Photo taken by a passenger in a commercial airliner, posted at the Damnthatsinteresting subreddit.
Sadly, this event will probably be on the back pages or ignored completely by the next time Ohio residents go to the polls to decide whether to re-elect the same state officials.
Addendum: I took note of the comment by a reader that the photo was unverified, so today I searched for others and found this one -
and this photo taken from a plane flying underneath the cloud cover -
Not "proof" of the first one's legitimacy technically, but good enough for me.
And in response to the query "So is this a political issue?" my answer would be "absolutely" - this is what politics is about - choosing people to manage public affairs for us. Please note I did not blame Republicans. My wrath was directed against "state officials" (and local and federal I suppose) whose decisions allowed this to happen. Anon's info in the comments suggests this is a bipartisan fuckup.
Brought to you by the party that doesn't like regulations of any kind on business- like updated brake systems and the proper labelling and restrictions regarding hazardous cargo.
ReplyDeleteSo this is a political issue?
ReplyDelete2014 - A split congress passed S.2784 - Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2014, mandating ECP brakes on trains carrying certain Hazardous Materials, among other things. The materials transported in the Ohio event would not have required ECP brakes under this law.
2017 - A Republican controlled Congress repealed certain parts of S. 2784, including the ECP brake mandate.
2019 - 2020 - A split congress did not introduce legislation regarding ECP brakes
2021 - 2022 - A Democratic controlled congress did not introduce legislation regarding ECP brakes, nor did Mr. Biden issue an executive order, and no such legislation or executive action was recommended by Mr. Buttigieg (head of the DOT)
FRA - The Federal Railroad Administration, an arm of the DOT, is charged with regulating and enforcing railway safety (since 1966). The current head of the FRA is Amit Bose (since 2021). He is the first South Asian to hold that position, if that is of interest to anyone. He has proposed no ECP legislation.
2023 - A split congress has thus far proposed no ECP brake legislation.
February 2023, after the derailment - The EPA advises local authorities to take measures to release explosive chemicals from 5 railway cars to prevent a catastrophic explosion. Residents are ordered to evacuate. Two days later, the EPA assures the mayor of East Palestine (Trent Conaway) and the Governor of Ohio (Mike Dewine) that it is safe to rescind the evacuation order and allow people to return. The EPA advises citizens who use well water to use bottled water for cooking and such.
Appears that neither party was much interested in ECP brakes, and other railway safety issues, until February 3rd'
Sources: https://www.health.pa.gov/; https://www.reuters.com/; https://www.newsweek.com/; https://www.alleghenyfront.org/; https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/; https://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Ohio_train_derailment
BTW, Snopes has rated the validity of the photo as Unknown, FWIW
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/airplane-smoke-clouds-ohio-train-derailment-photo/
Thank you for taking the time to write this all up! Context is so important.
DeleteThank you - that was itemized well - we screwed up - we are to blame - I hope we fix it.
Delete"Republicans broke it. Democrats didn't fix it. They're equally to blame!" smh. I grew out of the cynical "both sides" BS when Trump was elected and Rs showed their true colors.
DeleteIt's not political- Seriously?
ReplyDeleteWhich party rolled back decades of clean water regulations? Ans: Republican (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46526776). Which party slashes EPA funding and enforcement when in power? Ans: Republican (https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/482352-trump-budget-slashes-funding-for-epa-environmental-programs/). Which party treats man made climate change as a complete and total joke? Ans: Republican. Way too many links to list!
Care to discuss which party not so secretly salivates to reduce/eliminate Medicare and Social Security?
I am sorry, I did not know that I had engaged in a debate about which party is responsible for various policies. I was simply attempting to point out that neither party, since 2017, paid much attention to railway safety issues. And, no, railway safety should not be political.
ReplyDeleteFWIW: Proposed FRA funding for FY2023 is $4,662,426,000 of which $254,426,000 is slated for Safety and Operations.
https://www.esparail.org/site/assets/files/1/fy_2023_white_budget_request_for_rail.pdf
I hold no brief for either party. IMO, both parties check the direction of the wind and head in the direction that will get them the most support. Republicans oppose any proposal by Democrats and vice versa. Democrats wanted Trump gone from day one, so Republicans want Biden gone. Extremists grab the headlines while debate and compromise cowers in the corner. Turkey is hit by a massive quake, the silent majority (including some politicians of both parties) in the USA says, "What can we do to help?" A train derails in Ohio causing untold issues with local residents, the extremists compete to be first to blame the other side, while the EPA, CDC, Department of Defense, and several other non-government organizations are helping. Ironically, the area does not qualify for FEMA assistance because Norfolk Southern is providing money to residents and for cleanup.
I found this information yesterday but it did not seem directly related to railway safety. EPA funding was cut in 2005, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017. Keep in mind that these are fiscal years, so, for example, FY 2005 started in October 2004, etc. As to enforcement, I do not have any stats on that, but the EPA workforce hit a high of 18,110 in FY1999 to a low (in the past 25 years) of 14,172 in FY2018 through FY2020. That number was at 14,581 for FY2022. EPA funding for FY 2023 is $10.1 billion.
https://www.epa.gov/planandbudget/budget
Useless but interesting: The EPA budget in its first year was $1,003,984,000, equal to about $7,200,000,000 today.
As to "not so secretly salivate[ing] to reduce/eliminate Medicare and Social Security," No desire to discuss that, but that bastion of right wing propaganda, NPR, has spoken to that issue:
https://www.npr.org/2023/02/11/1156132516/republicans-say-they-wont-cut-social-security-so-why-does-it-keep-coming-up
I should have noted above that starting in 2017, the total workforce numbers for the EPA changed in that only FTE were counted.
ReplyDeleteFor the record, I'm hardly the rah-rah Democrat. It's just that there really is no denying that there is one political party in particular that goes out of their way to push legislation that is specifically anti-environment, or that has environmentally detrimental consequences- that ultimately affect... us, and not in a good way. I could expand that into other areas, but I'll keep it to the subject at hand, and thank you, for your continued civility...
DeleteI do not think this is "bipartisan fuckup."
ReplyDeleteI guess I am simply unclear how "state officials" (and local and federal I suppose)... decisions allowed this to happen." Interstate railway commerce is regulated by the Federal Government, the FRA to be precise. The FRA is charged with monitoring and enforcing safety regulations and policies. This train had traveled through Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. If the axle would have held for another 3 to 5 minutes, the derailment would have occurred in Pennsylvania. (Its destination was Conway, PA, about 20 miles NW of Pittsburgh. Norfolk Southern has a huge facility there) Pennsylvania state officials dodged a bullet there.
BTW, states cannot even regulate the maximum amount of time that an interstate train can block a railway road crossing.
In 2015, the DOT issued the new transportation rule (as mandated by S.2784 - Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2014), which was far less stringent and wide-ranging than safety advocates had demanded. The final regulation’s definition of “high-hazard flammable trains” was not expanded as the NTSB had requested, The train was not classified as a “high-hazard flammable train,” under the more limited definition outlined by the 2015 rule. This part of the rule was not changed in any way between 2015 and Feb 2023. “The [East Palestine] train did not qualify as an HHFT under the regulations,” said an NTSB spokesperson. An FRA spokesperson seconded that. The train would not have been required to have ECP brakes under the 2015 regulations.
I have no doubt that there is, or was, a likely toxic cloud over eastern Ohio. However, I am always skeptical of any picture that appears on social media.
Suits have already been filed against Norfolk Southern. It would be helpful if, in addition to monetary compensation, the likely settlement included an agreement that NS spend more on maintenance of their trains, including the installation of ECP brakes on trains carrying ANY flammable/hazardous material.
Thanks for reading.
an informative article (longish read)
https://www.levernews.com/rail-companies-blocked-safety-rules-before-ohio-derailment/
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/airplane-smoke-clouds-ohio-train-derailment-photo/
ReplyDeleteWell, that wraps it up. Thank you, anon.
DeleteAside from the cheap political blame game, the underlying problem here is lying.
ReplyDeleteSo, ignoring how we got here, a major incident happened, and that car blew up.
What is most chilling to see is how many people just blindly copy the words of people who say this is all fine, despite the overwhelming evidence that it is not.
Use your eyes! Contact an expert at your local university or community college, or even just your OSHA person at HR of your media company. Stop cheaply parroting blatant and obvious lies. And instead of doing another briefing from another pressco where people lie to you, go look at that river, and then read the statement from the pressco there immediately showing its lies.
You do not need to keep asking questions to known liars. They will continue lying to you. Start getting after the truth.
BTW: Language question. Why is it 'lie', 'lying' and 'liar'? Why not 'lier', 'lyer'? Sure, lier would be a homonym, but there's plenty of those.