‘There is no accident’: Pete Buttigieg visits Ohio crash site for first time
East Palestine, Ohio: The crew operating the toxic train that derailed in America’s Midwest this month received a critical alert that the vehicle was overheating, but was unable to slow it down quickly enough to prevent the devastating chemical spill.
As US President Joe Biden’s embattled Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited the crash site for the first time on Thursday (US time), a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board has given residents some early indications about what led to the derailment in East Palestine on February 3.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg tours the site of the Norfolk Southern train derailment.Credit:AP
“We call things ‘accidents’. There is no accident,” the board’s chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said at a press conference after the report was released. “Every single event that we investigate is preventable.”
The report found that a wheel bearing had been gradually getting hotter as the giant Norfolk Southern Railway train, which contained 149 rail cars, travelled through Ohio. However, despite passing three heat detectors that found the train was overheating, an alarm system did not go off until the third and final sensor recorded the wheel at 253 degrees Fahrenheit (123 degrees Celsius) above the ambient temperature.
By the time the three-person crew was able to stop the train, multiple carriages had already come off the tracks, sparking the giant fire and toxic plume that engulfed the town.
According to the report, five of those carriages contained 115,580 gallons of vinyl chloride, a colourless gas that increases the risk of cancer.
“There is no accident,” said National Transportation Safety Board chairwoman Jennifer Homendy.Credit:AP
The early findings come as residents in East Palestine continue to report a range of health concerns, such as respiratory problems, rashes and unusual odours, despite authorities insisting the area is now safe.
But the small rural community, many of whom represent the white working-class voters who propelled Donald Trump to power, has also become a political flashpoint between Democrats and Republicans ahead of next year’s election.
After Trump visited the town on Wednesday (US time) and accused the Biden administration of abandoning residents, Buttigieg travelled to East Palestine on Thursday morning to meet local officials and tour the crash site.
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The former Indiana mayor and presidential aspirant is regarded as one of the Biden administration’s most cut-through communicators.
But Buttigieg has come under fire in recent weeks for being missing in action, and for taking until February 13 – 10 days after the derailment – to make his first comments about the incident, albeit in the form of a tweet, saying he was “concerned about the impacts” on residents.
Asked on Thursday if he had waited too long, given the gravity of the disaster, he replied: “The answer to your question is yes. I felt very strongly about this and could have expressed that sooner.”
But he also said federal agencies were on the ground from the start, and that if Trump was genuinely concerned, the former president ought to support the Biden administration’s push for more safety measures and tougher rules for rail companies, which had spent years successfully lobbying against greater regulations.
“One thing he could do is express support for reversing the deregulation that happened on his watch,” Buttigieg said.
Melissa Smith took this photo of the train fire from her farm in East Palestine, Ohio, on Friday, February 3.Credit:AP
“To any national figure who has decided to get involved, I have a simple message, which is: I need your help. Because if you’re serious about this, there is more that we can do to prevent more communities from going through this.”
As the clean-up continues around East Palestine, residents were due to attend a community meeting on Thursday night demanding more assurance that they are safe.
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Celebrity activist Erin Brockovich will also hold a meeting on Friday night with a group of lawyers seeking justice for those affected. Separately, at least half a dozen lawsuits have already been filed by various firms.
Situated near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, East Palestine is a former factory town of about 4500 people, where the average household income is $US46,000.
Beth Knott, who has lived here for 17 years, told The Age and Sydney Morning Herald that the derailment had rocked the tight-knit community, and residents did not know who or what to believe.
“I would like to have concrete, truthful answers about the soil and the health of people who breathed in the toxic plume,” she said. “Are the children going to be able to play in the creek again?”
Many also want the rail industry overhauled, noting that under the current rules, the Norfolk Southern train at the centre of the derailment was not even classified as a “high hazard flammable train”.
The company has also had 1518 safety, environmental and employee violations since 2000, amounting to $US70 million in fines.
“We do need more regulation,” said Melissa Boyer, who lives about 600 metres from the rail line. “We also need better maintenance on them and even more tracks. Right now, it’s just not safe.”
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