What East Palestine can tell us about the rail industry

Explain It to Me

Vox Media Podcast Network

Education, Politics, News, Society & Culture

4.4 • 7.9K Ratings

🗓️ 7 March 2023

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On the evening of February 3, 2023, a Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic chemicals derailed outside of East Palestine, Ohio. The environmental impact was almost immediate: Residents were forced to evacuate while authorities carried out a controlled release of the hazardous chemical vinyl chloride. The aftermath also raises questions about freight rail policy and regulation. Host Jonquilyn Hill talks with Joanna Marsh of FreightWaves and Ian Duncan of the Washington Post about what East Palestine tells us about the rail industry’s past and future. References: Ohio senators introduce rail safety bill after fiery crash 5 questions you might ask about freight train accidents Yes, the Ohio train wreck is an environmental disaster. No, it's not Chernobyl. The East Palestine, Ohio, train wreck didn't have to be this bad Credits: Jonquilyn Hill, host Sofi LaLonde, producer Cristian Ayala, engineer A.M. Hall, editorial director of talk podcasts Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Arcadia Strowski and the host of a new podcast from the economist called Next Year in Moscow.
0:05.6	For many Russians, Vladimir Putin's full-scale innovation of Ukraine also felt like an attack
0:11.2	on their own country's future. Hundreds of thousands fled. I've been talking to this new
0:16.8	exiles because their stories helped bring to life the mystery of why this senseless war
0:21.6	began and how it might end. Next year in Moscow from the Economist is out now on your podcast
0:27.4	step. Join me today and start listening.
0:57.4	I'm John Guilinhill and today on the weeds we're getting into the policies that are
1:08.4	supposed to keep our trains on track. My name is Jennifer Hammondi and I'm the chair of
1:14.4	the National Transportation Safety Board. I can tell you this much. This was 100% preventable.
1:23.7	By now, you've likely heard about East Palestine, Ohio. My name is Wayne Vable. I grew up in
1:30.0	Darnak and Township, Pennsylvania and remarried. My wife had moved East Palestine and 31 years
1:37.2	ago. So I've been in East Palestine for 31 years.
1:40.6	My colleague Benji Jones, a senior environmental reporter here at Fox, recently drove through
1:45.9	East Palestine and talked to residents about their experiences in the wake of last month's
1:50.7	train derailment. That's where he met Wayne and his wife, Gail.
1:55.3	I was sitting in my lazy boy and when I heard the dogs responded and so Gail and I looked
2:01.3	out the windows and we seen the fire from here.
2:04.3	We can see the fire from here very clear. I mean we thought all of downtown was on fire.
2:08.8	You know until people started posting on Facebook, I thought Market Street was on fire.
2:13.3	It was taller than any building we have in town. And then all day Saturday we kept watching,
2:21.6	we could see the smoke, we could see the flames.
2:26.0	A lot of the conversation has been about the environment and the health impacts on residents.
	...

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