Array
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has called out the rail operator at the center of a hazardous train derailment in Ohio.
In a sharply worded, three-page letter sent Sunday to Norfolk Southern Railway president and CEO Alan Shaw, Buttigieg accused the Atlanta-based company of repeatedly prioritizing profit over safety — a problematic ethos within the larger transportation industry that the secretary said has contributed to a number of derailments over the years.
« The derailment of a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous materials near East Palestine, Ohio, has upended the lives of numerous residents, many of whom continue to worry about their immediate health and safety as well as the long-term effects of the dangerous materials released near their homes, » Buttigieg said. « They fear for their future, as do thousands of American communities and neighborhoods that sit along railway lines. »
« The future must not resemble the past when it comes to your company’s and your industry’s follow-through on support for stringent safety policies, » he added. « Major derailments in the past have been followed by calls for reform — and by vigorous resistance by your industry to increased safety measures. This must change. »
Buttigieg listed several previous examples of hazardous train derailments involving Norfolk Southern and other rail operators.
« Similar patterns appear across your entire industry, » he said. « In this context, Norfolk Southern and your industry must demonstrate that you will not seek to supercharge profits by resisting higher standards that could benefit the safety of workers and the safety of American communities, like East Palestine. »
The secretary said he will be laying out new steps for companies to improve safety and plans to urge Congress to raise the cap on fines for those that violate regulations. He also rebuked Norfolk Southern and the industry writ large for their opposition to more stringent safety rules.
« Rather than support these efforts to improve rail safety, Norfolk Southern and other rail companies spent millions of dollars in the courts and lobbying members of Congress to oppose common-sense safety regulations, stopping some entirely and reducing the scope of others, » Buttigieg said, specifically noting the Trump administration’s repeal of a 2015 rule that mandated the use of electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes on train cars.
« While we do not yet know what the NTSB investigation will conclude regarding what caused the derailment in East Palestine, » he added, « we do know that these steps that Norfolk Southern and its peers lobbied against were intended to improve rail safety and to help keep Americans safe. »
Buttigieg’s scathing missive to Norfolk Southern came as he weathers harsh criticism, especially from Republicans, for the federal government’s response to the Feb. 3 derailment in East Palestine. Former President Donald Trump is expected to visit the northeastern Ohio village later this week.
