CNN's Bill Weir describes how the Trump administration gutted train regulations before the East Palestine disaster
“When President Obama tried to make [new brakes] mandatory after a bunch of derailments in 2014 ... the industry, the railroads, the chemical companies, the lobbies fought it hard. They gutted it.”
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From February 16th, 2023, CNN This Morning
DON LEMON (CNN HOST): Here's what we do know right now. The head of the EPA is going to East Palestine today and is set to hold a news conference. When that train derailed, emergency crews released and burned off loads of chemicals to prevent a catastrophic explosion. But it has created this – it created this gigantic plume of smoke over the town.
There have been reports of pets getting sick and fish turning up dead in local creeks.
The train company, Norfolk Southern, was a no-show at last night's meeting. In a statement, this is what they said. "We know that many are rightfully angry and frustrated right now. We have become increasingly concerned about the growing physical threat to our employees. Our people will remain in East Palestine, respond to this situation, and meet with residents. We're not going anywhere."
Well, people who live in the area are concerned not only about their health right now, but years from now. And they should be. Our Bill Weir is to explain what these spilled chemicals do. Bill, good morning to you. They really want to know what is going on, who is responsible, and what effects this is going to have on their lives and their health. What can you tell us?
BILL WEIR (CNN CORRESPONDENT): Well, the immediate disruption is so painful to see. These people are running out of money as they stay in Airbnbs. There's so much fear and uncertainty as you see there.
But if you think they're angry now, they will only be more angry when they have the time and the wherewithal to look into the company behind this crash. Norfolk Southern is a $55 billion rail company, $12 almost $13 billion dollars in operating revenues last year. And they have a really checkered past.
This is in 2005. 14 cars derailed in Graniteville, North Carolina, there. Nine people died, 851 people were treated. But in the end, they settled for an EPA lawsuit settlement of $4 million in fines, mainly because they violated Clean Water Act laws and killed a bunch of fish. They probably settled with a lot of companies, but they've been doing sort of cost-benefit analysis in the railroad industry for a long time.
And the thing that is most fascinating to me are the brakes on the train. You got to understand, in recent years, Norfolk Southern in particular adopted a new kind of business model which meant a lot longer trains, two miles long, a lot fewer people. They laid off tens of thousands in the industry.
That train was almost two miles long and we think had conventional air brakes, which brakes from the front to the back. So it can take two minutes before the back cars know to stop and they become a slinky from hell, slamming into the cars that have stopped in front.
For years now, since the early 2000s, there have been electronically controlled pneumatic brakes. When Norfolk Southern first tried these because they brake every car all at once, they raved about it. They actually appealed to the transportation officials says you shouldn't have to inspect trains with ECP brakes. They are so effective.
But then when President Obama tried to make them mandatory after a bunch of derailments in 2014 – said let's just put them on the cars that have explosive carcinogens, for example – the industry, the railroads, the chemical companies, the lobbies fought it hard. They gutted it.
The final version was that longer high-hazard flammable trains would need brakes by 2023, ironically. But in 2018, the Trump administration, Elaine Chao was the transportation secretary, rolled it back entirely.
This will be the sort of, topic, I'm sure, of the class action lawsuits that are now being filed. The response from Norfolk Southern so far, a million dollar charitable fund, 1.2 million financial aid to families, 100 plus air purifiers, and air monitoring services and tests.