news/CSX/2023.02.17/White House defends response to Ohio train derailment; Senate to probe safety.txt

WASHINGTON, Feb 17 (Reuters) - The Biden administration
on Friday defended its response to the Feb. 3 derailment of a
train loaded with toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio, that
caused a fire and sent a cloud of smoke over the town, saying it
was sending more federal resources.The derailment of the train, operated by Norfolk Southern
, forced thousands of residents to evacuate while
railroad crews drained and burned off chemicals. There were no
reported fatalities or injuries, but residents have been
demanding answers about potential health risks.“We have mobilized a robust, multi-agency effort to support
the people of East Palestine, Ohio," White House spokesperson
Karine Jean-Pierre said at a briefing. "The federal government
is committed to making sure that the community gets what it
needs and will be there on the ground for as long as it takes.”In response to the derailment and safety concerns it raises,
U.S. Senate Commerce Committee chair Maria Cantwell late on
Friday said she has opened an inquiry into railroad hazardous
materials safety practices.Cantwell, in a letter to the chief executive of Norfolk
Southern and the CEOs of six other freight rail operators, noted
that the train had "20 total hazardous materials cars
transporting vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate, and isobutylene, of
which 11 derailed.""Every railroad must reexamine its hazardous materials
safety practices to better protect its employees, the
environment, and American families and reaffirm safety as a top
priority," Cantwell wrote.The letter was also sent to the CEOs of Berkshire Hathaway's
Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF), Canadian National
, Canadian Pacific, CSX, Kansas City
Southern and Union Pacific."The industry shares Senator Cantwell’s goal of ensuring the
safety of our nation’s rail network and look forward to
productive conversations with her and the committee upon the
NTSB issuing its findings," the Association of American
Railroads said.The Health and Human Services Department and the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Friday they were
deploying a team of medical personnel and toxicologists to
conduct public health testing and assessments. Federal Railroad
Administration chief Amit Bose will visit the site next week and
the Environmental Protection Agency is stepping up testing.Norfolk Southern Chief Executive Alan Shaw said the railroad
has established an initial $1 million community support fund and
distributed $1.7 million in direct financial assistance to more
than 1,100 families and businesses to cover evacuation costs.
"We will not let you down," he told residents in a letter.Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said Friday a plume of pollution
that had been moving down the Ohio River, a source of drinking
water for 5 million people, had dissipated, and said state
testing never showed that any contaminated water entered any
municipal drinking systems in its path.DeWine called on Congress to review railroad safety
regulations, lamenting states have little power to demand
information about what types of hazardous goods are rolling
through their borders.Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Thursday more
needs to be done to address rail safety in the face of hundreds
of annual train derailments. He noted there are roughly 1,000
train derailments annually.DeWine said he hopes there is a full presidential commission
or extensive hearings in Congress to investigate the accident
and ensure that it never happens again.Cantwell noted that over the past five years, the largest
railroads "have cut their workforce by nearly one third,
shuttered railyards where railcars are traditionally inspected,
and are running longer and heavier trains."National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy
said on Twitter that a scrapped rule to mandate electronically
controlled pneumatic brakes would not have prevented the
derailment because that would only apply to high hazard
flammable trains.
(Reporting by David Shepardson and Brad Brooks; editing by
Leslie Adler and Stephen Coates)