Progressives demand Buttigieg act on rail safety amid toxic Ohio disaster
Progressives are demanding that U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg improve rail safety regulations in response to the unfolding public health disaster in East Palestine, Ohio—the site of a recent fiery train crash and subsequent “controlled release” of toxic fumes that critics say was entirely avoidable.
“The Obama administration attempted to prevent dangerous derailments like the one in East Palestine by mandating better brake systems on freight trains,” Jeff Hauser, executive director of the Revolving Door Project, said Tuesday in a statement. “But this effort was watered down thanks to corporate pressure, first by writing in many exemptions to the proposed rules and then, under [former President Donald] Trump, by repealing the requirement altogether.”
Recent reporting from The Lever revealed that Buttigieg’s Department of Transportation (DOT) “has no intention of reinstating or strengthening the brake rule rescinded under Trump,” said Hauser. “Additionally, The Lever reports that the train was not being regulated as a high-hazard flammable train, despite it clearly being both high-hazard and flammable. These types of failures to protect the public are invited by perpetual lax enforcement and laziness toward even getting back to the too-low regulatory standards under Obama.”
“Now, all eyes are on Secretary Buttigieg,” he continued. “For too long he has been content to continue the legacy of his deregulatory predecessor, Elaine Chao, rather than immediately moving to reverse her legacy upon becoming secretary.”
“Norfolk Southern’s environmental disaster is the latest in a long string of corporate malfeasance committed right under the secretary’s nose,” Hauser observed, referring to the company that owns the derailed train. “As I’ve warned before, corporations do not respect Buttigieg as a regulator.”
Noting that “Chao justified letting trains run without proper brakes because the safety requirement failed a so-called cost-benefit analysis,” Hauser cautioned that “this type of analysis is invariably weighted against fully accounting for the health and environmental benefits a regulation provides.”
“Buttigieg should call out the brake rule repeal for the horrendous decision it was, start working to implement a new rule, take Norfolk Southern to task, and push back on corporations deciding how the DOT regulates them,” he added. “Anything short of that only signals to the railroads that this type of incident will be tolerated.”
After Buttigieg made his first public statement on the East Palestine disaster on Monday night—10 days after dozens of train cars careened off the tracks and burst into flames—The Lever‘s David Sirota issued a reminder that the transportation secretary is actively considering an industry-backed proposal to further weaken the regulation of train braking systems.
Sirota also urged people to sign his outlet’s open letter imploring Buttigieg “to rectify the multiple regulatory failures that preceded this horrific situation,” including by exercising his authority to restore the rail safety rules gutted by Trump at the behest of industry lobbyists.
Originally published at Commondreams.org.