Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw Grilled on Security Measures

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WASHINGTON — A bipartisan consensus that Congress ought to act to toughen rules on railroads emerged March 22 as senators heard contemporary testimony on the fiery hazardous prepare derailment in February on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border.

Each Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Commerce Committee peppered Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw with questions on what enhanced security measures he would assist. At instances they aggressively questioned the CEO of one of many nation’s largest railroads on what might be finished to forestall future derailments just like the one which has upended life within the Ohio village of East Palestine.

Shaw provided assist for some security enhancements, together with coaching for emergency response crews and phasing out older tank automobile fashions. However he declined to endorse a number of key elements of the bipartisan Railway Security Act of 2023, which is being championed by Ohio Sens. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, and JD Vance, a Republican.

The invoice consists of necessities that trains have crews of no less than two individuals, expands the classification for extremely hazardous flammable trains and will increase fines for security violations.

Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell, chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, stated lawmakers have a possibility to “use the horrible accident to actually enhance rail security.” She predicted a invoice would advance to the Senate ground by April.

Cantwell added the bipartisan nature of the invoice, in addition to the committee’s latest historical past of contemplating railway security laws, would make it attainable for lawmakers to behave rapidly.

Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer can also be behind the Railway Security Act. And within the Home, a bipartisan group of Ohio lawmakers has additionally launched the same proposal, although high Republicans have additionally urged warning on enacting contemporary rules.

“It is a chance for actual and significant bipartisan cooperation,” stated Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, the committee’s high Republican.

The East Palestine derailment has given rise to uncommon bipartisan cooperation within the carefully divided Senate. Democrats say they need to guarantee worthwhile firms like Norfolk Southern spend money on security requirements and workforce earlier than reaping earnings. Republicans, at instances urged by Vance to shift consideration from the considerations of massive enterprise in the direction of white, working-class communities like East Palestine, want to present they’ll ship for an space they accuse the Biden administration of overlooking.

When Shaw testified earlier than a separate Senate committee earlier this month, he emphasised the voluntary steps Norfolk Southern are taking after the derailment and stopped in need of endorsing any motion by Congress. However he appeared to concede March 22 that laws was doubtless, saying there are lots of provisions of the Railway Security Act that now have Norfolk Southern’s “full-throated endorsement.”

He additionally reiterated apologies for the derailment and dedicated to aiding East Palestine’s restoration.

“We received’t be completed till we make this proper,” Shaw instructed the committee.

Misti Allison, an East Palestine resident, testified on the listening to that the corporate has misplaced the belief of a deeply traumatized neighborhood. State and native officers determined to launch and burn poisonous vinyl chloride from 5 tanker automobiles after the Feb. 3 derailment, prompting the evacuation of half of the roughly 5,000 residents.

“They really feel like Norfolk Southern is providing breadcrumbs,” she stated, describing how the derailment had haunted the city with fears of the long-term results of the discharge of hazardous supplies.

“My 7-year-old has requested me if he’s going to die from dwelling in our own residence,” Allison stated. “What do I inform him?”

East Palestine Mother Misti Allison testified earlier than @commercedems this morning: https://t.co/zLUcEV73CH

When trains carrying dangerous petrochemicals derail, it’s a disaster that places the well being and security of households in danger. #OhioChemicalDisaster pic.twitter.com/3Ri8iOANWR

— Mothers Clear Air Drive (@CleanAirMoms) March 22, 2023

Senators repeatedly famous that railway security is a matter in each state, as a result of nationwide community of tracks.

“The underside line is that what occurred in East Palestine might have simply as simply occurred in Illinois,” Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth stated of her house state.

The Affiliation of American Railroads commerce group, whose CEO Ian Jefferies testified March 22, says that railroads are nonetheless the most secure solution to transport hazardous materials over land. Prepare derailments even have been getting much less widespread, however there have been nonetheless greater than 1,000 final yr, in accordance with knowledge from the Federal Railroad Administration. And as East Palestine reveals, even a single prepare derailment involving hazardous supplies may be disastrous.

Jefferies emphasised the business’s dedication to voluntary security measures, but additionally clarified that it has not formally taken a place on the Railway Security Act.

The invoice takes sides in a long-running disagreement between railroad employee unions and operators by requiring prepare crews to proceed to have two individuals, though the prepare that derailed in East Palestine had a three-person crew. Unions argue that railroads are riskier due to job cuts within the business over the previous six years. Practically one-third of all rail jobs had been eradicated and prepare crews, they are saying, are fatigued and beneath strain to carry out security inspections in a matter of seconds.

Shaw was pressed to assist a two-person requirement for crews, however declined. As a substitute, he stated, “We’re a data-driven group and I’m not conscious of any knowledge that hyperlinks crew dimension with security.”

Senators pushing the brand new security necessities, like Ohio’s Brown, argued Shaw’s stance is emblematic of an business that’s placing effectivity and earnings over security.

“Railroads need just one particular person engaged on a prepare that’s two or three miles lengthy,” Brown stated. “That’s frankly loopy.”

Some Republicans on the committee cautioned in opposition to laws that will burden the business. However the scenes of billowing smoke above East Palestine had been nonetheless on the minds of lawmakers.

The committee can also be taking a look at attainable adjustments to rules that don’t classify trains as excessive hazardous flammable, as long as they fall beneath sure thresholds for the variety of railcars carrying flamable liquids. Lawmakers are inspecting how native authorities are knowledgeable by railroad operators about what trains are carrying as nicely.

“It wasn’t a high-hazard prepare,” Sen. Shelley Capito (R-W.Va.) stated of the prepare that derailed in East Palestine, “nevertheless it had hazard materials that was very flammable. It simply lit up the sky.”