Airborne toxic event

[Herbie Hancock 7348]

6 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

How does that work when the train is engulfed in flames?

The consist is also available digitally from several entities You can contact the railroad directly and they will give it to you, or you can use the app that the AAR, Transport Canada, and TRANSCAER created several years ago that houses all of that information as well. 

[Fudge Nuggets 19190]

9 minutes ago, Herbie Hancock said:

The consist is also available digitally from several entities You can contact the railroad directly and they will give it to you, or you can use the app that the AAR, Transport Canada, and TRANSCAER created several years ago that houses all of that information as well. 

Seems the paper forms are a bit antiquated if it's all available digitally.  But good to know it's out there for the next disaster.

[Herbie Hancock 7348]

4 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

Seems the paper forms are a bit antiquated if it's all available digitally.  But good to know it's out there for the next disaster.

Antiquated how? Like I said it's all digital as well, the conductor just so happens to also have a hard copy of it.

[Herbie Hancock 7348]

You have to keep in mind the majority of derailments take place in BFE, so cell and internet service is far from a guarantee. Hard copy is the only remedy for that. The dangerous goods officer for whoever operates that line is usually on site within an hour or two at most and he will have a copy of the consist as well. 

[Zeus 6024]

On 2/16/2023 at 10:37 PM, Anastasis said:

I haven't really tracked this, but do I understand correctly that they thought the best response to a vinyl chloride spill was to set the thing on fire?

What vinyl chloride spill? All I see is smoke? :^)

 

 

 

 

Edited February 23, 2023 by Zeus

[Zeus 6024]

1 hour ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

You really have to ask this?  Decades of refusing to invest in infrastructure because someone's taxes might go up a few bucks leads to crumbling infrastructure .  Who'd a thunk it?

well we have this...

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/11/06/fact-sheet-the-bipartisan-infrastructure-deal/

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/08/02/updated-fact-sheet-bipartisan-infrastructure-investment-and-jobs-act/

Quote

Improve transportation options for millions of Americans and reduce greenhouse emissions through the largest investment in public transit in U.S. history. America’s public transit infrastructure is inadequate – with a multibillion-dollar repair backlog, representing more than 24,000 buses, 5,000 rail cars, 200 stations, and thousands of miles of track, signals, and power systems in need of replacement.

Passenger and Freight Rail

Unlike highways and transit, rail lacks a multi-year funding stream to address deferred maintenance, enhance existing corridors, and build new lines in high-potential locations. The legislation positions Amtrak and rail to play a central role in our transportation and economic future. This is the largest investment in passenger rail since the creation of Amtrak 50 years ago. The legislation invests $66 billion in rail to eliminate the Amtrak maintenance backlog, modernize the Northeast Corridor, and bring world-class rail service to areas outside the northeast and mid-Atlantic. Within these totals, $22 billion would be provided as grants to Amtrak, $24 billion as federal-state partnership grants for Northeast Corridor modernization, $12 billion for partnership grants for intercity rail service, including high-speed rail, $5 billion for rail improvement and safety grants, and $3 billion for grade crossing safety improvements.

 

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/15/tech/infrastructure-trains-railroad/index.html
 

Quote

 

Passenger and freight rail receive $66 billion in the infrastructure bill the Senate passed last week. But the details are still up for negotiations in the House before the bill hits Biden’s desk.

 

 

$1T or $1,000B or $1,000,000M or $1,000,000,000 theoretically going to fix some infrastructure. Of that $1000B there's $66B (6.6%) going to rail. Of that $66B going to rail $5B (0.5%) going for rail improvement and safety grants to Amtrak. Hard to figure out how much goes to freight rail of that $5B. I don't think any of the tax dollars are going to whatever rail lines the jorts have in Ohio shipping chemicals around. 

Trying to get the federal government to tax and spend to actually solve any type of real problem is suicide. 

Hopefully that's bipartisan enough to not be a cloak room rant it's just antigovernment in general. 

[Zeus 6024]

14 minutes ago, Dutchrudder said:

Good thing he brought them some water bottles! 

Orange man caused this? 

Cloak'ed

[Zeus 6024]

12 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

For the nutters out there, break out the tinfoil.  Small plane headed to Ohio with employees from a company that works on environmental disasters, hired to look at the site,  crashed and all aboard died.

 

Damn they should've taken a train.

[Dutchrudder 11139]

9 minutes ago, Zeus said:

Orange man caused this? 

Cloak'ed

More likely Republican policy initiatives caused it, but he signed off on the bill. It's the standard anti-regulation R position that leads to rollbacks of regulation policies that may save lives, prevent major incidents and general safety measures for our country, because profits are more important to the lobbyists than the harm they could do to others. We see this more and more often now, a catastrophic event happens, regulation is put in place to prevent it from happening again, then after a while, it slowly gets peeled back because corporations claim "it costs too much."  

[Homercles 10205]

Great article summarizing the bill and associated lobbying to kill it that was meant to help prevent these situations 

https://theintercept.com/2023/02/21/east-palestine-rail-safety-congress/
 

“Thune’s legislation was part of an industry push to kill the ECP mandate, review of lobbying, congressional, and court records show. Around the same time as he advanced delaying provisions in omnibus transportation legislation, Thune also introduced another bill to entirely eliminate the mandate for implementation of ECP. Following the election of President Donald Trump and with Republican majorities in the House and Senate, the rule was indeed scuttled in 2018. Thune issued a celebratory press release.”

…

“Critics of the rail industry in recent days have pointed out that Norfolk Southern paid out $18 billion in stock buybacks and dividends over the last five years, an amount that eclipses the money spent on railway operations and safety.”

[Fudge Nuggets 19190]

2 hours ago, Zeus said:

well we have this...

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/11/06/fact-sheet-the-bipartisan-infrastructure-deal/

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/08/02/updated-fact-sheet-bipartisan-infrastructure-investment-and-jobs-act/

 

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/15/tech/infrastructure-trains-railroad/index.html
 

 

$1T or $1,000B or $1,000,000M or $1,000,000,000 theoretically going to fix some infrastructure. Of that $1000B there's $66B (6.6%) going to rail. Of that $66B going to rail $5B (0.5%) going for rail improvement and safety grants to Amtrak. Hard to figure out how much goes to freight rail of that $5B. I don't think any of the tax dollars are going to whatever rail lines the jorts have in Ohio shipping chemicals around. 

Trying to get the federal government to tax and spend to actually solve any type of real problem is suicide. 

Hopefully that's bipartisan enough to not be a cloak room rant it's just antigovernment in general. 

You think $1T appropriated (checks notes) 15 months ago should have already fixed decades of infrastructure neglect?

[Dutchrudder 11139]

31 minutes ago, Homercles said:

Great article summarizing the bill and associated lobbying to kill it that was meant to help prevent these situations 

https://theintercept.com/2023/02/21/east-palestine-rail-safety-congress/
 

“Thune’s legislation was part of an industry push to kill the ECP mandate, review of lobbying, congressional, and court records show. Around the same time as he advanced delaying provisions in omnibus transportation legislation, Thune also introduced another bill to entirely eliminate the mandate for implementation of ECP. Following the election of President Donald Trump and with Republican majorities in the House and Senate, the rule was indeed scuttled in 2018. Thune issued a celebratory press release.”

…

“Critics of the rail industry in recent days have pointed out that Norfolk Southern paid out $18 billion in stock buybacks and dividends over the last five years, an amount that eclipses the money spent on railway operations and safety.”

This is a fantastic article, and it really shows how important rules like ECP brakes can make a difference. Up to 60% faster braking seems like a no-brainer for trains of all types, not just hazardous materials. 

Quote

The AAR lobbying group concurred that “the costs of the ECP rule substantially outweigh its benefits,” and claimed the mandate would cost them about $3 billion — or roughly 2 weeks of their operating revenue in a typical year. The FRA estimated the brake requirement would cost about half a billion.

https://www.levernews.com/rail-companies-blocked-safety-rules-before-ohio-derailment/

Ok, so let's say it would have been 3 billion to implement the ECP brakes on hazardous material trains. Is that worth preventing the environmental and physical damage done by the few train derailments it might stop?  I would say yes, but I'm a regular guy, not a railroad baron or a Republican financed by the railroad lobbyists. 

Quote

The Obama-era railroad regulations also included a rule to use freight cars made of special reinforced materials for the transport of oil and hazardous materials, as the New York Times reported. Of the freight cars that derailed earlier this month, three were of the stronger type and were not breached, while one of the freight cars carrying propylene glycol that did not have the enhanced protections was breached.

Imagine that, using more protective material on hazardous loads prevents them from breaching during a crash. Again, I would say that should be the requirement on all hazardous train cars. 

These are likely the rules that will be set in place going forward as the reaction to this severe accident. Democrats are going to be the ones installing the rules, and in a few years, Republicans are going to be the ones attacking them saying "they went too far!" and "it's strangling the industry, we need to relieve regulations to make more jobs!!!"  It reminds me of a quote that is too often prescient with American politics:

“Don't ever take a fence down until you know the reason it was put up” - GK Chesterton 

The Republicans love to tear down fences without any regard for why it was built in the first place. Mostly because the wolves are paying them to tear it down, but also because they don't live anywhere near the fence, and they won't be bothered by the wolves that comes to eat the sheep. 

[Homercles 10205]

I grew up in a RR family.  Paternal grandfather went from shuffling index cards that represented rail manifests under steam power to VP of Operations at a large railroad in the NE by 1985.  My uncle was the highest non-elected FRA official before he retired.  His son drove trains for the CP.  I still ogle trains like a kid.  

It is a very old industry, and advances at a snail’s pace.  It’s lead by cautious leadership that increments efficiency and safety in a very conservative way…incredibly ‘old money’ style.  Hell up until recently there was still trackage with semaphore signaling and mechanical interlocks for small yards.  

For all its flaws, the airline industry (sometimes kicking and screaming) has moved the state-of-the-art in safe, efficient transportation forward relatively rapidly.  9/11 lead to improved screening and armored cockpit doors, they’ve adopted computerized FMS and ADS-B to squeeze every dollar out of each gallon of Jet A, and regulations that are written in blood tend to stay put.  Yes ATC is stretched thin and SWA is running on a Commodore 64, but generally they adopt new means effectively.

I don’t see the RR industry changing jack shit after this fiasco.  

[Captainant 27669]

2 minutes ago, Homercles said:

I don’t see the RR industry changing jack shit after this fiasco.  

They get an insane degree of federal subsidy and sanctioned monopoly because of their role as critical and shared infrastructure in the nation. It's outrageous that we the tax payer are funding their profits, while they push these massive costs again back onto the public when their cost cutting measures go too deep.

[texasdago 7573]

16 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

For the nutters out there, break out the tinfoil.  Small plane headed to Ohio with employees from a company that works on environmental disasters, hired to look at the site,  crashed and all aboard died.

 

Little Rock, huh?  You know who is from Little Rock...

queue the Q

 

[YGIFS 19450]

Has Ohio tried thoughts and prayers to get out of this horrific situation?  Usually works in the United States every single time it's been tried.  

[Foosters 17856]

On 2/23/2023 at 10:05 AM, Zeus said:

well we have this...

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/11/06/fact-sheet-the-bipartisan-infrastructure-deal/

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/08/02/updated-fact-sheet-bipartisan-infrastructure-investment-and-jobs-act/

 

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/15/tech/infrastructure-trains-railroad/index.html
 

 

$1T or $1,000B or $1,000,000M or $1,000,000,000 theoretically going to fix some infrastructure. Of that $1000B there's $66B (6.6%) going to rail. Of that $66B going to rail $5B (0.5%) going for rail improvement and safety grants to Amtrak. Hard to figure out how much goes to freight rail of that $5B. I don't think any of the tax dollars are going to whatever rail lines the jorts have in Ohio shipping chemicals around. 

Trying to get the federal government to tax and spend to actually solve any type of real problem is suicide. 

Hopefully that's bipartisan enough to not be a cloak room rant it's just antigovernment in general. 

Absolutely hilarious that the anti-government nut is complaining about the government letting America's infrastructure crumble over the last 30 years.

Tell us, in your perfect world of a skeleton government and slashed taxes, who repairs and fixes the infrastructure?

[Homercles 10205]

I thought that’s what the many infrastructure weeks were about?

[YGIFS 19450]

11 hours ago, Homercles said:

I thought that’s what the many infrastructure weeks were about?

Yeah, this would actually be a really good time to have another one of those "Infrastructure Weeks."  What ever happened with those?

Also, not to get too technical, but people need to remember that the NTSB is an indenpendent federal agency (one of those 'Fourth Branch' administrative/regulatory entities).  They do not fall under the Dept. of Transportation nor the office of POTUS.  Like the NRC, CIA or GSA, these agencies exist outside of normal political channels in order to ensure continuity of service away from the election cycles of the Oval and Capitol Hill.  Still others like FEC and EAC govern our election systems precisely so that the people campaigning as incumbents cannot influence their important work. Just wanted to point that out, because if I have to hear another elected official referring to the NTSB as the Dept. of Transportation or the "White House", I'm gonna derail a bitch.  I want heads to roll as much as anyone, and of course nobody has the brain capacity to remember the entire fucking org chart of the U.S. Federal Government.  But if you're calling for sweeping investigations, as should be the case, know which office in D.C. to actual schedule them with.  

something goes tits up at NASA, we don't investigate the Dept. of Transportation because technically rockets transport stuff around.  

Back to our previously scheduled chemical disaster already in progress.  

[atomheartbevo 89668]

The shipments of contaminated water/soil are back on track and heading to Texas.

Shipments of contaminated waste to resume from Ohio train derailment site (msn.com)

Quote

The Environmental Protection Agency has approved resuming shipments of contaminated liquid and soil out of East Palestine, Ohio, where a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed earlier this month.

Quote

The EPA on Friday ordered the train’s operator, Norfolk Southern, to halt the shipments so that it could review the company’s plans for disposal, adding to the controversy surrounding the crash that has also left residents of the town worried about potential long-term health effects.

That’s as officials in Texas and Michigan complained they didn’t receive any warning that hazardous waste from the crash would be shipped into their jurisdictions for disposal.

Quote

The hazardous waste material previously sent to facilities in Michigan and Texas is now being processed at those facilities, Shore said.

About 2 million gallons of firefighting water from the train derailment site were expected to be disposed in Harris County, Texas, with about half a million gallons already there, according to the county’s chief executive.

Quote

Across the country, Texas Chief Executive Lina Hidalgo expressed frustration that she first learned about the expected water shipments to her state from the news media – not from a government agency or Texas Molecular, the company hired to dispose of the water.

She added that although there’s no legal requirement for her office to be notified, “it doesn’t quite seem right.”

Quote

Hidalgo said Texas Molecular told her office Thursday that half a million gallons of the water was already in the county and the shipments began arriving around last Wednesday.

On Thursday, Texas Molecular told CNN it had been hired to dispose of potentially dangerous water from the Ohio train derailment. The company said they had experts with more than four decades of experience in managing water safely and that all shipments, so far, had come by truck for the entire trip.

It's Harris County, will anybody really notice?

[mchookem 16336]

dumb question alert: how do they collect the water? is that normal for fire fighting, to collect runoff water somehow? i guess i just always imagined it soaking into the ground or running off into gutters>ditches>etc., but considering the contaminants from even a house fire i guess it makes sense, i just never thought about it...

[YGIFS 19450]

So Texas Molecular successfully bid to bring a half million gallons of the most contaminated U.S. water since Three Mile Island, with millions more gallons to come on an IDIQ basis...and nobody at that company thought to notify anybody in the State of Texas or County/Municipal Government?  

There was a time not too long ago, you wanted to bring a Tesla into Texas by rail, you had to get three different green lights from myriad offices.  But bring enough rainbow water into the state to kill a small town...ah, just leave a note on the tracks.  

[atomheartbevo 89668]

18 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

So Texas Molecular successfully bid to bring a half million gallons of the most contaminated U.S. water since Three Mile Island, with millions more gallons to come on an IDIQ basis...and nobody at that company thought to notify anybody in the State of Texas or County/Municipal Government?  

They've brought half-a-million gallons already.

They are bringing another 1.5 million gallons to Harris County.

[Herbie Hancock 7348]

dumb question alert: how do they collect the water? is that normal for fire fighting, to collect runoff water somehow? i guess i just always imagined it soaking into the ground or running off into gutters>ditches>etc., but considering the contaminants from even a house fire i guess it makes sense, i just never thought about it...

It is not standard for every fire, only when hazardous chemicals are involved. Although if you were to test the runoff from a typical house-fire you might be surprised at what was in it, and that would probably lead people to want it contained as well.

The answer to how they collect it is it depends on the chemical. Oil/petroleum products that have a specific gravity of
Other chemicals that are miscible in water have to undergo various other processes, some can be accomplished on-site and some like above have to be taken off-site for further remediation and/or disposal.

Also, all contaminated dirt has to be removed as well. Different requirements depending on the chemical, but you have to go deep enough that your soil sample no longer has detectable amounts of the product, then depending on the chemical you have to go X amount of inches deeper beyond that.

[YGIFS 19450]

oh well, now I feel much better.  

I tend to think a great deal of our regulatory space is redundant at best, punitive at worst.  

But 2 millions gallons of water as colorful as the Chernobyl '86 night sky coming into one of the most heavily populated parts of the Western Hemisphere and there's not a rule that says, "Hey, maybe give somebody in State or Harris County admin a heads-up in case there's another accident or leak or whatever.  Just a heads-up, don't sign anything."  

[Hermanator 7050]

On 2/26/2023 at 11:24 PM, atomheartbevo said:

The shipments of contaminated water/soil are back on track and heading to Texas.

Shipments of contaminated waste to resume from Ohio train derailment site (msn.com)

It's Harris County, will anybody really notice?

The "safe disposal" in action...

Edited February 28, 2023 by Hermanator

[YGIFS 19450]

Maybe we can "thoughts & prayers" our way to safety in Harris County, no?  

[Captainant 27669]

This came across my YouTube feed this morning, it's a pretty thorough explanation of the rail infrastructure and how there were more problems than just the brakes with the train

In particular:

• the train engineer reported a strange sound from the train mid-segment in the area where the car would catch on fire and they did not stop to inspect

• that even IF the train brake rules hadn't been changed this train wouldnt have had to use them

• that based on the engineers report and the video of the train car on fire 20 miles before derailing, it's very likely that the rail car was in poor maintenance condition

• that USDOT doesn't have any power or authority to compel rail companies to actually maintain their equipment, and they don't have enough inspectors to do it themselves

[Captainant 27669]

Contrast the extremely poor maintenance condition and single man staffing for triple length trains against record high profits and billions in shareholder-enriching buybacks, and boy howdy that's some spicy capitalism

[Herbie Hancock 7348]

Everybody was so up in arms about a train derailment, today's events not so much.

[Neonmoon 38129]

You lost another train?

[HiggyBaby 2529]

[bernorange 8361]

3rd NS train derails.  NS decides maybe they should improve procedures for safety reasons...

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/06/norfolk-southern-adjusts-train-safety-after-third-derailment.html

[YGIFS 19450]

So we're all agreed then, brakes on trains are for commie pussies?  

I'm picturing the locomotive engineer on this most recent third one like Bill Murray in "Stripes".........

"I just wish I hadn't drunk all that cough syrup"

[Captainant 27669]

5 hours ago, bernorange said:

3rd NS train derails.  NS decides maybe they should improve procedures for safety reasons...

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/06/norfolk-southern-adjusts-train-safety-after-third-derailment.html

Member when there was a big rail strike over rail and worker safety conditions? I member.

At least those shareholders had a good quarter, and that's all that really matters

[YGIFS 19450]

23 minutes ago, Captainant said:

Member when there was a big rail strike over rail and worker safety conditions? I member.

At least those shareholders had a good quarter, and that's all that really matters

Stupid Americans bitching about train strikes, "Why do you guys need more breaks?  Be happy you have a job in his horrible economy!"

Train Workers, "Dude, we said more brakes.  Fucking morons."  

[Homercles 10205]

[Captainant 27669]

(Press release) NTSB to Open a Special Investigation into Norfolk Southern Railway’s Safety Practices and Culture

Quote

Since December 2021, NTSB has launched investigation teams to five significant accidents involving Norfolk Southern.

On Dec. 8, 2021, an employee for National Salvage and Service Corporation assigned to work with a Norfolk Southern work team replacing track was killed when the operator of a spike machine reversed direction and struck the employee in Reed, Pennsylvania. 

On Dec. 13, 2022, a Norfolk Southern trainee conductor was killed, and another conductor was injured, when the lead locomotive of a Norfolk Southern freight train struck a steel angle iron protruding from a gondola car on another Norfolk Southern freight train that was stopped on an adjacent track in Bessemer, Alabama. 

On Feb. 3, a Norfolk Southern freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. The derailment resulted in a significant fire and hazardous materials release. 

On March 4, a 2.55-mile-long Norfolk Southern freight train derailed near Springfield, Ohio.

On March 7, a Norfolk Southern employee was killed during a movement in Cleveland, Ohio. 

As part of the special investigation, the NTSB will also review the Oct. 8, 2022, Norfolk Southern derailment in Sandusky, Ohio. 

The continued safe operations of Norfolk Southern is vital to the United States. The NTSB is concerned that several organizational factors may be involved in the accidents, including safety culture. The NTSB will conduct an in-depth investigation into the safety practices and culture of the company. At the same time, the company should not wait to improve safety and the NTSB urges it to do so immediately.

I'm sure the NTSB will furnish NS with a number of useful and actionable remediations, which will all be continue to be ignored because they reduce profits

[YGIFS 19450]

You forgot the part where 35% of America insists that the NTSB reports directly to the Sec. of Transportation.  

What if we had brakes on stupidity?  

[Zeus 6024]

 

[Zeus 6024]

aggy  out there measuring pollutants lmao damn

Skip to 7:10

 

 

[Captainant 27669]

bump - Norfolk Southern has agreed to pay $600M in a settlement over the >$1,100M damages they caused (AP reporting)

Norfolk Southern has agreed to pay $600 million in a class-action lawsuit settlement for a fiery February 2023 train derailment in Ohio, but residents worry the money not only won’t go far enough to cover future health needs that could be tremendous but also won’t amount to much once divvied up.

“It’s not nowhere near my needs, let alone what the health effects are going to be five or 10 years down the road,” said Eric Cozza, who lived just three blocks from the derailment and had 47 family members living within a mile (1.61 kilometers).

More than three dozen of the freight train’s 149 cars derailed on the outskirts of East Palestine, a town of almost 5,000 residents near the Pennsylvania state line. Several cars spilled a cocktail of hazardous materials that caught fire. Three days later, officials, fearing an explosion, blew open five tankcars filled with vinyl chloride and burned the toxic chemical — sending thick, black plumes of smoke into the air. Some 1,500 to 2,000 residents were evacuated.

More than a year later residents still complain about respiratory problems and unexplained rashes and nosebleeds, but the greater fear is that people will develop cancer or other serious conditions because of the chemicals they were exposed to. Researchers have only begun to work on determining the lasting repercussions of the derailment.

Norfolk Southern said the agreement, if approved by the court, will resolve all class action claims within a 20-mile (32-kilometer) radius of the derailment and, for residents who choose to participate, personal injury claims within a 10-mile (16-kilometer) radius of the derailment.

The settlement, which doesn’t include or constitute any admission of liability, wrongdoing or fault, represents only a small slice of the $3 billion in revenue Norfolk Southern generated just in the first three months of this year. The railroad said that even after the settlement it still made a $213 million profit in the quarter.

Edited April 10 by Captainant

[Captainant 27669]

Surprise surprise, the workers cleaning it up are getting poisoned and NFS is working to cover it up!

https://www.wfmj.com/story/51217066/hidden-report-reveals-how-workers-got-sick-while-cleaning-up-east-palestine-derailment-site

The creeks around East Palestine, Ohio, were so badly contaminated by last year's disastrous Norfolk Southern derailment that some workers became sick during the cleanup.

Workers who reported headaches and nausea — while shooting compressed air into the creek bed, which releases chemicals from the sediment and water — were sent back to their hotels to rest, according to a report obtained by The Associated Press about their illnesses.

The findings were not released to the public last spring, despite residents' concerns about the potential health effects of exposure to the long list of chemicals that spilled and burned after the disaster. The workers' symptoms, as described in the report, are consistent with what Centers for Disease Control and Prevention workers going door-to-door in town had reported shortly after the Feb. 3, 2023, derailment.

Since then some residents have also reported unexplained rashes, asthma and other respiratory problems, and serious diseases including male breast cancer.

Researchers are still determining how many of those health problems can be linked to the derailment and how the disaster will impact the long-term health of residents in the area near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border. Many wonder whether there will be cancer clusters down the road, which of course won't be clear for years.

In the meantime, residents have until Aug. 22 to decide whether to accept up to $25,000 — as part of a $600 million class action settlement with the railroad to compensate them for any future health problems. Accepting that money though means giving up the right to sue later, when the cost of health care coverage and specific treatments needed will become more clear.

Norfolk Southern spokesperson Heather Garcia said none of the workers who got sick during the cleanup “reported lingering or long-term symptoms."

 

[atomheartbevo 89668]

1 hour ago, Captainant said:

In the meantime, residents have until Aug. 22 to decide whether to accept up to $25,000 — as part of a $600 million class action settlement with the railroad to compensate them for any future health problems. Accepting that money though means giving up the right to sue later, when the cost of health care coverage and specific treatments needed will become more clear.

[Captainant 27669]

NFS CEO railroaded for running a train on chief legal counsel

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/11/business/norfolk-southern-ceo-fired/index.html

New YorkCNN — 

Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw was fired for cause by the railroad’s board for “engaging in a consensual relationship with the company’s chief legal officer,” who was also terminated, the railroad announced Wednesday evening.

A statement from the company on Wednesday said that Shaw had been dismissed “for cause,” which could prevent him from collecting the kind of exit package that CEOs often receive when shown the door.

The company originally disclosed that Shaw was the subject of an investigation on Sunday.

Shaw had been CEO of one of the nation’s four largest freight railroads for just over two years. But it had been a turbulent tenure that included contentious labor negotiations that nearly resulted in an economy-crippling strike, a major derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, that released tank cars full of toxic materials into a small Ohio town, sparking health concerns and complaints about continuing symptoms by some residents, and a proxy fight with an activist shareholder group who wanted Shaw replaced.

Shaw survived that shareholder vote, but could not survive the investigation into his personal behavior.

The company said Nabanita Nag has been terminated from her roles as executive vice president corporate affairs, chief legal officer and corporate secretary, effective immediately, in connection with the preliminary findings of the Board’s ongoing investigation. It announced it had picked CFO Mark George as the company’s new CEO.

Edited September 12 by Captainant

[Captainant 27669]

Notably, not fired for the derailment or near-strike that took the feds coming in to save them. Fired for fucking around lol. Good lord. 

[Sawbonz 27562]

11 minutes ago, Captainant said:

Nabanita Nag

Her?

 

[chainsaw 9869]

23 minutes ago, Captainant said:

NFS CEO railroaded for running a train on chief legal counsel

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/11/business/norfolk-southern-ceo-fired/index.html

New YorkCNN — 

Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw was fired for cause by the railroad’s board for “engaging in a consensual relationship with the company’s chief legal officer,” who was also terminated, the railroad announced Wednesday evening.

Was that wrong?

[Foosters 17856]

Nabi'gonna work here anymore

[kevwun 15788]

Alan Shaw chose poorly.