Vance reacts to NTSB report, criticizes settlement with NS
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — When the U.S. Justice Department announced in May that it had reached a $315 million settlement on behalf of the federal Environmental Protection Agency to remedy damages caused by last year’s Norfolk Southern train derailment, Sen. J.D. Vance expressed frustration that it was brokered before the National Transportation Safety Board presented its determinations to the public.
On Tuesday, the NTSB revealed its findings at a board meeting in East Palestine, and Vance’s vexation bordered on anger.
“The findings shared by NTSB Chair [Jennifer] Homendy today confirm many of my worst fears,” said Vance, R-Ohio. “The derailment and subsequent chemical explosion were preventable tragedies resulting from a series of errors made by Norfolk Southern and its contractors.”
The NTSB draft report concluded what Vance had already heard from Homendy during Senate testimony earlier this year — the vent-and-burn of 1.1 million pounds of vinyl chloride that sent a black plume over East Palestine and surrounding communities was not necessary to prevent an explosion of derailed tank cars. The report reiterated Homendy’s testimony under questioning from Vance in January that Norfolk Southern withheld critical information provided by OxyVinyls (the manufacturer of the chemicals released and burned off) from Unified Command that the temperatures in the tankers were cooling and not heating up, indicating the tanks were not nearing rupture as Norfolk Southern and its contractors had claimed.
Vance and Ohio General Attorney Dave Yost issued a joint release in May following the announcement a deal had been struck between Norfolk Southern and the EPA, criticizing what both considered a hasty settlement and maintaining that the federal government should have waited until the NTSB’s investigation into the rail disaster was complete. The findings of that probe was a scathing indictment of Norfolk Southern’s actions following the derailment.
“The NTSB findings also call the Biden Department of Justice’s premature settlement into serious question,” Vance said. “Had they waited for these findings to be revealed, they could have secured more for the people of East Palestine.”
Vance also said the findings which made nearly 30 recommendations to various entities — including the Federal Railroad Administration, the American Association of Railroads, the Chlorine Institute, the state of Ohio, OxyVinyls, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration — to make the rail industry safer and prevent a similar disaster in the future fortifies the need for the passage of the Railway Safety Act, a non-partisan bill introduced by Vance and Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, less than one month following the derailment.
“Finally, these findings underscore the need for Congress to pass the Railway Safety Act, which would go a long way to improve our rail safety standards and prevent future disasters like what happened in East Palestine,” Vance said. “I won’t stop fighting for those residents until they get the accountability they deserve.”
The bill was originally met with strong support but has since stalled and is yet to make it to the Senate Floor for a vote. Among other things, the proposed legislation mandates two-man crew on trains, less distance between wayside detectors that are meant to catch things like the overheated wheeling bearing that caused the derailment in East Palestine and advanced notice to local officials of trains carrying hazardous cargo through towns.
Rep. Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania introduced the House version of the bill in March 2023. He, too, spoke out about the need for improved rail safety following the NTSB public board meeting.
“We cannot trust the railroads to regulate themselves — and Congress must take action to protect communities like mine,” said Deluzio, who represents the communities in Pennsylvania impacted by the derailment and chemical release. We are tired of the delays, and with the final NTSB findings public, opponents of common-sense safety reforms are out of excuses.”