Tag: derailment

Pennsylvania Emergency Director Says Rail Companies Have ‘Broad Latitude’ to Handle Derailments

Bradley Vasoli

Alongside fellow lawmakers at the Darlington Fire Company on Tuesday, Pennsylvania state Representative Eric Nelson (R-Greensburg) asked Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency Acting Director Randy Padfield who has final say over what to do with a wrecked train carrying toxic chemicals: the rail company or state government? 

At the hearing of the Pennsylvania House Bipartisan Policy Committee, Nelson said he wanted to know whether Pennsylvania emergency and environmental officials could decide whether to approve or quash plans to incinerate a certain number of rail cars on such a train if it crashed in the Keystone State.

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Mastriano Bill for Train-Wreck Emergency Grants Passes Pennsylvania Senate Committee

Bradley Vasoli

Legislation to aid Pennsylvanians affected by the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment and chemical incineration passed a state Senate panel unanimously last week. 

Senator Doug Mastriano (R-PA-Chambersburg) authored the bill and chairs the Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee which approved it. His measure would establish the Train Derailment Emergency Grant Program to cover impacted individuals’ medical bills, income losses, small-business expenses, property-value depletions, decontamination costs and relocation expenses. The policy now awaits consideration by the full Senate. 

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Norfolk Southern Faces New Pennsylvania Lawsuit over Ohio Derailment

Bradley Vasoli

The Pittsburgh-based law firm Lynch Carpenter and the Philadelphia-based firm Seeger Weiss this week announced new class-action litigation against the Norfolk Southern rail company for the aftereffects of the February 3 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

After the accident, Norfolk Southern personnel ordered the venting and burning of five of the train’s cars containing toxic vinyl chloride. The release-and-burn strategy has since drawn widespread denunciation after citizens and public officials pointed out apparent deleterious health and environmental consequences. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (D) initially supported the “controlled burn” but later reversed himself, claiming he was not informed that the rail corporation would incinerate five cars instead of one.

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Pennsylvania Residents Speak to State Senate About Ill Effects of Train Burn

Bradley Vasoli

Western Pennsylvanians who live near the site of the February 3 Norfolk Southern train derailment and subsequent burn went before a State Senate Committee Thursday to state that the event is causing deleterious health consequences.  The 53-car train derailed in the village of East Palestine, Ohio, less than a mile from where the Buckeye State abuts Beaver County in Pennsylvania. In the crash’s aftermath, the train company proceeded to burn five rail cars containing vinyl chloride, a course of action company officials said would avert a potentially disastrous explosion. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (D) initially supported what has been called the “controlled burn” but has subsequently blasted Norfolk Southern for its handling of the incident, particularly its decision to burn five cars; Shapiro asserted he was only told one car would be incinerated. 

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Pennsylvania Governor Shapiro: Norfolk Southern Conducted Controlled Burn of Vinyl Chloride After Withholding Vital Information

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (D) distanced himself further from Norfolk Southern in a press statement released on Thursday regarding decision-making following the February 3 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, one quarter-mile west of Beaver County in Pennsylvania.

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Pennsylvania Governor Blasts Norfolk Southern for ‘Vent and Burn’ Plan In Aftermath of Train Derailment

M.D. Kittle

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro is blasting Norfolk Southern Corp. for its handling of a Feb. 3 train derailment that spewed Hazardous chemicals in in East Palestine, Ohio, near the Pennsylvania state line. In a letter to Norfolk Southern President and CEO Alan Shaw, Shapiro excoriates the railway for acting unilaterally, failing to establish a Unified Command, and creating confusion that resulted in a general lack of awareness for first responders and emergency management of Norfolk Southern’s response.

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