'Enough with the politics': Derailment investigator takes aim at partisan sniping, misinformation & In East Palestine, Erin Brockovich gives reeling residents advice and tells them to trust their instincts 23&25FEB23

WELL said NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy, and how refreshing to have someone in a position of authority to put the welfare of the people in need first and to basically tell the politicians and social media / reporter clowns to grow up and address the situation at hand and the needs of  the people. This from Politico followed by an interesting article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.....

'Enough with the politics': Derailment investigator takes aim at partisan sniping, misinformation

"Enough with the politics on this," National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said Thursday at an update on her agency's probe.

A Norfolk Southern freight train passes passes through East Palestine, Ohio, on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023. | Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo

By TANYA SNYDER

02/23/2023 11:41 AM EST

Updated: 02/23/2023 03:28 PM EST

The head of the federal probe into the Ohio train derailment lashed out Thursday at “politics” and “misinformation” she said are clouding the ongoing investigation and expressed her exasperation that vital safety recommendations can be ignored amid the noise.

“Enough with the politics on this,” National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said Thursday at an update on her agency’s probe. “I don’t understand why this has gotten so political. This is a community that is suffering. This is not about politics.”

She was responding to a question about Donald Trump’s visit Wednesday to the derailment site in East Palestine, Ohio, which he used to slam Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and the Biden administration for their response.

“There’s a lot of misinformation on what would have prevented this,” she said. “Everyone is guessing. I saw it all over media, which was driving me nuts. Those solutions, all of the ones I heard of, are not the solutions.”

She hinted at an article that circulated soon after the derailment blaming it on a rule that would have mandated faster brakes on some trains, which was withdrawn in 2017. She said those brakes would not have prevented this derailment or even have significantly reduced its severity.

Homendy said the speculation about cause, much of which is false, is doubly frustrating because once the final report is issued, “we get ignored.” Though the NTSB investigates serious transportation accidents, the changes their investigations recommend are not mandated unless an agency or Congress decides to act on them.

NTSB’s preliminary report released Thursday showed that the engineer at the controls of the Norfolk Southern train that derailed in Ohio tried to stop the train following a warning about an overheating wheel, but by that time several cars had already come off the tracks.

According to the report, before it derailed, the train passed three detectors intended to alert train crew to physical problems, including overheating wheels. Though the train detectors showed one of the wheels was steadily getting hotter, it did not reach a temperature Norfolk Southern considered critical until it passed the third detector and alerted, as outlined by the National Transportation Safety Board.

When the train passed that last detector, the detector “transmitted a critical audible alarm message instructing the crew to slow and stop the train to inspect a hot axle,” the report said.

By then, the engineer was already trying to slow the train because it was behind another train. Upon hearing the alarm, the engineer increased the application of the brakes, and then automatic emergency brakes initiated, bringing the train to a stop.

When it stopped, the crew “observed fire and smoke and notified the Cleveland East dispatcher of a possible derailment,” the report said.

Thirty-eight cars derailed and 12 more were damaged in the ensuing fire.

The hopper car with the overheating bearing was carrying plastic pellets, which caught fire when the axle overheated, Homendy said.

The placards that designate which cars are carrying hazardous materials — and which she said are “critical in response and in protecting the community,” were also made of plastic and melted. NTSB may recommend a different material for the placards.

The focus of the investigation is on the wheelset and the bearings. They are also looking at the design of the tank cars themselves, the accident response, including the venting and burning of the vinyl chloride, railcar design and maintenance procedures and practices, Norfolk Southern’s use of wayside defect detectors, and Norfolk Southern’s railcar inspection practices.

NTSB plans to hold a rare investigative field hearing near the site in the spring with the goals of informing the public, collecting factual information from witnesses, discussing possible solutions and building consensus for change.

In East Palestine, Erin Brockovich gives reeling residents advice and tells them to trust their instincts

JORDAN ANDERSON

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

janderson@post-gazette.com

25FEB23

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — Three weeks after a toxic train derailment and chemical explosion upended this village just over the Pennsylvania border, famed environmental activist Erin Brockovich offered support for reeling residents worried about their health. 

At a packed town hall Friday evening, Ms. Brockovich gave advice to concerned residents, telling them to trust their instincts. She said moments like this can feel like the “biggest gaslight” of people’s lives,  and she told them that it won’t be a “quick fix,” but a “long game.” 

“I've learned in communities over and over again — they can handle the truth,” she said. “Whether it scares them, or they don't want to hear it. What they can't handle is a mistruth, being misled.”

She told the residents to be aware of how they and their children are feeling and to document information. “You know if you smell something. You know if the water is a funny color,” she said. 

 

Hanna Webster

East Palestine residents say health assessment clinic falls short: 'A dog and pony show'

Ms. Brockovich was joined by attorney Mikal Watts, who urged people to get tested as soon as possible.

"I'm begging you, for your own good, go get your blood and your urine tested now," he said. "If it says you don't have anything, you have peace of mind. If it says you have something, you now have an objective, medical basis."

Bob Bowcock, a water expert and the founder of the water development firm Integrated Resource Management, shared his concerns that contaminants may spread to the city’s drinking water sooner than expected. 

“The state of Ohio has determined that groundwater protection from the surface contamination in this community is zero,” he said. “I've never seen a zero. Groundwater is very shallow here. If the chemicals are already at this location, we've got a real problem.”

Mr. Watts said while what happened in East Palestine is new to the community, it’s not a new phenomenon for trains to carry hazardous materials.

"We live in a society, for better or for worse, that chooses to ship the most deadly, the most toxic, the most dangerous chemicals ever made by man in rail cars right through populated cities,” he said.

As a law clerk, Ms. Brockovich was instrumental in revealing that a Pacific Gas and Electric facility in Hinkley, Calif., was contaminating the groundwater with high levels of hexavalent chromium, sickening the small community for decades.

 

Ford Turner

‘The whole sky was black’: Pa. residents describe the horror of the East Palestine derailment

With Ms. Brockovich’s help, residents reached a $333 million settlement with the company in 1996, the largest ever paid in a direct-action lawsuit at the time. The story propelled Ms. Brockovich into fame and later inspired the Oscar-winning 2000 film with her namesake.

Friday night, she called back to what happened in Hinkley and said it has happened everywhere, from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill to the Flint, Mich., water crisis.

"We've got failing infrastructure, companies with poor corporate models that put all of us at risk and continue to just think once we poison a community, it's just going to magically go away,” she said. “We often find out five and 10 years down the road after you were told it was safe."

Ms. Brockovich said she started receiving emails right after the train derailment Feb. 3 from concerned residents and was invited by the community to visit. 

“I could see the frustration and the confusion growing for all of you and I feel bad for you,” she told the crowd. “And I’ve experienced this in community after community.” 

The event at East Palestine was packed; every seat in the auditorium was filled and another room was set up with a live feed for the overflow. 

John Messer, lives about 5 miles away from the train derailment, was one of the many in attendance. He worries East Palestine, where he’s lived all his life, will become a ghost town if everyone is forced out due to health concerns. Mr. Messer came to the town hall seeking information that he feels he isn’t getting from authorities.

“Will I get cancer if I stay here?” he said before the meeting. “I’m trying to get answers to what’s going on.”

George Psomas came to the event because he and his mother Helen Gould lives just 3,000 feet away from the derailment site. After hearing the information shared during the meeting, Mr. Psomas said he is going to call his doctor to see about getting his blood tested for toxic chemicals released during the accident, including vinyl chloride. 

“That was one of my questions — what should I get done?” Mr. Psomas said. “I'm going to reach out to my doctor and get a baseline, get the basics done, so that they can monitor it five,10 years from now.”

The event concludes a busy week for East Palestine. Former President Donald Trump visited the village Wednesday with water and cleaning supplies, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg came Thursday, sharing his regret for not visiting sooner and echoing calls to hold Norfolk Southern accountable and prevent future rail incidents.

Ms. Brockovich was also on the ground in East Palestine on Thursday, sharing on Twitter that she was meeting with residents. 

This week, the Pennsylvania Governor’s Office has made a criminal referral to the attorney general, which will investigate Norfolk Southern to determine possible criminal activity. The move came after the EPA announced that the company would be financially liable for all cleanup costs.

A preliminary report released by the National Transportation Safety Board Thursday painted a more detailed picture of the circumstances leading up the accident. The report found that hot box detectors tracked the increasing temperature of the train’s troubled axle before it derailed.

As residents continue to report nausea, headaches, skin irritation and other symptoms in the aftermath, the Ohio Department of Health opened a temporary medical clinic earlier this week. But people have shared that the center falls short, failing to offer blood testing or other kinds of health assessments.

First Published February 24, 2023, 8:10pm