Norfolk Southern Rail Disaster ‘Nuked’ Ohio, Hazmat Expert Says 

The rail CEOs who enforce severe understaffing that led to this should be criminally charged and their pay packages should cover all remediation and health costs.

The fact this was kept from major news for over a week is unreal. That they decided to burn these chemicals off is astoundingly nonchalant. Typical US lack of concern about human life

Our government officials are beholden to these corporations. They will protect them more than they will protect us.

How about the first responders who weren’t alerted as to what the trains were carrying

The NSR train wasn't even considered as “high-hazard flammable” due to lobbying efforts from the railroad to limit regulation.

This is one of those things that no matter how bad it is, we will NEVER know the full truth. The corporation and government have had a week to clean up and get their stories straight.

if our government won't hold them accountable, private citizens unite! Sue them out of business.

Whatever the corporations say, it’s probably 10x worst.

This is why the railroad unions need to wildcat strike.

Privatize the profits and socialize the losses and damages. It’s the American way. 😢

I used to be a member at my local fire department, when you realize the amount of trucks and trains transporting hazardous materials it becomes alarming how much of it is just taken through large populations and no one notices.

They really aren’t trying to talk about the train bomb that blew up in Ohio, and it’s saying a whole lot.

I don't think people understand this is a huge devastation and all people will literally have to move out of the vicinity.

Poor animals in the area 😢

If anyone else is really paying attention to what is going on it's not just in this area, it's hitting the main water supply and rivers lakes streams heading to everyone

The railroad should probably be offering to relocate people in the immediate area outright. Buy their homes and pay to move them wherever they want to go. It will probably be cheaper and safer to just do that than move people back in and risk exposure. I guess they have plenty of incentive to shrug it off and wait for people to die in 20 years of cancer, when it will be difficult to prove a link.

I'm sure that some libertarian lunatic will likely try to find some way to blame all of this on excessive regulation.

I’m glad y’all are covering this because I’m around Cincinnati (@250 miles away) and there’s almost ZERO coverage here. I’ve talked to 3 people in the past week that hadn’t even heard about the derailment and possible contamination of the Ohio River. The river is within walking distance of all our homes.

WTF! Why would it take so long to figure out what's being transported on that train? Isn't a bill of lading required for everything being shipped? I would think that it would literally take mere minutes to determine what was being shipped on that train.

I was watching the news feed when they blew up that train car and the ticker tape on the news feed literally said that the chemicals were not toxic to humans even though there was a heavy chlorine odor in the air. Its like that movie Erin Brockavich

I knew there'd be consequences for quashing the rail worker strike but I never expected them this quickly

They need to abandon the area, and get help doing it. Getting a health check up now so you can sue while you're dying? Hell with that.

Time for the federal government to own, and run the rails, in the U.S.

Too bad none of these corporations will be held accountable .... smh 😒😒😒

I'm an employee in charge of hazmat cleanup for a large shipping firm in the US. I can tell you that this is a stark example of a problem that persists in many places handling hazardous materials and waste. I see it in packaging, and in the way my immediate management treats my department. This has also been made extremely worse since covid as many facility audits by the authorities that regulate the transportation of hazmats(there are 7) halted or slowed their frequency. In my case, I work in a facility where a worst-case scenario would be isolated to the 100 or so employees working and would not have an effect on the surrounding homes, etc. Regardless, my department is incredibly short staffed and seen as a drain on production. We are expected to cut corners when dealing with spills if they have stopped or slowed production. Employees and management in the building are not held accountable to the proper spill repording protocols. These incidents are often manipulated by the rank and file before I'm able to get to the spills. I will state that the company has put a lot of money in to train me and requires every employee to do annual hazmat training. The fact remains that accountability is missing at the local management level. Last year, we were actually told last February that we would not get audited in all of 2022. You can imagine that gave my management the knowledge that they could ignore my department and things got rapidly worse. Now, they are scrambling to put the pieces back together as an audit is eminent. You can be sure that I will accurately describe to the auditors how my department is handled.

There is evidence of increase in vinyl chloride gas in Cincinnati. That's bad enough news. However, it may not be due to the criminal mishandling of the materials involved in this disaster. Cincinnati is a major rail hub and has long been. Vast trains come through the railyards in Queensgate near Union Terminal and travel along US50 turning north near the Indiana border. There are countless cars of freight of what we will never know. It's not as though railroads, that are essential to the infrastructure of commerce, are forthcoming with such information.

I'm a retired locomotive engineer and you have no idea how much danger your report doesn't contain thanks to Regan and the republicans.

That last advice is extraordinary. It's "good" advice but dystopian at the same time. It shows you how hopeless we became, how powerless our society is against these abusers.

I live in Sandusky. Ohio, right on the shores of Lake Erie, about 2 hours northwest of East Palestine. We had our train derailment with Norfolk Southern in October and the city is still waiting for repairs. The chemical leaked was paraffin wax and the damage caused was to the sewer infrastructure, the underpass retaining walls, the pavement below, and much more. Thank God the chemical spill wasn't as bad as in East Palestine but we are still without the use of the street.

I come from a town like East Palestine. These people don't have access to healthcare to get a checkup.

The Board of Directors of Norfolk Southern authorized a $10 billion stock buyback last March, after paying out $7 billion in buybacks between 2019 and 2021. For contrast, East Palestine, Ohio spends less than $20 million each year on civic services, some 350 times less than those railroad stock buybacks.

Not a single peep on the evening news.

What happened in Ohio is awful these companies need to be held accountable also this country 's government officials are so into corporate money is one of the reasons why it happened I wish we had more politicians in office who are railroad workers

These kinds of trains go right through Philadelphia, right next to a major river and a train station. Infrastructure in Philly is rough. It’s terrifying.

Thanks ou for covering this I live in Canada and this is the first I heard of this.

“Socialize the losses. Privatize the gains.”

It's crazy that this derailment could create a ghost town and no one will be held accountable for that.

Not gonna lie, I'm ashamed of the lackluster air sampling, spill sampling and water sampling done by the US EPA. This is my line of work and it had me shaking my head how bad they handled this.

Emma, I remember that work you did on the Delaware story. It's fucked up here - and it's gonna get worse given how many people are moving here from NJ and NY.

Exactly, Sam! Getting a health checkup might be a no-brainer in civilized countries. However, we don't have affordable healthcare or guaranteed sick days in this failed state of a nation. How many people will suffer in the long run because getting a checkup is just not possible for them?

Was a "controlled explosion" (whatever that means) really the best way to deal with the chemicals??? I find that very difficult to believe.

The company responsible should pay every resident in the area’s medical bills and lost home value

Get a health checkup with all the health insurance you don't have.

A River is a moving body of water. It’s not just the people and the wildlife in the area that will be affected. It will affect people for miles down stream.

Who's going to pay for the cleanup of their house.

Hey Sam. Thanks for covering this story. I work for a Class 1 railroad in Canada and the big difference between the way things are run is pre departure inspections. Every time a train leaves it's originating terminal it must be inspected by a Carman. They get an allotted time per car to inspect brakes, wheels, airlines etc. American Carmen have much less time to inspect and are often pushed by their company to sign off on cars that should be brought to the car shop for repairs. This obviously increases the risk that cars in need of repair are sent down the line where inevitably accidents will happen.

I've worked with BNSF and UP for a number of years, specifically auditing demurage and transit paperwork. It takes LITERALLY 4 MINS to pull up the ENTIRE manifest history of a single car. Every maintenance service, every cargo shipment. 4 MINUTES. 7 days to release is clearly bullshit

honestly, rail workers should just go on strike anyways, bring the economy to its knees. I don't really want that either, cause it will suck but sometimes bad things need to happen to actually make any real progress.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources is already reporting dead fish (estimates as high as 3,500 dead fish so far) and locals are reporting that their pets and livestock are suddenly getting sick and/or dying. Norfolk Southern and the gov. just served these poor people a massive shit sandwich.

Should have been a wildcat strike

I live in Lorain County which is about 20 minutes south of Cleveland. I live in a village and our tiny downtown has an intersection of two different tracks. Trains are going by all day and night. This really makes me worry.

Guaranteed they aren't telling you the truth! The damage or danger is 10x worse than they are saying.

Same company similar accident , major explosion in Columbus, Ohio back in 2012. These people are criminals.

It's absolutely devastating to see how we treat our communities and environment. We will have nowhere left to go if we continue to let these corporations and capitalism dictate the fate of our land. I want to be able to enjoy the natural beauty of the world, but it keeps being taken away from us. We've already lost so much and I can't stand it anymore.

Evening news don’t care, certainly our government being beholden to these corporations won’t

Notice how the media and the government aren't talking about it 🤔🤔🤔

I hope we can do an aid package and get guarantees against prosecution and law suits so their stock price is not affected. That would be the true disaster.

They never should have let those people go back there

Norfolk southern is having a really bad few months. In December, a new-hire trainee was riding in the cab when a metal beam protruding from a passing train shot though the cab, killing the student.

This is the future of Republican rule.

Suppose they wanted to move now. Who would buy a house there? Their lives have been destroyed.

This is why I support independent news you guy’s always tell the truth. I definitely appreciate that.

Only in America could this be normal

A standard story of profits over people in the USA.

It's wild that this is what makes rightwingers give a shit about the environment lol

Iam afraid to drink any water from the tap at home. The best I can do is filter our drinking water with reverse osmosis filters.we still have to bathe in the tap water. We don't live in a risky area , I couldn't imagine what these people are going thru

And this is why I support ALL RAILROAD STRIKES!!!!

The other thing with "Get out of there if you can", in the capitalist society we're in, is anyone going to buy a home here for the foreseeable future? The most valuable asset many of these people own is now worthless.

Where did the smoke plume and chemicals go after leaving the Train Crash area?

I worked for the RR for 15 years. My health was so bad I had to leave. Now I've been trying to get a disability, (which I paid for, with my own money. ) thru there RR disability board and I'm still fighting them to get it. It's been two years now.. The RR retirement program has more money than SS. many people don't know that.. it's because they drive you into such poor health, when you retire, you simply die 6 months later, and the RR retirement board just puts the money back into the fund and it grows and grows.. You don't understand what is going on here.. you don't understand the conditions.. I spend an average of two days a week in the VA hospital getting help.. the RR simply doesn't care about anything or anyone..

This is just the latest toxic train derailment. This occurs often, just like oil pipeline spills. Awful.

It is probably better to evacuate the town and compensate the residents.

I'm reminded of that movie Dark Water with Mark Ruffalo about corporation effectively poisoning a town in a way similar to how Emma described. Scary stuff.

I don't think they should ever go home. Let the railroad buy the whole town.

Hey, I just found out there's another one of these in Louisiana from Union Pacific.

Good point, how can they thoroughly test if they don’t know what leaked, seriously, how good do you think their tests are OR is Norfolk testing to see what’s “detectable” and what they might be held accountable for.. THEY KNOW EXACTLY WHATS ON THOSE TRAINS DOWN TO THE PENNY AS SOON AS THEY LEAVE THE STATION..ITS ALL ABOUT PROFIT. Any delay of information was only to cover Norfolks liability…..

This would be the 'perfect time' to, as Shapirobot would say, *FLIP THE HOUSE*

Where is Pete Buttigieg?!?!?!

DNR here in Michigan, did years ago, would issue a weekly advisory about whether it was safe to eat the fish caught in the Great Lakes. Changed day to day. Safe to eat today, not today. Crazy.

You can't support less regulation and then stand with righteous indignation. This is exactly what you wanted, whether or not you can admit it to yourself. This is where less regulation leads.

What company owned the actual cargo of hazardous, lethal materials on this train? Isn't the railway required to notify every town the train passes through about their cargo of hazardous materials? I'd check into the rail and the cargo corporation's majority holders/investors and their countries of origin.

I am from this area. It sickens me what has happened here.

HOW MANY HOURS did it take to push the wreckage aside to repair the tracks and reactivate the moving of more TRAINS OF DEATH CARGO through the town???

Stay on the story. Don’t let up.

I sure hope everyone affected still has N95 masks leftover from covid.

It's crazy to me that even in the middle of a pandemic something like this happens and people don't think hmm maybe I'll put on a mask

Makes no difference. Nothing will be done. While the region will suffer for decades.

How the heck were people supposed to know to stay inside etc, if they kept it quiet? That's nuts. It's another 'accident' just like the gas pipe 'accident'. What a world. SMH 🙏

Cant FEMA come and clean up the houses? What are they for? Guarding Walmart? These poor people shouldnt be allowed back in their homes, relocation asap.

The railroad CEO’s should all be sued and jailed!! This is criminal and crimes against humanity!!

It's Ohio, no big loss.

Maybe I'm just making myself feel better by saying that because I live in Columbus and winds typically move from the southwest to the north and east or from the West to the east that I'm safe.

Some of the cars contained Vinyl Chloride - Chronic exposure can cause permanent liver injury and liver cancer, neurologic or behavioral symptoms, and changes to the skin and bones of the hand.

This video should be 3M views rather than just measly 34k, lots of my coworker down here in Houston doesn’t even know about this event 😢

As the Hazmat expert stated, NS's main concern was getting that mainline open and running, the public's health be damned! It's S.O. P. with these guys. If half a forest needs to be plowed under to get to a derailment, they'll do it. Got to get those derailed cars pushed to the side and that mainline opened.

The U.S. is literally The Simsons! He he!

Gotta have the freight company pay for EVERYTHING and the president should have authority to REPLACE whoever is RUNNING that shit show with someone HE THINKS WILL DO BETTER.

Chlorine & Chlorine & Chlorides and crossings without gates everywhere.

The railroad will pin it on a low level employee thus limiting their corporate liability.

Was it a inside job? They arrested a reporter. What the heck is going on.