….I think we need you now more than ever. Thank you.
When you build everything around money and greed, this is the kind of results you see.
It's the American way, no wonder their president is silent.
In this manner, Reps and Dems are birds of the same feather. No different. Profits before people.
@@alexphoenix9208 The difference is that one side is completely unapologetic about it while the other just claims there's nothing they can do.
@@tedculbertson6320 Maybe. I don't see either "apologetic". Both sides are architects of hyper capitalism.
@@tedculbertson6320 I will give you this: At least the Dems actually have some people honestly fighting for the average person. The majority is bought by major corps, and both sides perpetuate profits before people.
I would encourage all the residents and inhabitants and workers in that area to preserve all current and previous medical records or even go get a baseline physical and labs TODAY. I just don't see how there will not be cancer clusters and worse from this accident. Make sure the entities at fault cannot claim you had preexisting conditions and it wasn't from these chemicals. This shit is horrifying!
Better yet try to move before you and your family get sick with something horrible in the first place. You will live through your financial ruins but the odds are not in your favor if you and your family stay. It sucks but it's true. It would kill me to have one of my grandkids to get sick or worse knowing I could have done something about it and didn't.
@@zedwolf1589 I wish we could move. But we can't afford it right now. So the kids are staying with my mom til we KNOW it's safe, and have already gotten checkups.
Yes, I live in EP.
@@jessicak2811
I'm sorry about this, for all the people effected and it's next to impossible to trust the politicians and definitely not the corporations. Maybe you should go stay with your folks too, I know it's not convenient but better to be safe than sorry. After seeing how they handled the water in Flint Michigan or the Marines at Fort Legeune. A few people have said it's been extremely shady the way this is being shuffled up so quickly. Erin Brochovich did an interview yesterday and mentioned that she was on her way there and I heard from a retired chemical engineer saying that they were using the wrong equipment for testing levels of the poisons released. I know it's not great living with your family trust me I got 6 extra people in my 2 bedroom apartment. My daughter and her 2 kids left her old man right before covid hit and has been here for 2 years now and my brother, his wife and adult son moved in 4 months ago because they lost their place because their landlord died. They're looking for a place to buy but there is next to nothing in the area and I'm sleeping on an air mattress in the dining room but that's what family does. Please hang out with your family no matter how inconvenient because from what I've seen it looks really bad. Hopefully it will stay in the news long enough that they can buy you out 🤞 I'd just hate to see that that rail road corporation Chernobilled your town. I'm really hoping for the best for all of you, please take of yourselves too. Best of luck.
yes
The last time I went to a General Practitioner to request baseline tests, it cost me $150.00 for the doctor visit. I never had the tests done because no one could tell me how much the tests would cost and my insurance wouldn’t tell me which/how much they would cover.
I agree with your statement, but is it possible for everyone? Too many times the statistics lie because the poor self-select out of certain activities just by not being able to participate.
GREAT discussion. It's so important! Now I have a link I can send to people when they ask about the issues. With a shit media, programs like this are so incredibly important!! Keep up the great work Jon & co!
Jon we thank you for getting this info out to the public.
In the 70's I was a Canadian National employee working on cargo and passenger trains. The theory about the brakes is wrong. On a train the brakes are applied when there is no pressure. In other words, when everything is off the brakes are applied or if the line anywhere on train is broken brakes apply instantly. Now, what happened here is one of the wheel's air system was defective and the brakes stayed applied because of no pressure. And the wheel overheated. This is the reason why there was a cabooze at back of the train in the past were "I, the brakeman" would sit in the observation post to watch the train from the back, preventing this kind of accident. But to save money they decide to remove the cabooze and place a lamp and a flag at the back. This is the real story.
I am a retired Locomotive Engineer, I agree with your comment. High speed causes bad derailments. I had dozens of derailments, when I was going slow, they weren't bad, when I was going fast, they were bad. I once derailed the entire train and locomotive, going down a steep mountain grade. I hit a wide guage in the tracks, and my locomotive hit the ground and destroyed all the tracks.
I am three years old but know how to spell caboose.
Then you can be called witness for this town 👍🏼🇺🇸✨
Holy shit!
Jeez, I'm glad I learned something new.
Ralph Nader has been warning about deregulation all across the board for years. Thanks for bringing attention to this story.
Very few folks listen to Ralph Nader. Fewer still follow what he recommends. The older generation Dem'rats still blame Nader for Gore's dismal performance in the 2000 Presidential elections.
Ralph Nader is a stand up guy like Bernie Sanders or Bill Nye.
Never changed his tune!
Not one note!
bullshit
I met him years ago. Here in Canada.
I have been reading comments from Ohio residents who did not know any of these dangers. I heard about the dangers of the trains contents from UA-cam Democracy Now newscast. People need to try to be more informed from different media places.
I was shocked at how long it took to bring Erin Brockovich’s name into this discussion, she needs to be brought in & to be a paid lawyer on this case 😇❣️❣️
From what I have seen she has been beating the drum daily.
Corporate greed was rewarded over employees and the safety of people. The residents that many rails go through their towns who are part of the Railroad system are ignored when disaster happens. The people of Palestine, Ohio will more than likely deal with this disaster for years to come while this corporation moves on and fights in court to avoid truly compensateing those that suffer for years to come. Thank you Mr. Stewart and your guests for covering this disaster.
Just wanted to say thanks Jon for all your hard work concerning the Pact Act, I finally got compensated for my burn pit exposure. ❤
Thanks Jon for bringing this up, everyone else didn't see this until you brought it up.
Thanks for giving this more coverage.
Shameful how it has been almost ignored by the MSM.
THIS is a true news story. HOW IS IT NOT BEING COVERED?!?!?!?!
I guess MSM can only cover one story at a time. Plus the Chinese balloon was a more important story, to justify the continued increase to our Military budget.
People need to keep reporting on this. Thank you.
Which people? The mainstream media is corporate owned. The mainstream media isn't even covering this news.
What's happening in IRAN? I can't find anything up to date.
I grew up in East Liverpool, OH, only 17 miles from East Palestine, home of WTI the toxic waste dump. A dump that was fought, Martin Sheen brought his celebrity to it, but still was eventually built. WTI was supposed to create hundreds of jobs, etc...same ole song and dance. That corner of the country has extremely high cancer rates. This is so sad. I left over 3 decades ago due to chronic respiratory problems. Thanks for reporting on this and please keep it in the discussions. With much gratitude!!
I remember that!!!! I grew up in Salem, but now live in guess where??? East Palestine.
True story, smh
Random thought I just had: does the railroad have anything to do with the railroad strikes that were in the news months ago? Remember all the workers getting angry with the conditions?
Biden's America
@@Kuhmodo or the fact that the tain was loaded with explosives and or precursors to C4/tantrderite ( plastic explosives and yes pvc is used in making it ) aka war materials
Glad she finds this humorous
Tell me if I am crazy. Jon Stewart is the best journalist in the United States. He may have started out as a comedian and satirist, but now he is one of the few American journalists doing serious analysis of a country in decline. I read the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and listen to NPR. Even these sources rarely get beyond banal platitudes and open ended softball questions. I love Jon's attention to detail, the awareness of acute suffering, and the synthesis of key local experts in a long-form interview format.
I grew up near this in a place nicknamed chemical valley. Once a teacher in school told our class about the chemicals being transported on trains 20yards from our school, saying every day thousands of tons of chlorine are passing by, and if it were to wreck would violently kill us and every one around. After this apocalyptic anxiety inducing conversation we were expected to just go back to normal.
The teacher was right!
That teacher would be fired today for upsetting you. Glad teacher was so pragmatic about those massive steel objects carrying potential materials of doom passing by on the tracks!
I live in Youngstown Ohio, 50-60 miles north. When the wind shifted north, we all could smell a heavy chemical smell in the air. And our local news had told us to shelter in place for 12 hours, and to not leave our homes for any reason. The air is not ok.
You're a lot closer than that you're only 18 miles north up Rt7. I didn't even know if that and I live on the opposite side of the county in Lake Milton. No SMS advisory went out, and I don't watch WKBN or WFMJ.
@@KoRntech oh wow, I didn’t know that. I heard it from which ever channel has Stan Boney is on now.
oh no
@@Dethrey_ It’s ok now, this happened sometime last week.
@@robertturosik416 when Jon Stewart spoke about 911 toxins it's the chemical that was created from the buildings collapsing. Like a fire in a town but on a larger scale they turn into micron size toxics that will cause cancer and suffering to people exposed to these chemicals created. In the years and the immediate effect. Once there were multiple chemicals some we know of and new ones people gave never heard of then when these chemicals burn or explode they change into new chemicals, ..... Then there are the dead animals, the dead fish, the dead chickens, and now the contaminated soil and Ohio river and the transportation of multiple chemicals different types leaking and seeping into the ground water well water, and farmland. Children exposure. Family exposure and now food supply for everyone down the river on the Ohio river from this region. It's bad. It's really bad. Because even when 911 and like job Stewart said 3 days later EPA failed and came out saying all clear then the people of New York breathing up and cleaning up toxins from 911 caused cancer and lowered their life expectancy. CDC reports that 400,000 new yorkers were exposed to toxic dust from 911. Hmm but now I would say EPA is letting everyone down again. When they say it's safe when we need more media and experts to weigh on. And as a former USAF veteran trained in chemical exposure. It's bad. At first, I thought of a 3-mile evacuation radius in my first assessments but how seeing the scope I expanded it to a 5-mile radius everyone needed to be evacuated. Then againnow with more information contamination is that the Ohio river has detected chemicals 7 miles downstream. Not good.
Ever since the pandemic, I've noticed this whole "next time it's going to be much worse" warning by the media, it is getting old and it sounds like filler. After the next disaster, we'll hear it again.
It's always bad ua-cam.com/video/ckLA63EioGo/v-deo.html
7:34
I think two words sum up the root of this situation self interest. What an incomprehensible expense.
I live in a beautiful rural area of southern Colorado and my friends (and pets) are dying of cancers and "unknown" causes. No matter where you live, pollution and petro products are killing us slowly, or in some cases faster than a speeding bullet. Our water, soil, and air are the things we can't do without. Too bad they are poisoned.
By any chance is this Gilpin County? I lived there 45 years ago and this was true then too
Remember folks… chemicals and pharmaceuticals are only different departments under the same umbrella
In southern Colorado??? I live in Denver - god only knows what we're "treated to" daily
@@danallyn7 When I lived in Denver more than 30 years ago, I was a bottled water route salesman. Two of my biggest customers were the City of Denver and a company conducting a clean up operation inside the Rocky Mountain Arsenal. I always thought it was interesting that the City of Denver (who at that time managed the city water delivery systems) didn't want their employees drinking water out of the tap and this was when the market for bottled water was a tiny fraction of what it is today. There wasn't any news coverage that I remember about that superfund cleanup site located inside the Rocky Mountain Arsenal. Anyone living in that vicinity back in the 80's probably remembers how the entry was high security and the public wasn't allowed to have access to that huge property. What was happening was the Army and Shell were co-developing a product called the no pest strip. The product was designed based on a paper housing you hang in a corner of the room that contains a chemical compound that will attract and kill flies but in theory not be "dangerous" to humans. The Army dug out several very large lined basins in the ground and were dumping thousands and thousands of gallons of the residual chemicals from their experiments into them. How the problem was discovered was waferfowl would land in those chemical storage basins and then fly into other bodies of water nearby and die soon afterward. The local landowners expressed concern over the number of dead ducks and geese they kept discovering on their lands and started to question why it was happening so frequently. The real reason why they had to clean up the site was the liners for the basins were leaking and the chemicals were seeping into and contaminating the areas aquifer and groundwater. Now it appears that area has been converted into a "wildlife refuge"? I still remember the overwhelmingly horrible smell I suffered through everytime I drove into the Rocky Mountain Arsenal to deliver water. Like the conditions described in this story, it's logical that when the air quality is that poor it's indicating something potentially very harmful to humans is present.
Have yall looked a radon levels as there is a lot of it up in that area and it loves to collect in basements.
I feel so bad for the people who live in that town and the sense of worry they must feel. The years of damage is unknown.
They just gave the railroad workers a cost of living raise. They can't be expected to maintain the tracks too.
It is insanely bizzaroo that we don't hold politicians accountable
Our forefathers would have rioted and fucked up a shipping port by now.
We need to hold corporations accountable. I worked for a major oil production corporation. The company took complete responsibility for pipeline breaks and spills. Their response was immediate ... don't remember anyone blaming the government.
Thank you for covering this!
We in Youngstown were wondering when it was going to get more national attention so these people can get help.
East Palestine had a town hall last night - Norfolk was a no show! Said they had concerns for their own safety. Left hundreds of people frustrated and without answers.
They just nuked the town and they are afraid of a little ole' crowd? why would that be??
@@elizabethpitts3294
The railroad barons don't want to breathe that air.
Read up on Love Canal and how those people were treated! This is American capitalism doing what it always does best: fking over the citizenry and not accepting any responsibility.Shame
They could have brought cops or rent a cops. It was just an easy out.
@@laurierosejones9531 You're probably right; they know exactly what was on that train!
My dad worked on the railroad. He was employed post WWII until the late 70's. He regularly worked 20 + hour days. Most of his fellow Railroad workers died on the job. He was seriously injured multiple times over the years in multiple derailments. Many times he had lost gloves and received chemical burns from leaking chemical rail cars.
Furthermore my girlfriend's brother in law worked for a company who does railroad clean up on these wrecks, he died of cancer at 32.
Damn, I know the railroad workers in America are in a bad situation, but I didn't expect this a bad
@@xijinping2538 u
@@xijinping2538 og
That's insane! There's something seriously wrong when you're the richest country in the world and you treat your essential workers as hazardous waste.
Props to the journalist who reported the chemistry with reference to an actual expert.
Always appreciate quality information and I know I will always find it here. Thank you Jon and guest
My grandfather worked for southern pacific till 1970’s and retired. Loving hardworking man. Hats off to all railroad workers, keep going make the field fair!
❤ I remember as a kid we couldn't afford a lot. I grew up with my grandparents and one of the treats we had was sitting waiting for the trains to go by. Some were just filled with cargo and other were filled with commuters.
Waving at the trains like they were parades
💔🤍💙
Thank you!
Oh really? Biden was the self appointed Arbitrator that broke the railway strike and forced them back to work... The Engineers and railway workers were complaining about terrible safety failures and massive repercussions whenever they tried to address faulty brakes/ severely substandard axle maintenance(which a poorly maintained, failed axle that overheated and caught fire and was dragged along for miles likely caused this catastrophe) anyone that slowed the rail line down were severely reprimanded whenever they complained about a safety issue..
Once again the left has no reality based information reads very little if not at all and believes their unimaginably incompetent/corrupt government...
Also they did nothing to mitigate this horrible disaster while our weekend at Bernies puppet was meeting with Coke addict communist Zelensky...
My dad was a foreman on a bridge construction crew for Illinois Central during the 70s and he said the same things about safety. Nice to know nothing has changed in 50 years 😡
------ America ------------
Oh there have been changes... All for the worse.
i hope cocacola taste the same as the old days....
Just wait till they install their dictator. Americans will say they love the taste of the toxic water.
already has
Just a couple of weeks before the release the cdc changed the exposure limits of vinyl chloride from 30,000 ppm to 150,000 ppm. Did they know something was gonna happen. Look it up you will be shocked
It's disgusting how the politicians in our country and our media respond to these tragedies....
How disrespectful they are to the affected people that this happened too😡😡😡😡😡
yes. its criminal.
When I grew up in Naugatuck, Connecticut (20 miles from Yale, New Haven), Uniroyal was the big employer. "Naugahyde" was invented there. They had a huge chemical plant on their property. Mornings were the worse for air pollution. There were mornings when I'd have to cough and my eyes burned. The Connecticut River ran past the complex. We called it the "rainbow river," because it was always that way because, in front of our eyes, huge pipes constantly pumped chemicals into the river. Rocks along the shore were black, as if burned. And, of course, eventually those chemicals went into the ocean. No exaggeration here.
The high school in New Bedford. my mother attended was built on a literal toxic waste dump.
There is no AWAY...
thats sickening and sad to hear . Its amazing what we do not know
I am from Poland and the more I follow these type of stories the more happy I am that we didn't quite follow the American political model and much of the heavy industry is regulated and owned by the state.
To those who read this, this is obvious Poland the country and not Poland OH (another small town very close to East Palistine)
@@jonathanfennell5628 Thanks, I didn't know that there was a town in Ohio called Poland! I only heard of Warsaw, OH :D
Unfortunately, I heard there was a 300 ton fish die-off in the Oder river near the border with Germany last year, and the likely culprit seems to be de facto deregulation of Polish factory business via bribes :(
literally in Poland some company killed the whole of river Odra and nobody was held accountable so...
didn't half your government die in a crash of some heavily regulated air transport?
I learned so much just by listening to you guys. Corporate greed and shareholder value are killing our infrastructures - and workers, too.
No one in that town or surrounding area should ever have 2 work again! 25k or a Mill! Is a slap in the face!! Smfh
Ask the railroad executives if they are willing to use the towns water or live in the town for 3 months, that would be a better sign of safety.
Make their families live there since it's "all safe now".👿😠👿😠
They wouldnt want to live there before the accident either.
At Ohio State, after listening to her presentation, I was told by an employee of OEPA that states decide what EPA's function is and that in Ohio, the EPA helps polluters deal with onerous and cumbersome federal EPA regulations.
Right so in other words, the protection agency for the corporate environments. The CEPA if you will.
There are repercussions from not voting in local and state level elections while the Ohio GOP is gerrymandering the state.
That's my Alma mater!! O-H!!!!
Stewart hits hard. Love the discussion here.
Wow! So much information was shared in this interview. I’m so glad I got to watch it.
Jon please do more stories on this. Keep the focus on because the government will not help these people. No one should be there after this toxic event. MSM isn’t properly covering this
Ohio doesn’t want to bring in the Federal Gov but yeah, ignore the republicans role in this.
My hometown aquifer was poisoned by industrial PFAs back in the 80s. It was exposed by a citizen because the state wouldn’t act on a cancer cluster. I’ve since found out a town in WI I lived in had wells contaminated from the adjacent airport (fire retardant) and in my 3rd state I’ve lived in, 3 areas have also had their groundwater poisoned. They are all on permanent filtration now. Hopefully they don’t lay off the filter changers.
The super fund finder site is eye opening. My town has 4 superfund sites that have definitely contaminated the soil and water. It’s crazy.
ok I grew up in NJ, and worked at NJDEP, and I know the law, and the way the state deals with thousands of hazardous waste dumps and ground water contamination sites. Need I say more? Every state and EPA [where I worked after NJDEP] have thousands of these criminal dumps --- disasters hidden and not so hidden. Business as usual. Its remarkable that many many more people arent falling over with cancers.
I was a Federal Regulatory Inspector related to Railroads shipping toxic inhalation hazards, and the hardest part about enforcing regulations is that the railroads wrote the regulations and the government does not want to enforce what little regulations there are. I was talked out of enforcing so many blatant violations by either the railroads or chemical companies. Go look up the reg in the CFR regarding the railroads and compare it to air travel regulations, and you can see how little they are regulated.
I live in Pleasant Ridge Ohio…..We are in the Cincinnati City limits….We are urban and we are surrounded by trains and railways everywhere…..Surrounded. I’m listening to a train right now that I can see from my front porch that is about two blocks away. The trains travel in this area mostly after 11:00 PM…..and at all times during the day in other areas of the neighborhood. I’ve always been afraid of a disaster happening here.
Thank you Jon Stewart and Friends. I think "We The People" need to wake up and get our Country back. All of our corrupt government agencies need to be rebuilt from the ground up. Our Very Corrupt two party system needs to be disbanded and all of our Government agencies From Township, City, County, State and ALL federal systems should move to only Independent individuals and voters. i.e. VOTE for the person, NOT a party or group.
Bureaucrats determined to completely undermine America's Govt Systems Staff 20 mil Administrative States Making the rules never reduced their high paying jobs all have stake holders socialist Marxist corporate .
that will fix it. lol.
I used to work for a steel tubing mill that poisoned the ground water with Oxsol (nasty solvent) of the whole neighborhood around it. They bought everyone bottled water for a year or so, and that was that. All the water in that area still smells faintly of paint remover, it’s ridiculous.
We…….are our own destruction. God made it perfect then mankind started their BS. Seems to me that another “house cleaning” is coming…
That's not ridiculous that is mass poisoning
Thank you Jon,first of all!! Next I am a Local President for one of these freight rail unions,so here’s what we go through,our members are working 80 hours a week to try and keep the trains and the US safe! They are working tired and why you ask? Freakin greed,they’ve cut our members down from 85 just 8 years ago to 35 today.All the while the CEO’s and Boards of Directors are Putting fat coin in their pocket off the backs of our members!! There’s your problem,and it’s an old one,Corporate greed!! We do appreciate you and your team being the voice for some bad ass railroaders!!
The people of Ohio have their elected governor, senator, Congress man, mayor that could have all shown up for their constituents, while Pete was busy working on their behalf, to help them with what they couldn't do for themselves.
Corporate greed is destroying our country.
It all started with the departure of the caboose. Not a joke. After that, they started cutting jobs, not doing updates on systems.. We here in Canada were horrified with the massive decline in our CN. Time to kick butt, big time. As for all Train Companies, shorten the amount of train cars allowed !! And as soon as weather permits, get to work on the tracks. I know Pres. Biden wants that done. Thank you Jon, as always. Never has there been a finer spokesman. And you make me cry. Bless you.
Bring back the caboose, noses and eyes are better than electronics in cases like this
Ummmm ..the Kardashians deserve an applause here . The kaboose is roaring back !
Trudeau's Canada.
Who was the politician who made it illegal for the freight rail workers to strike when they demand for sick paid leave in their new contract?
It was Joe Biden.
(There is no justification for Google under new CEO Neal Mohan to censor the above post which carries only truthful information without bias. UA-cam is violating my First Amendment Right and violating the Sherman Act that forbid unreasonable monopolization including monopolization of opinion. )
Jon Stewart should watch the video below to find out who allows corporate greed to persist in the freight rail industry:
VIDEO: Biden Sides with Big Business & Urges Congress to Block Major Freight Rail Strike
When was kid my town of 1500 people had vacated at derailment of chemical carriers in 1970s! We couldn't come back for 3 days and the cause to fast of speed on corner! It took them two weeks before we could come back two weeks later! Not even a bulb in local newspaper and even guys from other town volenteer firemen were taking to doctors even but they covered it up!
At least they don't have to pay the railroad workers sick pay... Thanks Brandon!
Educate yourself and open your ears trump allowed it ignorance is blissed
I worked for railroad. Aggressive cost cutting and then wondering why corners are being cut is the name of the game.
Same in my Illinois town. Runs right next to the high school and through neighborhoods.
This disaster should not just be a wake-up call, it should be your third time snooze button stuck while the stove is on fire. As concerning as all this information is, I'm happy you are talking about it loudly, and it should reach your authorities to demand change.
It’s refreshing to see this horrific disaster covered with compassion and deep thought. It has been so frustrating on every single level. From the time of the derailment on Feb. 3rd, I have watched this unfold in sheer horror sitting less than 19 miles out from the derailment site as the crow flies. The lack of information and the mixed messages to the public have been gut-wrenching. “It’s safe. Don’t drink the water.” I was scanning multiple news sources outside of the area for coverage and wondering why I’d see things about Barney the purple dinosaur or Rhianna’s pregnancy or Super Bowl commercials, but nothing about the Norfolk Southern disaster unfolding in a neighboring village that was in the midst of suffering from irreparable damage. Mention of it was even neglected in the SOTU as people in Ohio and PA were evacuees in crisis. A sidenote is that an atmospheric inversion occurred after the detonation of vinyl chloride (from 5 cars) causing the dark chemical plume to spread out for a ridiculous distance - just one of the many things people don’t talk about much. By the next morning, I could smell the chemicals inside my home. Didn’t take long for a sore throat to follow. Dare I get started about my concerns for well water? For health of the people and animals? About the oil spill and toxic chemical plume that destroyed unthinkable amounts of life in local waterways and made it to the Ohio River? About the land and people’s livelihoods for years to come? About declining home values? About neglected neighboring communities? About the need for more train regulations, better treatment of RR employees, and an improved response system? About lobbying being bizarre? About first responders not being protected? About trauma? About the need for change and for our government at all levels to learn from this? About the absolute necessity for Norfolk Southern to be held accountable for their complete negligence and disregard for human life and the ecosystem? I never know when to stop talking about this… because there is so, so much to talk about.
Good job to all of you. It's a prickly school subject! Please don't take things personally and just enact what you think will be beneficial! ♡♡♡ Prayers going up 🙌
Really glad you're covering this John, as this will likely have as many toxic after effects as the 9/11 first responders
Yeah and just like there, it’s always worse than the authorities claim initially.
Yep, Thanks Jon for getting to the 🤪"Nut"
of another issue by coordinating another
meaningful Convo with your Great choice
of Guests.
The smoke plume and the widespread effects on the water table is what concerns me
I think it's spread to Eastern NY. Long island
It's incredibly how little power our votes actually have compared to the votes of corporate shareholders. It's almost like... by design or something.
It would make a huge difference if everyone that was eligible was required to vote and gerrymandering was non existent.
Our votes mean next to nothing. They are not doing what we want them to do .Greed appears everywhere to Trump our needs and desires.
Showboat City = Chesaning, Michigan, where I used to live! There was more that happened than just the river changing, but overall that was an accurate description of what happens in small towns. Thanks for the shout out!
I live in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania. A town of under 2500. Surrounded by refineries and plastic manufacturers. We have rolling bomb trains, trucks. And ships carrying poisonous explosives every day and night. The railroads have brushed off our concerns for decades.
I live 30 miles east in PA. Don't forget Beaver County PA communities were evacuated to, just accross the state line. Thanks for covering this. There is real danger from the amount of LNG (Liquifued Natural Gas) being transported on rail lines. Imagine a LNG disaster in Pittsburgh for example.
There was a rail accident over forty years ago. I cannot remember exactly when and where in the US but the description of the gas container tanks bleveying was frightening. Some of the tanks travelled over eight miles when they exploded.
Hey how's that Cracker plant going? I keep seeing posts over here in Mahoning Co.
The best time to evacuate is February 3 - when the flames are extinguished. I followed the weather forecast for several days at that time. At that time, the monsoon was blowing east and south, and you should drive north. But it is not important now, the disaster has already formed, and the damage to the air and body is irreversible.
@@konradyearwood5845 In 2009 there was a derailment in Viareggio, Italy. A wagon containing LPG exploded and vaporized 32 people. But at least i think there's no long term consequences for that.
Some of those hazardous handling instructions for certain chemicals would curl your hair: "If involved in fire, evacuate surroundings to FIVE MILES from incident. Puncture of tank car and fire could cause container to rocket in any direction" - scary, isn't it?
Back in 1974, a tank car in Wenatchee, Washington, blew up on a hot summer day and leveled Appleyard, the switching yard, killing 2 people and injuring 66. The blast left dozens of freight cars crumpled up like paper and steel shrapnel thrown half a mile in all directions. Windows of businesses and houses were blown out for miles, and fires started in the dry grass nearby and across the river. The tank was destined to the duPont plant in Dupont, Washington, for making explosives for the mining industry. It blew a hole in the railyard 80 feet long, 60 feet wide, and 36 feet deep. After a lengthy investigation by the FRA and the NTSB, no cause for the explosion could be determined; duPont claimed the product couldn't self-combust without an obvious spark or flame and that the double-walled steel tank car should have safely contained the product.
my friend oversea texted me see if I was OK and I didn't even know what was happening. later I watched a youtuber's research and learned that the big big companies who owned the stock of the train companies also owned the stock of these main stream medias...........Sad. When this happened, all the medias were covering the balloons.
Perhaps if you spent less time on youtube and read the news you would have known. This derailment and its repercussions have been covered extensively since it happened in all the major news outlets, even Fox covered it.
@@BoB-Dobbs_leaning-left no they didn't. Are you not paying attention to any of these videos? Like you're trashing someone for informing themselves when media outlets were not touching it. There are people who lived in the state that had no idea what was going on....
@@BoB-Dobbs_leaning-left I’ve seen it all over UA-cam and other social media. I haven’t seen anything on cable news channels. Maybe they finally started talking about it (I haven’t watched in a couple of days)
@@BoB-Dobbs_leaning-left UA-cam is the place to get the latest news
Squirrel Tribe shared that kind of information. SHe dives deep and connects the dots.
There needs to be more outrage on them trying to trick people into signing away their rights to sue under the guise of permission to test their water.
And in a couple of months, people will be ready to start planting their gardens, and NS will be long gone. How are people supposed to figure out if their garden soil is safe to grow food in?
The "essential" employee remark brought back memories. I was deemed an "essential" employee in the first weeks early on during the pandemic. I still work the same job, but nobody cares anymore. I worked so hard for long/extra hours, but it just didn't matter. Nothing matters. Nothing.
😢😢😢
@Billy it’s REALLY TOUGH right now. Hang in there my guy, you are not alone. One step/at a time.
You matter to the rest of us poor suckers who put people over profits. Thank you for your consistency and sacrifice. 🙏
All employee's deemed essential should have a government mandated pay rise. I thought people in a capitalistic society were supposed to rewarded with money, oh right that's only the wealthy.
You DO matter!!!
Exceptionally knowledgeable panel (speaking as an environmental engineer). Thank you, all, for your insights from the front lines.
Glad they mentioned that these products go through every major population center in the us, LA, NYC, Cleveland, Atlanta, NOLA, Chicago etc. Just waiting for something worse to happen
I have never seen anything like this but I have worried about the trains that go through my small town! Sometimes I stop at crossing and wonder what the round white tanks taking! At least one high school and five elementary schools are from two to three blocks away from the railroad! People worry about airplanes flying overhead but I never heard any conversations about railroads. I just know about the Unions and work related disparity!
Damn I've freaking missed John. I needed this today on my commute to work. Thank you all for the transparency, and John thank you for leveraging your clout and good name to make it happen.
Pete needs to STOP the dance and hold the companies accountable to upgrade the systems AND to clean up the horrific damage!
Well, Pete (who I hoped better of) does what they all do. Putting $$$ and power first.
Pete, is incompetent. He knows absolutely NOTHING about the transportation industry. But, he likes Amtrak, that made him qualified under this regime
Gotta agree here, I love mayor Pete and you'd think he would be on the side of the town from the get go.
He is a huge disappointment
And yet, no one is noticing that the state has to invite the Federal Gov. And it took their new Senator 10 days to notice anything.
What about all the toxic crap in their homes? Who is going to clean up those hazards? Even if they pitch everything in those houses and clean them thoroughly, will that be enough.
Note: In other countries, they are BANNED from shipping Vinyl Chloride. They have to ship the ingredients and then make Vinyl Chloride on site. Sooooo that would be one idea to change.
I was a switchman at the Gateway hump yard and Quit because it was getting too dangerous. They took 1 man off a 3 man crew, started remote control locomitives in the yard and with a magic wand they made everybody engineers with little training. Railroads just throw money at things and make it go away. REGULATE THE RAILROADS!
Larry Fink is the biggest owner of BlackRock, which is the largest individual owner of The Vanguard Group LLC, which owns Norfolk Southern. So if we’re looking for a head to put on a pike, he’s the individual profiting the most from this.
Black rock. That says it all.
This reminds me of the filming of the John Wayne movie, where the area they filmed was affected by the fallout from nuclear testing. A freak weather pattern pushed the fallout to the town they were staying in. Over the next couple of decades, the majority of the cast and crew developed some form of cancer. John Wayne, Agnes Moorhead and others eventually dying and the film being pulled by Howard Hughes because of it. In the 90s, 30 years after it happened, the administration began a program of compensation thinking that not many people would claim, it was a huge cost.
One thing often overlooked, is that nothing would be loaded into a tank car unless there was consumer demand for the finished product. The people in the communities these trains travel through also buy the end products. Consumers are not without fault here. Don't get me wrong. I worked for a railroad for a long time. Everything changed for the worst with PSR in 2012 where I worked. Railroads are the WORST. The hostility between managemanent and front line workers is at a level no one outside the industry can hope to understand.