121. The Derailment (East Palestine, OH)

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This episode of Swindled may contain graphic descriptions or audio recordings of disturbing events which may not be suitable for all audiences.

Listener discretion is advised.

The industrial town of Paulsboro, New Jersey, situated along the banks of the Delaware River, is a key link in Conrail's busy Penns Grove Secondary Line, which serves southern New Jersey.

The line crosses Mantua Creek with a historically significant A-frame swing bridge, a structure which was once common among other rail lines in the region.

A succession of booms shook Gary Stevenson out of bed that morning, Friday, November 30th, 2012, followed by his wife's screams.

Ray Lynn, who was downstairs getting ready for work, drinking coffee, yelled, Gary, hurry, get down here.

A train has derailed.

The house literally rocked back and forth as he scrambled to his feet.

I came down and

I was expecting an engine turned over.

I was, and I can't say on TV what I actually said, but I said, holy hmm, I saw these trains stop spewing out over the creek.

The Stevenson's house set mere feet from the rail tracks on East Jefferson Street in Paulsboro, New Jersey.

which is located on the Delaware River opposite the airport in Philly.

The first thing Gary saw were the two boxcars carrying lumber and plastic pellets turned over in their backyard.

Even more alarming were the four tanker cars that had tumbled off the adjacent bridge into Mantua Creek.

One of them was leaking some kind of gas, enveloping the entire neighborhood in a dense, sweet-smelling, bitter-tasting, white fog.

Gary, in addition to serving as a councilman, also served as deputy chief of Paulsboro's Volunteer Fire Department.

He sprung into action and grabbed his binoculars to see if he could read the placard on the Pierce tank.

Ray Lynn, he called out.

Google vinyl chloride.

Vinyl chloride is a colorless, flammable gas used to manufacture hard plastic resin products such as PVC, credit cards, car parts, and vinyl records.

It's heavier than air, so it sits on the ground.

Vinyl chloride is also a known carcinogen associated with an increased risk of rare liver cancer.

Exposure may cause eye or throat irritation, headache, shortness of breath, dizziness, and sleepiness.

Extremely high levels can be fatal.

Gary needed to warn the neighbors, who had wandered outside to examine the commotion.

There was a big white cloud, and I told my friend, I said, man, I've never seen fog like that.

It's so white.

Numerous local, state, and federal agencies responded to the derailment site, even the U.S.

Coast Guard, since the accident occurred in a navigable waterway.

Representatives from Conrail, the company that owned the train and the tracks, were also on scene.

A unified command was assembled, but mass confusion ensued anyway.

The order initially was to evacuate, but 30 minutes later, it was changed to shelter-in-place based on false information about the chemical's toxicity.

Children, who arrived at school that morning to find the doors locked, were forced to turn around and trudge back home through the vinyl chloride cloud.

Soon after, the shelter-in-place order was lifted before being re-implemented and then lifted again.

There doesn't seem to be any imminent threat, the New Jersey DEP announced around 10 a.m.

The fumes and vapors have dissipated.

Levels have been measured well within the safety range established by the EPA.

That evening, vinyl chloride levels in the atmosphere spiked and residents nearest to the derailment were ordered to evacuate again, this time for three days.

They told us to stay in the house, close the windows Friday morning at 7 o'clock.

They didn't come to us till 8 o'clock at night and to evacuate us.

That means fumes is in our body.

My kids, I have three kids.

I see that it was unorganized and

the people that are in charge of the town didn't really

weren't prepared for what happened and it looks, it doesn't look good.

The cleanup took longer than expected.

The remaining vinyl chloride had to be revaporized before being removed because it had frozen in the tank.

Cleanup crews were also waiting for a 150-ton crane from New York to hoist the train cars out of the creek.

A three-day evacuation turned into seven days.

But even that was arbitrary and confusing.

For example, neighbors on one side of the street were allowed to stay in their homes while residents on the other were told to leave.

Some people just ignored the orders and stayed put.

Others ignored everything and walked their dogs down the block like nothing was happening.

I got a lot of friends that are frustrated because they don't know when they can come back to their house to even get anything or, you know, to check on their animals.

Frustrations boiled over as the days passed.

On December 5th, 2012, hundreds of residents gathered at a public meeting with government officials to express their doubts and discontent with the lack of communication, misinformation, and false deadlines.

Some directed their fury at New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, bemoaning his lack of presence to focus instead on Hurricane Sandy.

Attempts by members of the Coast Guard, the Department of Environmental Protection, the local government, and others to assure residents that everything was under control were drowned in booze or shouted down.

As many as 70 people had been treated at local hospitals for respiratory distress, eye irritation, vomiting, wheezing, and headaches.

And yet, here was the government telling them that everything was fine.

It's a lie.

Tell us the truth, a man yelled.

Go home tomorrow morning and listen for a bird to chirp.

You won't hear it.

U.S.

Representative Rob Andrews was in attendance.

The people of Paulsboro spoke very loudly loudly and clearly last night, and they have throughout this process, that they want two things.

They want to be absolutely sure that the air that they are breathing is safe and the water they're drinking is safe.

And second is, as soon as that safety is assured, they want to return home.

Most evacuees were allowed to return to their homes by Saturday, December 8th, 2012, after tests of their residences revealed no trace of vinyl chloride.

The fifth and final rail car was removed from the crash scene about a week later.

Around the same time, the NTSB issued its preliminary findings on the probable cause of the derailment.

It was the Jefferson Street Bridge, built in 1873, jointly owned by the Conrail and Norfolk Southern Railroads.

It was a swing bridge, which means it would swivel open to allow ships to pass through Mantua Creek and then lock back into place for rail travel.

A simple green-yellow-red traffic signal indicated whether the bridge was open or closed the trains.

It was red that morning when the FC-4230 heading from Camden to Logan Township made its approach and the crew did everything by the book.

The engineer stopped the train to punch in the key code to a line and lock the bridge into place.

Despite multiple attempts, the traffic signal remained red, indicating the bridge's locking mechanisms were not secured.

Per protocol, the conductor deboarded the train and visually inspected the structure.

He came back and he reported to the engineer that everything looked fine.

The engineer then tried to key in the code several more times.

He could not get the signal to clear or turn green.

He called the dispatcher.

The dispatcher cannot see the signal and does not control the bridge, but he called the dispatcher to get authority to proceed.

He was granted that authority to proceed across the bridge by the dispatcher.

As the train traveled across at an appropriate speed, it became apparent that the locking mechanism on the far east end of the bridge was not working correctly.

The span rotated and the bridge swung open, misaligning the running rails and causing the sixth through the twelfth car to derail.

Cars 9 to 11 ended up in the water below.

Car 10 suffered a 1 by 3 foot puncture in its hole, releasing approximately 23,000 gallons of vinyl chloride into the air.

Two years after the incident, during a two-day investigative hearing, the NTSB NTSB determined who was responsible for the malfunctioning bridge.

The answer was Conrail.

The investigation revealed that the rail company had ignored its own consultant's recommendation to keep the bridge closed while it addressed a litany of issues flagged by train crews in the weeks, months, and years leading up to the incident, including a 2009 derailment of a 50-car coal train on the same bridge for the same reasons.

The consultant recommended that the bridge be closed until equipment failures could be diagnosed.

Conrail did not act on this advice and continued to operate the bridge.

The inadequate emergency response exacerbated the accident, the NTSB noted.

Failures occurred at every level, starting with the Paulsboro police, who reported the vinyl chloride leak as non-toxic, even after fire officials reported the opposite.

Furthermore, first responders were not adequately trained or equipped.

The command post was set up a mere 50 yards away from the toxic and highly flammable gas leak.

At the same time, responding hazmat teams scrambled to find suitable breathing apparatuses and batteries for their air monitoring devices.

I think the emergency response for this derailment was, in one word,

abysmal.

After the investigation concluded, hundreds of lawsuits were filed against Conrail and its subsidiaries, including a class action claiming the company was negligent for ignoring warning signs and failing to maintain the 150-year-old bridge.

The plaintiffs included individuals, businesses, first responders, and even the school district.

They complained that the adverse publicity of the event stigmatized the borough and would ultimately result in the loss of tax revenue as people fled in pursuit of cleaner pastures.

Conrail settled some of those claims for as little as $500.

There were no deaths attributed to the derailment, at least not initially.

However, one man later claimed in a lawsuit that the vinyl chloride leak led to the sudden passing of his 77-year-old mother.

He sought compensation for pain and suffering, emotional distress, and medical expenses.

Community members are still dealing with the after effects of the derailment.

Some have already collected cash settlements from Conrail, while one law firm is representing 600 residents.

More than 50 of them have already filed lawsuits related to health and property concerns.

The monetary cost of the cleanup and remediation of the Paulsboro train derailment was reported to be about $30 million.

But the true cost of the accident might be more appropriately measured environmentally.

Subsequent groundwater and air testing revealed generally declining levels of vinyl chloride, but future health concerns of the borough's residents remain a mystery.

More than half the respondents to a survey conducted by the New Jersey Department of Health in the years following the leak claimed to experience some kind of new or worsening health symptoms.

This is Gary Stevenson, now the mayor of Paulsboro, New Jersey.

In 15 to 20 years, you will start to, your lungs will start to be bad, and your liver,

the enzymes in the liver will start to go, and that's what he told me.

I don't know.

No one's ever come back to follow up with me and say, hey, we found this out about vinyl chloride.

To avoid similar future catastrophes, legislation was introduced at both the state and federal levels to better regulate the rail industry, the only mode of transportation that owns, maintains, and repairs its own infrastructure.

Congressman Rob Andrews pushed for a sensible set of regulations with oversight tasks to an independent agency.

Senator Robert Menendez introduced a similar bill to strengthen rail safety based on the NTSB's recommendations, which included stiffer penalties for rail companies that violated safety standards.

Every piece of legislation received broad, bipartisan support.

Every piece of legislation was dead on arrival, courtesy of lobbyists for the railroad industry.

Sadly, the railroad continues to act as if it were a sovereign nation, Paulsboro Assemblyman John Berzicelli told NJ.com in 2014.

The federal government fails to pass regulations that would make the railroad more accountable.

That organization is doing business today, the same way they did the day before the accident.

Remember, this is a for-profit, essentially a monopoly.

People make a lot of money.

These railroads are important, and what they transport is important, but safety comes first.

Conrail did replace the Jefferson Street Bridge with a more modern drawbridge, which opened in March 2015 and incorporated cameras and software for better monitoring.

However, many of the NTSB's other recommendations, including developing emergency operation and response plans for transporting hazardous materials, were simply disregarded, relegating the Paulsboro derailment to nothing more than a wake-up call that went unanswered.

Today, the residents of Paulsboro struggle with conflicted feelings about the rail tracks that connect their little slice of heaven to global industry.

Oil refineries are the largest employers in the area, and they rely upon those tracks.

Those companies are the banisters of the local economy, the sponsors of the Little League teams, an unfortunate necessity.

Yet, to this day, the hair on everyone's neck stands up whenever those tracks make the slightest rumble.

Every time there's an unplanned stop, every time there's an unfamiliar screech, Their hearts start racing again.

Is the food safe to eat?

Is our water safe to drink?

Is our air safe to breathe?

Could it happen again?

A train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio exposes the divisiveness, the mistrust, and the greed for which the heartland of America beats on this episode of Swindled.

They bribed government officials

for clear violations of the state law earlier in the unethical pay to play millions of taxpayer dollars that were wasted.

Dumping up the team's records to hide.

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The following message is transmitted at the request of Columbiana County Board of Commissioners.

The evacuation zone is one mile from Deralman, located at 1020E.

Tiggard in East Palestine, Ohio.

The evacuation zone is one mile from Deralman, located at 1020E.

Tiggard in East Palestine, Ohio.

The village of East Palestine in Columbiana County, Ohio is located about 20 miles south of Youngstown near the western Pennsylvania border.

Like many rural communities in the United States, its modest population of 4,700 is predominantly white, predominantly Christian, and politically conservative.

The town's entertainment options revolve around the church and the high school almost exclusively.

In fact, on the evening of Friday, February 3rd, 2023, a relatively large group of residents gathered at the East Palestine High School gymnasium to watch a basketball game.

The home team Bulldogs lost, but a much more significant event was unfolding seven blocks away.

An 18,000-ton Norfolk Southern freight train approached from the west on its way to Conway, Pennsylvania from Madison, Illinois.

Its 150 rail cars, containing everything from all-purpose flour to hazardous chemicals, stretched over one and a half miles, splitting the village in half.

An occurrence, East Palestinians would say, that was as common as night and day.

But this time, something went terribly wrong.

At 8.54 p.m., about a thousand feet from the state line near East Taggart Street, dozens of the train's cars derailed from the tracks, resulting in a crumpled heap of aluminum and steel.

A fire erupted instantly.

Three-story flames illuminated the eastern Ohio sky.

The only way I can describe it, it's like the doors of hell were open.

I mean, it was hot and the flames were shooting up in the air at least 100 feet.

We didn't know what chemicals were, but once on scene, you can smell, you can smell it in the air that there was something.

Members of the East Palestine Volunteer Fire Department arrived on the scene in about 10 minutes, but the blaze was so intense they couldn't get close.

Heavy smoke billowing from the wreckage made it impossible to see what they were even up against, but the smell in the air was a clear indicator of danger.

Witnesses described the odor as like nail polish remover, but sweeter, like burning plastic mixed with super glue.

Even more specifically, as one man relayed to the Wall Street Journal, it smelled like, quote, paint thinner, sharpie, and banana laffy-taffy.

Unmistakably, chemically, everyone agreed.

But the tanker placards were missing or melted, and Norfolk Southern wasn't returning the dispatcher's calls, so the aroma's source remained a mystery as first responders battled the blaze throughout the night.

At 11 p.m., households nearest to the derailment were encouraged to evacuate while the rest of the village sheltered in place.

Many residents refused the instructions, not wanting to leave pets behind or having no mode of transportation.

Others simply had nowhere else to go, opting instead to watch what was happening outside their window on the nationally televised news.

State of emergency in Ohio after a train derailment and massive fire.

Some of the cars were carrying hazardous chemicals.

Residents told to either evacuate or stay indoors as that fire still burns.

Officials closely monitoring air quality and closing schools tomorrow.

The fire was still burning by sunrise the next morning.

At its worst, the smoke was so thick that cities hundreds of miles away were picking it up on their weather radars.

More than 50 fire departments from neighboring counties and states had mobilized to help, as did representatives from Norfolk Southern.

Officials from the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency arrived on the scene at 2 a.m.

that morning, and investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were on site collecting information about what might have caused the derailment by the following afternoon.

The post-derailment fire spanned about the length of the derailed train cars.

The fire has since reduced in intensity, but remains active and the two main tracks are still blocked.

Officials could now determine that 38 train cars in total had derailed.

11 of those 38 were tank cars that contained an assortment of highly flammable chemicals and liquefied gases such as butyl acrylate, benzene, and isobutylene.

Several of those chemical tanks were currently burning or leaking into nearby streams.

Of most concern, however, according to East Palestine Fire Chief Keith Drabek, were the five tanks carrying 115,000 gallons of vinyl chloride.

Fortunately, the relief valves on those cars were working as intended by intermittently releasing the contents as needed to avoid a temperature-induced pressure-related catastrophe.

The product in question that we're

dealing with and most concerned about is vinyl chloride.

The rail car that was carrying that is doing its job.

The safety features of that rail car are still functioning.

However, a violent roar from one of those pressure valves after an entire day of stability heightened concerns.

Norfolk Southern and its contractors, who were ultimately responsible for managing the scene, worried that a drastic change in the chemical was taking place inside one of the tanks.

If that pressure continued to build, Norfolk Southern warned that the tank car would inevitably explode.

This is Ohio's governor, Mike DeWine.

There's a concern.

The railroad has a serious concern, which they can express to you

about an explosion with one or more

of these cars.

They describe an explosion as potentially catastrophic.

Governor DeWine explained to the public that decision makers were faced with, quote, two bad options.

The first, they do nothing, take their chances, and allow for an unpredictable and potentially catastrophic explosion to occur, which would almost certainly launch tank shrapnel a mile in every direction.

Or, they do what Norfolk Southern recommended, a controlled vent and burn, which meant blowing a small hole into each problematic car, spilling the vinyl chloride into a pit, and burning it off with flares.

Doing so would create byproducts of highly toxic gases such as phosgene, which would flood the atmosphere.

Not ideal, but hey, it would dissipate in time.

Ultimately, after a meeting of Norfolk Southern reps, government officials, and incident commanders, the decision was made to proceed with the vent and burn.

The action would take place the following day during daylight hours, allowing time for contractors to dig a trench and for residents to evacuate.

We are ordering you to leave, Governor Mike DeWine announced at a news conference.

This is a matter of life and death.

Breaking news from Columbiana County, East Palestine, is now under an urgent mandatory evacuation order after a toxic train derailment.

Governor Mike Dewine late tonight activating the Ohio National Guard to assist with a potential of a catastrophic explosion.

The controlled burn was executed around 4:30 p.m.

on Monday, February 6, 2023.

Five tank cars' contents were drained and ignited.

The resulting images were nothing short of terrifying.

A massive ball of fire was visible over the horizon, while black, contaminant-rich smoke snuffed out the sun.

According to those who made the decision, the vent and burn, which lasted several hours, was a resounding success.

Officials announced that evacuees should be able to return to their homes in a matter of days, as neighboring residents looked up at the sky in horror.

These aren't storm clouds.

This is the fucking shit

that they burn off, the fucking shit they burn off in East Palestine.

This is not fucking storm clouds

Look at it.

This is their fucking success

That ain't no fucking storm cloud.

That's the fucking shit from East Palestine

Their fucking controlled burn

Motherfuckers

You fucking greedy motherfuckers

Impatient bitches.

You could have fucking waited.

You could have fucking cold the tanks.

You could have transferred the contents.

You didn't have to do this.

You did it because of time and money.

That's exactly why you did it.

Five days after the derailment, on Wednesday, February 8th, 2023, the village of East Palestine received some good news.

According to the US EPA, Around-the-clock air testing inside and outside the evacuation zone showed that contaminant levels had returned to normal.

The town's tap water also measured below levels of concern and was deemed safe to drink.

Consequently, the evacuation was lifted.

This is East Palestine's part-time mayor, Trent Conaway.

Nobody's ever had anything like this happen to us in this town.

We did the best we can.

The number one goal was public safety, and we accomplished that.

Nobody was injured, nobody died, and there was very few injuries from the recovery process so far.

That recovery process was going to be long and expensive.

All the dirt where the chemicals spilled would have to be excavated.

At least one of the railroad tracks would have to be replaced.

In the interim, all rail traffic would be diverted to the north track while work began on the south.

Norfolk Southern trains were running again in East Palestine one day after the controlled burn.

It was the lifeblood of the village, after all.

Additionally, millions and millions of gallons of contaminated wastewater would need to be removed from the scene.

Early numbers reported by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources estimated that seven and a half miles of local stream had been affected.

At least 3,500 fish had been killed.

ODNR, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, expected to come in soon, get rid of those fish because they're afraid some of the wild animals will eat the fish and they themselves will die as well.

Norfolk Southern paid contractors to install a dam and water bypass at Sulphur Run Creek to prevent further contamination downstream.

That was just the beginning of the rail company's obligations.

As the owner of the tracks and train, state and federal officials felt Norfolk Southern should be compelled to pay for everything.

Again, this is Governor DeWine.

We believe that the railroad should continue to pay, and we're going to insist that they pay.

Whatever damages have been caused, the railroad is responsible for those damages.

Norfolk Southern's culpability became more apparent almost two weeks after the accident when the NTSB released its preliminary findings.

Thanks to surveillance videos from regional businesses, investigators were able to identify the series of events leading up to the derailment.

And the video on your screen now shows that the train appeared to be on fire.

This is interesting, 20 miles before it reached the site where it actually went off the tracks, derailed.

Flames lit up the underside of freight car number 23 nearly 20 miles in 42 minutes before it reached East Palestine.

This was indicative of a wheelbearing in the final stages of failure from overheating.

Hotbox detectors along the tracks confirmed rising temperatures as the train continued its route, but by the time a mechanical defect alert was sent to the three-person crew, it was too late.

The NTSB confirmed that the crew conducted themselves appropriately and were not to blame.

Everyone investigators interviewed who had worked on that particular train, Norfolk Southern 32N, 32N, or 32 Nasty, as it was known, was not shocked by the series of events.

32N was excessively long and heavy and notorious for malfunctioning.

In fact, it had encountered mechanical problems on more than one occasion the day before it derailed.

Perhaps more systemic issues were at play.

The NTSB announced it would release a formal report of its preliminary findings at a later date.

In the meantime, life was slowly returning to normal for the residents of East Palestine, despite the entire village reeking of chemical warfare.

Schools were back in session and restaurants reopened.

Everyone from the U.S.

CPA to the Ohio EPA to Ohio Governor Mike DeWine to Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro assured that the surrounding air and water were safe.

But the tap water smelled funny, and the creeks were full of dead fish and frogs.

Some people had rashes on their bodies, others struggled to breathe.

Could it be, many asked themselves in between persistent coughs, that the government is lying to me?

The distrust ran deep.

Where's Sleepy Joe Biden?

Where's Transportation Secretary Pete Buddha Judge, or Buddha Judge, however you say his name?

Sure, it's not customary for people in those positions to show up on the scene of train derailments, but maybe they should, you know?

It's been two weeks and neither one of them has said a fucking thing.

We are in a Chernobyl environment here.

And the government tells us our water is safe, our air is safe, and we don't believe them.

We used to have squirrels on our property, okay?

They disappeared.

Gone.

We live in an old farmhouse.

We usually have a lot of mice.

Hmm.

No mice either.

Makes you wonder.

Are we really safe?

Is our water safe?

You destroyed our town.

Why?

This could have been prevented.

I mean, what are you doing?

They're not telling us stuff.

I mean, you want answers to all.

Just give us the truthful answers.

The bottom line was that the people of East Palestine wanted clear communication from those in charge.

What's the true scale of the disaster?

What are the long-term health consequences?

Did anyone actually know?

Those with questions were given an opportunity to have them answered at what they were calling an informational open house on February 15th at the East Palestine High School Gymnasium.

Mayor Trent Conaway, Congressman Bill Johnson, the director of the Ohio Department of Health, and others were all on hand to reassure the hundreds of residents who attended.

But that meeting quickly devolved into chaos and outrage thanks to the glaring absence of one particular organization.

No, Norfolk Southern didn't show up.

They didn't feel it was safe.

I'm a mayor of a town of 4,700 people.

If you think I can fight against a railroad or fight against the EPA or fight against any like that, you're crazy.

I need help.

I'm not ready for this.

I wasn't built for this.

I always

thought of myself as a leader of men and I have the village on my back and I'll do whatever it takes, whatever it takes, to make this right.

I'm here to stay and they're going to make it right and that's it.

That's it.

I'm done playing games.

They're not playing games either.

I'm not, it's not he said, she said.

They screwed up our town.

They're going to fix it.

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Live from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, it's June 7th, 2022.

Please welcome Norfolk Southern in celebration of its 40th anniversary.

To honor the occasion, they will ring the opening bell.

Norfolk Southern had plenty to celebrate in in the summer of 2022.

In addition to the 40th anniversary of the merger between Western Railway and Southern Railway that birthed it, the Atlanta-based company had generated record-setting profits in 2021, cementing its status as one of the largest transportation companies in North America.

Obviously, no one benefited more from Norfolk Southern's explosive growth than its shareholders.

Over the previous five years, the company had paid out nearly $18 billion through stock buybacks and dividends, primarily thanks to the recent adoption of a controversial business strategy known as precision scheduled railroading.

Precision scheduled railroading was pioneered by a rail executive named E.

Hunter Harrison in 1993.

Since then it's been promoted by every hedge fund on the planet and adopted by every major player in the railroad industry.

The goal was to operate more efficiently, a corporate code word for doing more with less while squeezing out every last last dime of profitability.

This meant running fewer but longer trains, which meant less maintenance, fewer stops, fewer inspections, and best of all, fewer employees.

It meant eliminating less profitable routes, enforcing a strict schedule, and demanding speedy deliveries.

Nearly one-third of railroad jobs have been eliminated in recent years as the major companies overhaul their operations.

For the remaining workers, this meant no time off, additional overtime, and more fatigue.

Norfolk Southern adopted precision scheduled railroading in 2019.

Since then, it has paid twice as much in shareholder rewards than it has invested in its operations.

While Norfolk Southern executives were ringing the bell for Wall Street, its employees didn't even have sick leave.

The company slashed its costs across the board.

However, they did leave room in the budget for its killer-in-thouse corporate country band.

Norfolk Southern were leading

Rail unions warned the major companies that the system was being stretched to its limits and the numbers backed up their claims.

Soon after Norfolk Southern, quote, improved its efficiency, the rate of accidents per million train miles has increased every year and faster than everybody else in the industry.

And this was a company that once prided itself on safety.

Norfolk Southern won the prestigious E.H.

Harryman Award 23 years in a row for having so few accidents and injuries.

Now, safety was just another buzzword used in PowerPoint presentations at investor meetings.

At Norfolk Southern, safety comes first in everything we do.

Our mission is to be the gold standard in safety.

That's Norfolk Southern CEO, Alan Shaw.

In 2022, he had been on the job for less than a year, but but doubled his pay to $9.8 million annually.

Later that year, rail workers threatened an industry-wide strike that would have brought the United States economy to its knees.

All they were asking for was bare minimum quality of life improvements.

To avoid disaster, the friend of labor president Joe Biden interfered and imposed a contract on the workers that included pay raises, but still no paid sick leave.

On January 25th, 2023, one week before the East Palestine derailment, Norfolk Southern reported its 2022 financials.

Good news, everyone.

Another record-breaking year.

$12.7 billion in operating revenue.

Score another one for precision scheduled railroading.

That's right.

Raise up those profits.

Push down those costs.

Raise them up.

Push them down.

It's good for America.

It's good for you.

Fast forward two weeks and CEO Alan Shaw is writing an open letter to the residents of East Palestine to reconfirm Norfolk Southern's commitment to, quote, rebuild the community.

As proof of that commitment, Shaw announced that the company would be contributing $1 million to a community support fund as down payment.

I understand our responsibility here for the long term, and we're going to keep our commitment.

We're going to keep our promises because, frankly, that's what Norfolk Southern does.

We keep our promises.

On February 16th, 2023, the same day Alan Shaw wrote that letter, another Norfolk Southern train derailed just outside Detroit, Michigan.

Fortunately, this time, the chemicals remained contained.

The Norfolk Southern train was carrying hazardous materials when it derailed.

This was near Huron River Drive and Haggerty in Van Buren Township.

February 16th was also the same day a Biden administration official visited East Palestine for the first time.

EPA Administrator Michael Regan stopped by to reassure residents that they were not alone alone and that contrary to popular belief and conservative talk show hosts, the Biden administration, by way of the EPA, was leading the charge on the cleanup and had been on the ground in East Palestine since day one.

More importantly, Regan promised that more federal assistance was coming and that Norfolk Southern would be held accountable.

I want this community to know that they don't have to manage this issue on their own.

As President Biden told Governor DeWine,

anything the state needs, we will be here to help.

As Governor Governor DeWine and I discussed last night, we are going to get through this as a team.

And at the same time, we are absolutely going to hold Norfolk Southern accountable.

And I can promise you that.

Michael Regan also reaffirmed that based on all available analyses, the air and water in East Palestine were safe.

He and Governor DeWine even took a sip of tap water at a residence house to prove it.

That said, Regan encouraged anyone who remained unsure about the safety of their air or water to seek further testing from the EPA or the state of Ohio.

Trust the science.

Trust the methodology, he encouraged.

Trust the government.

And if people want to go different places and want more assurances or want time to pass a little bit, they have a right to do that.

But for those who can't, I am asking that they trust the government.

Many East Palestinians were choosing to trust their bodies instead, and their bodies were telling them that something was definitely wrong.

The muscle aches, the cramps, cramps, my bones,

the tingling in your tongue and lips,

heaviness in the chest,

it's hard to breathe sometimes, it's hard to breathe sometimes, clogged up ears, like clogged up my ears, um, coughing, headaches

for days at a time, for days at a time.

Not to mention there were reports about the government's own investigators getting sick.

The Centers for Disease Control is Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry team, conducting house-to-house surveys near the derailment, had experienced many of the same symptoms residents had described.

However, that information wasn't made publicly available at the time.

Furthermore, some residents who could afford it took it upon themselves to pay out-of-pocket for private testing and found traces of chemicals in their households.

It turns out that the consulting firm hired by Norfolk Southern had been using handheld devices that could not detect certain compounds.

For those who lived in East Palestine, none of this came as a surprise.

Trust the government.

How about trusting your own nose?

There was a lingering stench permeating the village.

Trust your own eyes.

Look at the water in the creek, man.

There's an unmistakable, chemical-laden, iridescent sheen.

There are literally hundreds of dead fish.

All coming from the one creek that's coming from the wreckage.

That fish in this one is actually probably about a foot long, so it's not just the little ones.

And then you see a bunch of little ones scattered around it.

Little beaver runs into big beaver, runs through our state park,

and there's dead fish everywhere.

I can't even begin to imagine the trickle effect we're going to have on the wildlife around here.

Even then, Ohio Senator J.D.

Vance threw on some waterproof eyeliner and rushed to East Palestine to see it for himself.

Watch this.

Just see that chemical pop out of the creek.

This is disgusting.

And the fact that we have not cleaned up

the train crash, the fact that these chemicals are still seeping in the ground is an insult to the people who live in East Palestine.

Around the same time, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources updated its estimated number of dead fish, crustaceans, and amphibians in the creeks from 3,500 to 43,000.

No wonder the people of East Palestine were frightened.

Norfolk Southern, a giant of the rail industry, had undoubtedly left behind some footprints.

We're making some footprints.

No, stop it.

Now's not the time.

This is serious.

This has touched me on every level.

This has touched my family.

This has touched my friends.

This has touched my farm.

This has touched my animals.

This has touched my finances.

This has touched my home.

And it will touch me to the cellular level when I get diagnosed with cancer, ALS, or whatever is going to come down the road if I stay in this contaminated, toxic town and you all know it.

Amplifying these legitimate concerns was the massive amount of misinformation and conspiracy theories that were peddled online from every blue-checked mouth breather to sitting members of Congress and future Hall of Fame quarterbacks.

Planned attack, cover-up, or both?

asked Conservative Daily podcast.

A massive death plume spanning multiple counties in Ohio is raining down hydrochloric acid onto people, read some Rando's tweet that garnered millions of views.

A dramatic photo of a purple cloud circulated, claiming it was tied to the derailment.

It wasn't.

Rumors abounded that the Ohio River, as far as West Virginia, was completely poisoned.

Not true.

Well, what about the animals?

They're all dying from as far as 100 miles away, and the entire town of East Palestine was locked down because we're dealing with the most significant environmental disaster in history, my fellow patriots.

Worse than Chernobyl even.

And all the ecological scientists traveling to the site to help had been killed in a plane crash and

the government was making everyone wear tracking bracelets and the Chinese spy balloons were a hoax to distract from it.

Nope.

Yeah, well, my uncle said he saw it on Facebook.

And the mainstream media isn't talking about it because the people in East Palestine are white.

Actually, as a Media Matters analysis confirmed, the mainstream media spent several hours talking about it.

However, that same analysis found that only two programs even briefly mentioned how rail industry lobbyists throughout multiple administrations have weakened regulations governing the transport of hazardous materials, which might have prevented this entire doomsday scenario in the first place.

Wait, you're telling me it's been a class war and not a culture war this whole time?

No, Fox News screamed into your poor grandma's earholes.

It's the liberals who voted for this.

It's Pete Budajuch, who Tucker Carlson described as, quote, flamboyantly incompetent, almost to the point of evil.

It's Joe Biden, who spent President's Day in Ukraine, giving your hard-earned tax dollars away.

Can you believe that?

President's Day is nothing sacred anymore.

I guess not, East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway agreed, telling Fox News that Biden's Biden's visit to Ukraine on such a holy day was a slap in the face.

Absolutely, that was the biggest slap in the face.

That tells you right now he doesn't care about us.

So, agreed.

He can send every agency he wants to, but I found that out this morning in one of the briefings that he was in the Ukraine giving millions of dollars away to people over there and not to us.

And I'm furious on President's Day and our country.

We don't want to be political pawns, Conaway said in that same interview.

We don't want to be a soundbite or a news play.

You sure about that?

Because a very special visitor was on his way to save the day, and you had no problem rolling out the red carpet for him.

Donald J.

Trump landed in East Palestine on February 22nd, 2023.

The village gave a hero's welcome to the former president, who had captured 72% of the Columbiana County vote in his 2020 losing re-election bid and had already announced that he was running again.

Trump visited a couple of sites around town and handed out Trump-branded water.

Trump water, actually.

Before giving a 10-minute speech in which he bragged about his relationship with FEMA, complained about the war in Ukraine, and reminded the state of Ohio that it was he alone who resurrected the college football season after COVID threatened to kill it.

And we got that done.

I did that very personally.

I called the commissioner and he also made a fat joke at Mayor Trent Conaway's expense.

Trent wears Trent.

He's very easy to find.

And he sat there and took it like a good little political pawn.

Trump went on to call the Biden administration's response to the derailment a betrayal, realizing that nobody in attendance would remember or care that it was, in fact, his administration that rolled back Obama-era railroad safety regulations and passed deep cuts to EPA programs, including the elimination of its surface water protection program.

There was no room for facts, thanks to Trent, much less nuance.

Just politics for dummies, megalomania, and mudslinging.

Us versus them.

Over the past few weeks, the community has shown the tough and resilient heart of America, and it's what it is.

This is really America right here.

We're standing in America.

And what a sad state of affairs it is.

I think it's safe to assume Jennifer Homindy, the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, a non-political, independent federal agency, would agree.

She had this to say at a press conference to confirm the NTSB's preliminary results the day after Trump's visit.

This is what I'm going to say.

Enough with the politics on this.

Enough with the politics.

I don't understand why this has gotten so political.

This is a community that is suffering.

This is not about politics.

This is about addressing their needs,

their concerns.

Oh, look at the DEI hire wanting to focus on who is actually the blame for the disaster.

That's cute.

Too bad.

Here's Senator J.D.

Vance a week later, whipping his base into a frenzy.

I think that our leadership, our media, and our politicians were slow to respond to this crisis in part because a certain segment of our leadership feels like the people of East Palestine are a little out of style.

They have the wrong politics, they're a little too rural, maybe a little too white.

To his credit, Vance, along with Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, introduced bipartisan legislation to strengthen rail regulations.

It was called the Railway Safety Act.

Do we do the bidding of a massive industry that is in bed with big government or do we do the bidding of the people who elected us to the Senate and to the Congress in the first place?

I believe that we are the party of working people but it's time to be the party of working people.

We have a choice.

Are we for big business and big government or are we for the people of East Palestine?

Unfortunately, Mr.

Vance's bill turned out to be nothing more than lip service.

and not the kind he uses to moisten the crevices on his couch.

Despite widespread bipartisan support, the Railway Safety Act never made it to the Senate floor for a vote.

See if you can determine who the railroad lobby pays the most.

But more than a year later, the legislation has yet to come up for a vote.

All 51 Democrats in the U.S.

Senate supported Ohio's Republican Senator J.D.

Vance.

One of the bill's co-sponsors needs nine of his fellow Republicans to join him to avoid a filibuster.

The party of the working people indeed.

J.D.

Vance could not convince his GOP counterparts to support the bill, even after another Norfolk Southern train derailed, three days after the legislation was introduced.

We begin with breaking news tonight, and there has been yet another major train derailment in Ohio involving a Norfolk Southern train.

Tonight's derailment happened just before six in Springfield in Clark County, near Dayton.

Of course, Norfolk Southern wasn't about to champion anything that would hinder its profits.

When asked if he would endorse the safety legislation at a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on March 9th, 2023, CEO Alan Shaw politely declined.

That March 9th hearing also kicked off what might be best described as the Alan Shaw Apology Tour 2023.

My name is Alan Shaw, and I've been president and CEO of Norfolk Southern since May of 2022.

I want to begin today by expressing how deeply sorry I am for the impact this derailment has had on the residents of East Palestine and the surrounding communities.

I want to make sure you understand I am terribly sorry.

I want to begin today by expressing how deeply sorry I am.

My name is Alan Shaw.

My name is Alan Shaw.

And how deeply sorry I am.

I'm terribly sorry.

That morning, hours before Alan Shaw's Senate testimony, believe it or not, another Norfolk Southern train derailed, this time in Calhoun County.

It has happened again, Norfolk Southern, dealing with another train derailment, but this time right here in Alabama.

Obviously, saying sorry wasn't going to keep the trains on the tracks.

It had never been more apparent that the people of America were on their own and left to fend for themselves.

If there is any silver lining to what happened in East Palestine, as is often the case in any disaster, is that it serves as an example of what community is capable of sticking together looking out for each other people helping people

for example in the wake of the derailment a man from leitonio oio about a 20 minute drive from east palestine recognized the need for bottled water and launched a new non-profit called the ohio clean water fund the ocwf solicited donations via text message purchased bottled water with those funds, and then donated the water to the second harvest food bank of the Mahoning Valley.

The fund raised over $141,000 from 3,200 donors in a matter of weeks.

A perfect example of a grassroots good deed.

The only problem, the Second Harvest Food Bank had never heard of the Ohio Clean Water Fund and hadn't received a single bottle or dollar from them.

The food bank eventually complained to the Ohio Attorney General's Office, which began investigating the matter.

It was discovered that the OCWF was owned by a man named Mike Peppel, who had previously worked for Republican Congressman Bill Johnson of Ohio.

Peppel had hired two men to fundraise on the Clean Water Fund's behalf, Luke Mahoney, who worked as a campaign staffer for Republican Congresswoman from New York, Elise Stefanek, and Isaiah Wartman, the former campaign manager and senior advisor to Republican Congresswoman from Georgia, Marjorie Taylor Green.

When confronted by the media, Mike Peppel claimed that at least 75% of the donations were used to pay the charity's overhead fees.

Then, of course, he had to pay his two employees, but you know what?

Fine.

He donated $10,000 to the food bank to reduce the heat.

It didn't work.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost sued Mike Peppel and the Ohio Clean Water Fund in April 2023.

You know, we're fighting for East Palestine.

The idea that somebody would come in and play off this disaster and be playing on the good hearts of people that want to help and then pocketing the money, I'm mad as hell about this.

The lawsuit was settled with Mike Peppel and his two fundraisers, agreeing to pay over $131,000 in restitution and civil penalties, most of which was delivered to the food bank as the donors had intended.

Peppel also had to dissolve the Clean Water Fund and agree to a lifetime ban from holding any position with any Ohio charity.

And then he was banished from society.

Just kidding.

The man behind an alleged fake charity scheme is now the Congressional Communications Director for Congressman Michael Ruley.

A statement from the congressman reads in part, in light of the dismissal of any and all civil complaints against Mr.

Peppel, we are ready to move forward and focus on serving our constituents with a proven leader joining our team.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed a lawsuit against another proven leader that spring.

A 58-count federal lawsuit against Norfolk Southern, accusing it of numerous violations of state and federal environmental laws, causing substantial damage to the regional economy.

I'm concerned that Norfolk Southern is putting profits for their own company above the health and safety of the cities and communities that they operate in, Yost wrote in the filing.

He wanted the company to pay costs and damages and reimburse the state for economic losses.

Yeah, well, get in line, buddy.

Everyone, including hundreds of East Palestine residents and the U.S.

Department of Justice acting on behalf of the EPA, was suing Norfolk Southern.

All of them accused the company of the same thing, negligence and prioritizing profits over safety.

The residents wanted health care and future health monitoring.

The government wanted the company to pay cleanup costs and penalties.

Speaking of the cleanup, how's that coming along?

We've learned the tanker truck that crashed in Geauga County this morning was carrying wastewater from the East Palestine train derailment site.

A slight setback in the efforts to remove the toxic soil from the train derailment site in East Palestine.

A truck carrying 40,000 pounds of that soil crashed and overturned just a few miles down the road in Unity Township, spilling about half of the soil it was hauling away.

Okay, maybe we'll check back in on that later.

How about some good news instead?

Let's see.

Oh, yeah, the South Railroad tracks in East Palestine had been reinstalled, and by summer 2023, the remediation of both tracks was complete.

The rail line was reopened to commercial traffic, and Norfolk Southern was rolling out again.

Oh god damn.

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You know, I want to thank

the folks of East Palestine to know.

I want them to understand that

We're not going home no matter what till this job is done.

And it's not done yet.

There's a lot more to do.

The vast majority has been done.

But we're going to stay till the very end.

Well, well, well.

Look who finally showed up.

That's President Joe Biden, everybody, just in time for the East Palestine Derailment's one-year anniversary.

After being greeted with threats of road blockades and derogatory signs, Biden gave a brief seven-minute speech.

praising the Herculean recovery effort and thanked everyone involved.

He announced grants from the National Institutes of Health to study the short and long-term effects of the controlled burn.

And the president assigned blame to Norfolk Southern for failing in its responsibility to transport hazardous chemicals safely, as if there was any doubt.

Let me be clear.

While there are acts of God,

this was an act of greed

that was 100% preventable.

Let me say it again, an act of greed that was 100% preventable.

Biden also made time for a brief stop at a local candle company to have a sip of the East Palestine tap water.

That candle company was one of the many businesses in the village that had reopened its doors to the community.

Many others never returned.

That said, one year removed from the train derailment, East Palestine was far from a ghost town.

Home cells were picking back up, and high school sports were back in action.

Although the Bulldogs were forced to travel for every game because none of the opposing schools felt comfortable enough yet with the recovery progress to play in East Palestine.

That's not to say that progress hadn't been made.

The U.S.

EPA says it and partners have overseen Norfolk Southern's work to remove 160,000 tons of contaminated soil and more than 39 million gallons of liquid waste.

This doesn't mean the cleanup is done or that EPA is going away, but it is another step, a huge step.

in

life returning to normal.

Hundreds of area homes had their air quality tested and soil sampled, and the results were encouraging.

The public water system continued to be deemed safe.

However, two creeks that run through the village were still testing positive for the spilled chemicals, but their levels were dropping over time.

The ODNR also reported that aquatic life was slowly returning.

They had even spotted the rare and endangered hellbender salamander in its natural environment.

All thanks to the generosity of Norfolk Southern, whose running tab was growing larger by the day.

Staggering numbers released today by Norfolk Southern, the company responsible for the trained railmill in East Palestine.

It says cleanup efforts has cost the company $387 million thus far.

The cost of the toxic train drawments in East Palestine has more than doubled to $803 million,

according to Norfolk Southern.

At the one-year mark, Norfolk Southern's costs related to the cleanup of East Palestine exceeded $1 billion.

Or a better way to look at it, the company's cleanup costs exceeded all of the annual savings it realized by implementing precision scheduled railroading.

And those costs were set to increase even more dramatically in the near future as Norfolk Southern settled its pending litigation and paid fines and penalties.

Norfolk Southern has agreed to pay $600 million in a class action lawsuit settlement.

It's related to that fiery train derailment last year in East Palestine.

In April 2024, Norfolk Southern agreed to settle a class action lawsuit from East Palestine residents and businesses for $600 million.

The settlement included a personal injury payment of up to $25,000 each, plus additional compensation that could be used in any manner the plaintiff saw fit, such as medical monitoring, property restoration, or reimbursement for any net business loss.

However, if accepted, residents were required to give up any right to sue in the future if they were to develop cancer or other serious ailments.

At least four people rejected the deal.

Payments are currently on hold until their appeal, which a judge has stated will likely fail, is resolved.

A month later, in May 2024, Norfolk Southern settled with the U.S.

Department of Justice and the EPA for $310 million, which included a $15 million civil penalty.

The funds will be used to pay for health and environmental monitoring in East Palestine, as well as mental health services for the village residents.

As part of the agreement, Norfolk Southern did not have to admit to any wrongdoing or liability.

That DOJ settlement also required Norfolk Southern to spend an additional $200 million on safety improvements, many of which were outlined in the stalled legislation.

The company's profit tanked in the fourth quarter of 2023 as it anticipated these costs.

Did Norfolk Southern learn its lesson?

We have to deliver.

That's the message received from our shareholders.

We got to deliver on that groundbreaking strategy of a balance between service, productivity, and growth with safety at its core.

From the sound of that May 2024 shareholder meeting, it doesn't sound like it.

In fact, Norfolk Southern attempted to recoup some of its lost profits by suing seven companies whose equipment it was using or whose products it was hauling during that derailment.

Norfolk Southern claimed it did not manufacture, load, or own the rail cars that contained the chemicals or the chemicals themselves.

Thus, in its opinion, those companies should split the bill.

A federal judge dismissed those claims, rendering Norfolk Southern solely responsible, which was the correct decision in retrospect.

When the NTSB shared the final results of its investigation in June 2024, it was difficult to argue that anyone other than Norfolk Southern was to blame.

Unfortunately, some have sought to minimize the wide-ranging impacts of this derailment, pointing to the fact that there were no fatalities or injuries.

For this, we are certainly grateful, but the absence of a fatality or injury doesn't mean the presence of safety.

During a two-day hearing at East Palestine High School, nearly 17 months after the derailment, the NTSB, chaired by Jennifer Homindy, detailed 47 findings from its incident investigation.

The most egregious involved the decision to vent and burn the chemicals in the tankers.

Simply put, it was completely unnecessary.

The NTSB found that the tank's temperatures were dropping, not rising.

The situation was stable.

Oxy Vinyls, the manufacturer of the vinyl chloride, knew this and communicated it to Norfolk Southern and its contractors.

Yet Norfolk Southern must have forgotten or ignored that information because it was never communicated to the incident commander or the officials tasked with deciding between the two bad options.

East Palestine Fire Chief Keith Drabik testified that he, along with Mayor Conaway, Governor DeWine, Governor Shapiro, and others, were given just 13 minutes to choose.

Norfolk Southern and its contractors, who were in control of the derailment scene assessment, compromised the integrity of the Vent and Byrne decision by withholding complete and accurate expert opinions and information from the incident commander.

Why would Norfolk Southern do such a thing?

Because letting the tanks cool and pumping the chemicals out would take too long.

Burning it off was the quickest path to getting the trains moving again.

Norfolk Southern denied this accusation.

An executive at the company even went so far as to urge the NTSB before the hearing to, quote, put to rest the rumor that Norfolk Southern made the decision to vent and burn to move trains, a request that NTSB Chair Homody called unethical and inappropriate.

This is outrageous, Senator Sherrod Brown said in a statement when this information came to light.

This explosion, which devastated so many, was unnecessary.

The people of East Palestine are still living with the consequences of this toxic burn.

This is more proof that Norfolk Southern put profits over safety and cannot be trusted.

The NTSB investigation also revealed that Norfolk Southern had not recently inspected the railcar that caused the derailment, even though it passed through three rail yards that day where it could have been.

Again, this can all be traced back to precision scheduled railroading, fewer inspections, fewer inspectors, larger bonuses for the executive suite.

After the derailment, the company's questionable conduct continued.

Homody claimed Norfolk Southern, quote, delayed or failed to provide critical investigative information to our team.

She said the NTSB had to threaten the company with subpoenas twice before it complied.

And even when it did, Homedy said Norfolk Southern manufactured its own evidence.

The company hired a private lab to conduct testing of off-the-shelf vinyl chloride in an attempt to manipulate the NTSB record.

Norfolk Southern's actions were unconscionable, and I want everyone who works with the NTSB on current investigations and future investigations to understand this, Homity said.

Once again, the residents of East Palestine were the least surprised.

It's a large billion-dollar company.

The fact that they weren't forthcoming with information, that should be criminal and they should get nailed for it.

They changed our entire lives.

You know, it just, it brings out all these emotions in you again.

It's just, I feel rage, rage,

just like I would, you know, if any citizen poisoned my child.

I would say that what I've heard today is not necessarily a revelation, but it's just a confirmation of what I already expected.

These are real people that are here, and this is a real community that was, you know, just turned upside down and has had to endure a catastrophe that nobody should have to go through.

I honestly have a lot of hopes.

I hope that this is truly a catalyst for meaningful change.

There is so much that needs to happen to make railways safer.

Is our government going to allow a corporation to get away with it?

Or are they going to act on it?

East Palestine resident Chrissy Ferguson asked CBS.

Or is it going to be swept down the polluted creek like everything else is?

She wasn't the only one in town hoping for change.

I wish the Railroad Safety Act would have been passed, Republican Mayor Trent Conaway told the New York Times, referring to the legislation that Senate Republicans failed to support.

It sort of upsets me.

It's almost like we were forgotten a little bit.

One month later, Mayor Trent Conaway delivered a three-minute speech at the Republican National Convention.

He was easy to find.

I'm Trent Conaway, the proud mayor of East Palestine, Ohio.

I guess we weren't their type of folks.

No Hollywood elites.

or Wall Street billionaires live in East Palestine, just hardworking Americans.

I know a thing or two about train wrecks now, and let me tell you, that's what the Biden administration has been.

Before President Biden derails our entire nation, we need to act.

We need a leader who values small-town communities as much as big cities.

We need a president who loves all Americans.

We need Donald J.

Trump.

Donald J.

Trump received 74% of the Columbiana County vote in the 2024 election.

Two years after the derailment, cleanup is nearing completion.

74 million gallons of water have been recovered and transported off-site.

Almost 220,000 tons of soil have been removed.

115 million air monitoring data points have been recorded.

5,200 impacted waterways have been flushed.

To this day, testing conducted by state environmental officials has found no evidence of derailment-related contamination in East Palestine's public drinking water supply.

Railroad and government officials continue to monitor the soil, air, and water quality in the area, though they have said East Palestine residents are not in danger.

In total, Norfolk Southern expects the derailment to cost them $2.2 billion, with insurance covering about $750 million of that.

To put that into perspective, Norfolk Southern generated $12.1 billion in revenue last year alone.

Most recently, the company settled with the village of East Palestine itself for $22 million.

Those funds will be used to improve and renovate the town's water treatment plant, the city park, and historic train depot.

Mayor Conaway called the settlement a step towards closure.

Both a step towards closure and a turning point in our community's ongoing recovery and revitalization.

Unfortunately, there is one man who won't be around to see East Palestine's ongoing recovery and revitalization.

Norfolk Southern says it has fired its CEO, Alan Shaw, for having an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate.

The company says Shaw had a consensual relationship with the company's chief legal officer, who was also fired.

Ah, shucks.

I'm sure he'll be fine.

But But we can't yet say the same for the residents of East Palestine.

No scientific studies have been conducted to prove or disprove any long-term health effects related to the derailment, though many claim they are still experiencing symptoms from the chemical exposure.

In fact, a slew of new lawsuits were filed in February 2025 against Norfolk Southern, the EPA, the CDC, state and county agencies, and everybody else involved in the cleanup.

One lawsuit from a dog breeder claims 116 puppies and three adult dogs died as a result of the controlled burn.

Other puppies were born with multiple deformities, the complaint reads, including one who was born with two heads.

The most substantial new lawsuit involves more than 740 current and former residents of East Palestine who cite lingering, unexplained health problems, seizures, severe heart failure, high blood pressure, gushing nosebleeds.

At least seven families are suing for wrongful deaths, including the parents of a one-week-old baby.

This lawsuit, filed in Franklin County Common Police Court, is alleging for the first time that people died due to the derailment and the chemicals that were released.

Meanwhile, Norfolk Southern trains carrying the same hazardous chemicals roll through town up to 10 times a day.

Despite some minor upgrades in railroad technology, not a single safety measure has been implemented to help avoid a similar disaster.

But don't worry, help is on the way.

U.S.

Congressmembers from Ohio, Amelia Sykes, and Mike Ruley, yes, that Mike Rooley, have reintroduced bipartisan legislation that aims to hold railroad corporations accountable and ensure the safety of residents and businesses located near railroad tracks.

The legislation proposes increasing inspections, especially of those carrying hazardous materials, and strengthening regulations to prevent wheel-bearing failures.

Will it pass?

Don't hold your breath.

On second thought, maybe you should.

Swindled is written, researched, produced, and hosted by me, the concerned citizen, with original music by Trevor Howard, aka Deformer, aka Hellbender.

For more information about Swindled, you can visit swindledpodcast.com and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok at SwindledPodcast.

Or you can send us a postcard at PO Box2045, Austin, Texas, 78768.

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That's it.

Thanks for listening.

Hello, my name is Mary.

I'm from Pittsburgh.

Hello.

My name is Kristen from Moses Lake, Washington.

Hi, my name is Eliza.

I'm from Nashville, Tennessee.

And I am a commercial citizen and a valued listener.

Keep them coming.

And everyone needs to stop using generative AI.

Just put down the chat GBT.

Stop making images.

Just fucking stop.

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