The two-mile-long freight train that derailed in East Palestine was operated by the railroad giant Norfolk Southern. It’s been called a “bomb train” since its 141 cars included tankers that can hold up to 32,000 gallons each of highly flammable toxic chemicals. In addition to the spill, an out-of-control fire raged for days, followed by a so-called controlled burn of the train’s most toxic cargo, releasing a huge mushroom cloud of fire and smoke.
This catastrophe could have been prevented, had it not been for lax regulation and the massive lobbying power of corporations like Norfolk Southern. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg claimed in a tweet, “We’re constrained by law on some areas of rail regulation (like the braking rule withdrawn by the Trump administration in 2018 because of a law passed by Congress in 2015).” Meanwhile, critics say Buttigieg could use his existing rule-making authority to expand the definition of a high-hazard flammable train to cover trains like the one in Ohio.
This comes as the Biden administration is siding with Norfolk Southern in a case against a former rail worker now pending before the Supreme Court that could allow
— source democracynow.org | Feb 17, 2023