Pete Buttigieg Blames Trump for Ohio Train Disaster He Ignored for 10 Days
“We’re constrained by law on some areas of rail regulation (like the braking rule withdrawn by the Trump administration in 2018...)"
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg hasn't been on 'maternity leave' these past few weeks, but you wouldn't have known it from his reaction to the train derailment near East Palestine, Ohio on February 3rd that led to one of the biggest ecological disasters in modern U.S. history.
Buttigieg waited ten days to address the environmental fallout from the Norfolk Southern train derailment, which led to fifty cars transporting toxic chemicals, including the carcinogen vinyl chloride, being leaked into the air and water. Emergency teams at the site performed a controlled burn and explosion of vinyl chloride in an attempt to limit the environmental damage.
After being publicly absent during the chaos and confusion in Ohio, Buttigieg finally offered an explanation for why he had silent about it. He was powerless to act.
“We’re constrained by law on some areas of rail regulation (like the braking rule withdrawn by the Trump administration in 2018 because of a law passed by Congress in 2015),” Buttigieg wrote in a Twitter thread.
Buttigieg issued a lame statement that purportedly means he might someday be able to do his job and ensure safety on America's railways.
“In the wake of the East Palestine derailment and its impact on hundreds of residents, we’re seeing lots of newfound or renewed (and welcome) interest in our work on rail safety, so I wanted to share more about what we’ve been doing in this area," he said.
“We are making historic investments on rail safety through funding in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, work that accelerates this year and continue in the years to come," he added.
“In June we announced $120 million in grants to help improve railway safety," he continued. “The infrastructure law created a new program that provides $3 billion dedicated to eliminating at-grade rail crossings to reduce crashes and save lives."
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill that was signed into law last fall was more of a green slush fund than an "infrastructure" bill. Over one trillion dollars of the funding went for the "Green New Deal." Maybe more of that funding should have went to America's infrastructure, such as its deteriorating railways.
Buttigieg passed the buck to former President Donald Trump and to Congress for the train derailment issues.
“DOT is continually updating & enforcing our rail regulations to make trains safer & push the injury rate toward zero," he said.
“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), but we are using the powers we do have to keep people safe,” he added.
“And of course, I’m always ready to work with Congress on furthering (or in some cases, restoring) our capacity to address rail safety issues.”
On Thursday, a train carrying hazardous materials derailed near Detroit, Michigan. It was reported the train car was “showing no sign of leaking or damage.”
There have been other major trail accidents thus far in 2023. On Monday, an 18-wheeler ran into a train carrying hazardous materials, predominately household cleaning products, near Splendora City, Texas, located about 40 miles northeast of Houston. The truck driver did not survive the crash.
A train derailment in South Carolina occurred on Monday. An investigation into the cause of that derailment is ongoing. Neither accident appeared to involve chemical spills or fires. On January 28, there was another train derailment, which caused an acid spill. About 130 people in north Louisiana were ordered to evacuate due to a leak of corrosive chemicals.
The worst of these disasters is clearly the train derailment near East Palestine, Ohio, which has led to an ecological disaster. As stated above, Buttigieg remained silent about the accident for ten days, even while attending public events and bemoaning that there are two many white men in construction jobs.
Buttigieg on February 13th finally addressed the Ohio disaster.
“I continue to be concerned about the impacts of the Feb 3 train derailment near East Palestine, OH, and the effects on families in the ten days since their lives were upended through no fault of their own,” Buttigieg tweeted. “It’s important that families have access to useful & accurate information.”
He laid out details of the derailment in the Twitter thread, sharing that the transportation department “has been supporting the investigation led by The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)” and that “Federal Rail Administration and Pipelines and Hazardous Materials teams were onsite within hours of the initial incident and continue to be actively engaged.” He said that federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) partners are actively monitoring the air quality both indoors and outdoors to test for “chemicals of concern.”
Nearly 2,000 residents were evacuated at the time of the derailment, but have since been allowed to return to their homes, CBS News reported. There are lingering concerns about the ecological fallout, even as public officials have stated that a chemical "plume" made its way into the Ohio river, where approximately 5 million Americans get their drinking water.
The train operator behind the wreck is Norfolk Southern, which is owned by a number of major investment firms, including BlackRock, Vanguard, and JP Morgan Chase. In 2017, the rail company successfully lobbied the U.S. government to do away with mandatory safety regulations, such as pneumatic brakes and minimum staffing requirements. The rail company had recently lobbied the government to maintain these lax safety regulations.
"Before this weekend’s fiery Norfolk Southern train derailment prompted emergency evacuations in Ohio, the company helped kill a federal safety rule aimed at upgrading the rail industry’s Civil War-era braking systems," according to documents reviewed by The Lever. According to the report, the train was not being regulated as a “high-hazard flammable train.”
There is strong evidence that Norfolk Southern engaged in “regulatory capture” of the railway safety administrators in Washington prior to the East Palestine accident. . In 2017, the rail company successfully lobbied the U.S. government to do away with mandatory safety regulations, such as pneumatic brakes and minimum staffing requirements. The rail company had recently lobbied the government to maintain these lax safety regulations.
Basic safety measures could have prevented the train derailment and chemical disaster – if Norfolk Southern and like-minded rail companies had not successfully defeated them.
It is critical to get an accurate view of how rare such accidents truly are so that we can gauge if Pete Buttigieg is truly doing his job.
According to the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters’ March 2022 report on “Technological Disasters: Trends & Transport accidents,” such transport accidents are relatively rare, and have been decreasing since 2000.
As you can see, major transport accidents and deaths have been declining steadily and dramatically since 2000. The total for industrial and transport accidents are now under 200 incidents per year.
When it comes to rail accidents like the Norfolk Southern train derailment, the incidents are even fewer.
As you can see from the light gray line at the bottom of the chart, actual train derailments (and not minor rail incidents) run in the tens per year. This is a far cry from some of the statistics being shared on social media platforms like Twitter, estimates ranging up to 1,700 each year. This is deliberate apples-and-oranges conflation to minimize the impact of the train derailments.
So, Rep. Jim Jordan, Republican from Ohio, was more accurate in his assessment that there have been at more than a dozen actual train derailments thus far in 2023.
This was a problem that was supposed to be addressed by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill that was signed into law last fall. It turns out, that was more of a green slush fund than an "infrastructure" bill. Over one trillion dollars of the funding went for the "Green New Deal."
But after all, why should Biden officials have to do their jobs, when all they have to do is “Blame Trump”?
My response to Pothole Pete is he has had two years to get this taken care of. Simply ask him why he has not even mentioned this braking issue. Any regulations would easily have passed the House and Senate. Trillions of dollars and they ignore the safety of the people. Pete may as well be in charge of NASA. His lack of leadership has lead to many dumpster fires. He can't get out in front of anything. He could at least pretend he gives a shit. The people in Ohio have been abandoned. Politicians telling them it's safe is foolish. See the kid on Tic Tok Joe Rogen was talking about? He's a chemist and laid it all down, this is very serious.
How in heavens name couldTrump have anything to do with this happening 2 years after he left office! Pathetic Pete is not qualified for any Government office!