ReportWire

Tag: iab-disasters

  • As crews remove contaminated soil and liquid from Ohio toxic train wreck site, concerns emerge about where it’s going | CNN

    As crews remove contaminated soil and liquid from Ohio toxic train wreck site, concerns emerge about where it’s going | CNN

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    After a brief pause, shipments of contaminated liquid and soil from the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, have resumed after cross-country concerns about where the hazardous waste is going.

    Officials with the Environmental Protection Agency previously said they have approved the shipment of contaminated waste to two EPA-certified sites in Ohio: Heritage Thermal Services in East Liverpool and Vickery Environmental in Vickery. Region 5 Administrator Debra Shore said Monday two more sites – one in Ohio and one in Indiana – will also receive waste from the derailment scene.

    The move came after officials in Texas and Michigan complained they didn’t get any warning that waste from the toxic crash site would be shipped to their states for disposal. The EPA ordered the train’s operator, Norfolk Southern, to stop the shipments Friday so that it could review the company’s disposal plans.

    Shore said she spoke with officials from Ohio and Indiana on Monday regarding the shipment of hazardous waste material to their towns.

    Questions about the disposal of toxic waste from the February 3 derailment have added to the controversy surrounding the crash that has also left residents of the town worried about potential long-term health effects.

    The mayor of East Liverpool, one of the Ohio towns set to incinerate the waste, expressed concerns about the process but said the EPA has assured him that everyone has been following necessary guidelines.

    “We have a 2-year-old daughter and of course that’s a concern,” Mayor Gregory T. Bricker said. “But, again, I think this is a state-of-the-art facility that can handle this type of waste.”

    So far, about 1.8 million gallons of liquid waste and 4,832 cubic yards of solid waste have been pulled from the derailment site, according to the office of Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine.

    EPA Administrator Michael Regan is expected to make his third trip to East Palestine on Tuesday to mark the grand opening of a new community center, Shore said.

    US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has given Norfolk Southern and other major rail companies a deadline of this week to say whether they will participate in the Confidential Close Call Reporting System – a voluntary program that allows workers to report safety hazards.

    “This common-sense program encourages employees to report safety hazards, including conditions that could lead to derailments, by protecting these workers from reprisal when they come forward,” Buttigieg wrote in a Monday letter to Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw.

    The transportation secretary said “not one major freight rail company participates” in the Confidential Close Call Reporting System, also known as C3RS.

    “By refusing to take this commonsense step, you are sending an undesirable message about your level of commitment to the safety of your workers and the American communities where you operate,” Buttigieg wrote.

    “I am asking you to join the C3RS program now, even as our Department proceeds to take appropriate steps toward making this program mandatory.”

    Buttigieg first called for the change in a letter to railroads dated February 14, but is now going directly to rail CEOs and asking them to reply to the Department of Transportation “by the end of the week.”

    After that, Buttigieg said, he will “present the public with a summary of which companies have agreed to this important safety measure and which have refused.”

    The hazardous waste that has already been sent to Michigan and Texas is being processed, EPA regional administrator Debra Shore said Sunday.

    About 2 million gallons of firefighting water from the train derailment site were expected to be disposed in Harris County, Texas, with about half a million gallons already there, the county’s chief executive said last week.

    In Michigan, contaminated soil from the derailment site was taken to the US Ecology Wayne Disposal in Belleville, Michigan, US Rep. Debbie Dingell of Michigan said.

    Vickery Environmental will process overflow water from the crash scene, according to the Sandusky County Emergency Management Agency.

    The agency didn’t comment on how much water the facility has received so far, saying only that it has been receiving three to four loads per day, but according to Ohio officials, more than 94,000 gallons have been disposed of at the facility so far.

    Until Friday, Norfolk Southern had been “solely responsible” for disposing of waste from the train derailment, but waste disposal plans “will be subject to federal EPA review and approval moving forward,” Shore said.

    Every aspect of transporting and disposing of the hazardous waste “from the moment trucks and rail cars are loaded until the waste is safely disposed of” will be closely regulated and overseen by federal, state, and local governments, Shore said Sunday.

    After speaking to residents in East Palestine, Shore said “we owe it to the people of East Palestine to move it out of the community as quickly as possible.”

    “At the same time,” Shore added, “I know there are folks in other states who have concerns, legitimate concerns, about how this waste is being transported and how it will be disposed of. EPA will continue to work with our local, state, and federal partners to use our longstanding experience and expertise in these matters to ensure the health and safety, and support the East Palestine community and to hold Norfolk Southern accountable.”

    The fiery derailment and subsequent intentional release of vinyl chloride from train cars left East Palestine residents with anxiety about the safety of their air and water. Some have reported rashes, headaches, nausea and bloody noses.

    So far, tests of East Palestine’s public drinking have found “no indication of risk to East Palestine public water system customers” and “treated drinking water shows no detection of contaminants associated with the derailment,” the EPA said in a Sunday update.

    And air quality tests inside 578 East Palestine homes detected no contaminants linked to the derailment, the EPA said.

    But residents are still concerned, and federal teams are going door-to-door to conduct health surveys and provide informational flyers after President Joe Biden directed the move, a White House official told CNN.

    And new wells will be drilled this week “to determine if ground water immediately below the derailment site is contaminated,” DeWine’s office announced Sunday.

    Four wells have already been installed and up to three more will be drilled this week after the soil under the rails is completely excavated, officials said.

    “These monitoring wells will also support a better understanding of the direction and rate of the ground water flow in the area,” DeWine’s office said.

    As for the wreckage, all rail cars except the 11 held by investigators have been removed from the site of the derailment, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Director Anne Vogel said Sunday.

    “This is so critically important to moving on to next steps. We can now excavate additional contaminated soil and began installing monitoring wells,” Vogel said.

    The Ohio EPA will oversee the installation of water monitoring wells at the site of the derailment that will measure contaminant levels in the groundwater below.

    While the crash was “100% preventable,” it appears the train’s crew didn’t do anything wrong leading up to the derailment, said Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board.

    An NTSB preliminary report found one of the train’s cars carrying plastic pellets was heated by a hot axle that sparked the initial fire, Homendy said last week. Video of the train before the crash showed what appeared to be an overheated wheel bearing, the report said.

    What caused the wheel bearing failure will be key to the investigation, Homendy added.

    The investigation will also look into the train’s wheelset and the bearing, the designs of tank cars and railcars, the maintenance procedures and practices, as well as the damage from the derailment, the NTSB report said.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Tornadoes and severe winds strike central US as another round of rain and snow is set to pummel the West and North | CNN

    Tornadoes and severe winds strike central US as another round of rain and snow is set to pummel the West and North | CNN

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    As severe storms prompted overnight tornado reports in parts of the central US, a barrage of snow, rain and harsh wind is forecast Monday in places from the West Coast to the Great Lakes, including some still without power following a similar string of severe weather last week.

    More than 231,000 US homes and businesses were without power as of early Monday, according to PowerOutage.US – about half in Michigan, which is bracing for another round of ice and snow to hit the region Monday.

    Tens of thousands also lacked power in Oklahoma, where at least seven tornadoes and 12 injuries were reported in Sunday’s severe weather. Two tornadoes were reported in Kansas.

    More than 100 other storm reports – including wind and hail – were recorded in parts of Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas as hurricane-force winds and severe thunderstorms tore through. A gust of 114 mph was recorded In Memphis, Texas – equivalent to sustained wind in a Category 3 hurricane.

    “I got up and then the wind just threw me back. And I’m screaming,” Frances Tabler of Norman, Oklahoma, told CNN affiliate KOCO. “It was like a blizzard inside the house.”

    Early Monday, flipped cars and downed trees littered neighborhoods where roofs had been torn from homes, CNN’s Ed Lavandera reported.

    In anticipation of severe winds and potential hail Sunday night into Monday, a unit at McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, Kansas, relocated most of its aircraft to protect them and ensure they can still be deployed if needed, the base announced.

    As the storm shifts north by Monday afternoon, a slight risk for severe weather – possibly a few tornadoes and wind gusts – could impact cities including Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio.

    In the West – where last week’s storms prompted rare blizzard warnings and road flooding in California – a separate system of rain and high-elevation snow will push from the Pacific Northwest down into California and into the Rockies through Monday.

    Nine western states are under winter weather alerts Monday as heavy snowfall is forecast across the region, including up to 10 inches in Washington state’s Cascades by early Tuesday; 1 to 3 feet in high elevations and mountain peaks of western Oregon; and 1 to 3 feet in mountainous areas of the Rockies.

    A blizzard warning remains in effect for the Sierra Nevada mountains in California, which could see between 2 and 6 feet of snow.

    Yosemite National Park was closed Saturday due to severe weather and will not reopen until at least Wednesday as the multiday blizzard warning remains in effect across Yosemite Valley, the park announced. The valley could see as much as 55 to 84 inches of snow by Wednesday, the park said.

    The storm system impacting Oklahoma and Ohio is expected to push into the Northeast by Monday afternoon, where interior parts of the region could see widespread snowfall totals of 6 to 12 inches.

    Meanwhile, the South is anticipating another week of unusually warm winter temperatures after steaming under record-breaking highs last week.

    Dozens of daily high temperature records could be broken again in the coming days as areas of southern Texas and the Florida Peninsula could see temperatures into the 90s.

    As the National Weather Service reviews the severe weather reports from Sunday into Monday morning, it will work to determine whether the system can be classified as a derecho, which forecasters previously said was possible.

    A derecho is a widespread, long-lived windstorm that typically causes damage in one direction across a relatively straight path, according to the weather service. To be classified as a derecho, the stretch of wind damage should extend more than 240 miles and include wind gusts of at least 58 mph along most of its length, it says.

    In total, more than 115 storm reports were made Sunday across the Southern Plains, mainly of wind across Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma. This also includes 14 hail reports in those states, with several hailstones reportedly 1.75 inches in diameter.

    Nine tornadoes were reported in Oklahoma and Kansas, including one in the Oklahoma city of Norman, where police warned of road closures, downed power lines and debris.

    Twelve weather-related injuries were reported early Monday, the Norman Police Department said. None was critical, the department said after conferring with area hospitals.

    Students on the campus of the University of Oklahoma in Norman were told to immediately take shelter Sunday evening as the area was under a tornado warning, which was lifted later that night.

    Officials in Oklahoma are still assessing the damage, though the most concentrated impacts appear to be in Norman, Shawnee and possibly Cheyenne, said Keli Cain, public affairs director for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security.

    Roughly a dozen families displaced by a tornado in Liberal, Kansas, are being accommodated and about 10 trailers were also damaged, City Manager Rusty Varnado said. At least one person was injured by broken glass, he said, noting the injuries are minor.

    Freezing rain, snow and ice across the Great Lakes region and parts of the Midwest last week resulted in perilous travel conditions, road closures and significant power outages that disrupted daily life for many.

    This week, the Great Lakes are poised to be hit all over again, including Michigan, where about 130,000 homes and businesses still did not have power early Monday after the prior storms damaged trees and utility lines.

    Ice-covered tree branches lie on the ground Thursday after an ice storm in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

    Utility company DTE, one of Michigan’s largest electricity providers, said 630,000 of its customers have been impacted by the storms so far. By Sunday night, power was restored to about 600,000 of their customers, the utility said.

    Another round of mixed precipitation is expected to move into the region Monday, with those under winter weather alerts possibly seeing between 2 and 8 inches of snowfall.

    As the storm moves east, winter storm watches are also in effect for parts of interior New York and New England through Wednesday afternoon. In total, these isolated areas can see up to 10 inches of snowfall.

    Boston, which is under a winter weather advisory from Monday evening until Tuesday evening, is expected to get 2 to 5 inches of snowfall.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • House GOP committees plot investigations into East Palestine derailment | CNN Politics

    House GOP committees plot investigations into East Palestine derailment | CNN Politics

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    A series of House Republican committees are plotting to launch investigations into the toxic train disaster in East Palestine, Ohio, multiple committee aides told CNN.

    GOP lawmakers are vowing to use their oversight power to dig into what they describe as the Biden administration’s flawed response to the train wreck, which has left East Palestine’s residents afraid to use the city’s air and municipal water after a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed on February 3.

    They have also left the door open to holding hearings on the subject, including potentially bringing in Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to testify publicly, the aides said, though such decisions have not yet been made.

    The GOP’s increased urgency for oversight comes as several lawmakers have criticized President Joe Biden for not visiting East Palestine. Biden told reporters on Friday he has no plans to travel to the site of the derailment and defended his administration’s response to the wreck.

    The House committees on Transportation and Infrastructure, Energy and Commerce and Oversight are among the panels vowing to find answers to what happened, as well as hold the Biden administration and rail industry accountable for the fallout.

    Some GOP members of the committees are also discussing a potential field hearing in East Palestine, though no official plans have been made yet, sources familiar with the talks tell CNN.

    Axios first reported on the committees’ plans.

    The Energy and Commerce Committee has asked the EPA to appear before the panel’s Environment, Manufacturing & Critical Materials subcommittee chaired by GOP Rep. Bill Johnson, who represents East Palestine, a committee aide told CNN.

    Johnson and Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Washington state Republican, formally kicked off their probe on February 17, when they sent a letter to Regan demanding answers on a timeline of events relating to the train wreck, a list of the chemicals on board, materials relating to the EPA’s and local agencies’ response, as well as other information regarding the derailment.

    Johnson and McMorris Rodgers gave the EPA until March 3 to respond to their request.

    The Energy and Commerce Committee has asked for an all-members briefing, a committee briefing, as well as a hearing date from EPA officials. A source familiar told CNN they are still awaiting a response.

    The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee plans to “keep Members informed as facts come out,” committee spokesman Justin Harclerode told CNN. The committee is also closely watching the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation into the incident.

    “The important thing is to learn exactly what happened, what factors played a role in the accident, and what factors did not. The Committee is staying engaged on this issue, but no one should jump to any conclusions or act without all the facts. Which is exactly what the NTSB is working to provide through their investigation,” Harclerode said.

    House Oversight Chairman James Comer, meanwhile, sent a letter to Buttigieg on Friday, in which he called the incident “an environmental and public health emergency that now threatens Americans across state lines.” The Kentucky Republican requested that Buttigieg turn over a series of documents relating to the derailment, including when the administration first learned of the incident and communications regarding the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s handling of materials in the derailment.

    “At this time, Chairman Comer is focused on acquiring the documents and information requested in his February 24 letter to Secretary Buttigieg,” Comer spokesman Austin Hacker told CNN.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Shipments of contaminated waste to resume from Ohio train derailment site | CNN

    Shipments of contaminated waste to resume from Ohio train derailment site | CNN

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    The Environmental Protection Agency has approved resuming shipments of contaminated liquid and soil out of East Palestine, Ohio, where a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed earlier this month.

    The EPA on Friday ordered the train’s operator, Norfolk Southern, to halt the shipments so that it could review the company’s plans for disposal, adding to the controversy surrounding the crash that has also left residents of the town worried about potential long-term health effects.

    That’s as officials in Texas and Michigan complained they didn’t receive any warning that hazardous waste from the crash would be shipped into their jurisdictions for disposal.

    Shipments now will be going to two EPA-certified facilities in Ohio, and Norfolk Southern will start shipments to these locations Monday, EPA regional administrator Debra Shore said at a news conference Sunday.

    “Some of the liquid wastes will be sent to a facility in Vickery, Ohio, where it will be disposed of in an underground injection well,” Shore said. “Norfolk Southern will also beghin shipping solid waste to the Heritage Incinerator in East Liverpool, Ohio.”

    Until Friday, Norfolk Southern was “solely responsible” for disposing of waste from the train derailment, Shore said Saturday, but waste disposal plans “will be subject to EPA review and approval moving forward.”

    All rail cars, except for those held by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), have been removed from the site of the derailment, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Director Anne Vogel said in an update Sunday.

    The NTSB is currently holding 11 railcars as part of its investigation into the derailment, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said in a statement Sunday.

    “This is so critically important to moving on to next steps. We can now excavate additional contaminated soil and began installing monitoring wells,” Vogel said. The Ohio EPA will oversee the installation of water monitoring wells at the site of the derailment that will measure contaminant levels in the groundwater below.

    Every aspect of transporting and disposing of the hazardous waste material “from the moment trucks and rail cars are loaded until the waste is safely disposed of” will be closely regulated and overseen by federal, state, and local governments, Shore said Sunday.

    Shore detailed the federal, state, and local compliance requirements expected from Norfolk Southern.

    “These extensive requirements cover everything from waste labeling, packaging, and handling, as well as requirements for shipping documents that provide information about the wastes and where they’re going,” Shore said.

    The hazardous waste material previously sent to facilities in Michigan and Texas is now being processed at those facilities, Shore said.

    About 2 million gallons of firefighting water from the train derailment site were expected to be disposed in Harris County, Texas, with about half a million gallons already there, according to the county’s chief executive.

    Also, contaminated soil from the derailment site was being taken to the US Ecology Wayne Disposal in Belleville, Michigan, US Rep. Debbie Dingell of Michigan said Friday.

    The Michigan and Ohio facilities were, in fact, EPA approved sites, but they are not currently accepting any more shipments at this time, and the EPA is “exploring to see whether they have the capacity” to accept shipments in the future, Shore said.

    A spokesperson Gov. DeWine told CNN the governor was not briefed on where in the country the shipments would be sent. But this is typical, as the train company is responsible for the transport of material and the EPA is responsible for regulating that transport, DeWine spokesman Daniel Tierney said Saturday.

    The February 3 derailment of the Norfolk Southern train and subsequent intentional release of vinyl chloride it was hauling first forced East Palestine residents out of their homes, then left them with anxiety about health effects as reports of symptoms like rashes and headaches emerged after they returned.

    Officials have repeatedly sought to assure residents that continued air and water monitoring has found no concerns. The EPA reported last week that they have conducted indoor air testing at a total of 574 homes and detected no contaminants associated with the derailment.

    Federal teams in East Palestine have begun going door-to-door to check in with residents, conduct health surveys and provide informational flyers after President Joe Biden directed the move, a White House official told CNN.

    Also, a 19-person scientific team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been collecting information from residents about symptoms they have experienced since the derailment, said Jill Shugart, a senior environmental health specialist for the CDC.

    The EPA also installed “sentinel wells” near the city’s municipal well field to monitor contaminants in well water as part of the agency’s long-term early detection system “to protect the city for years to come,” Vogel, head of the Ohio EPA, said Saturday.

    In a Saturday update on the removal of contaminated waste, DeWine said 20 truckloads of hazardous solid waste had been hauled away from the Ohio derailment site. Fifteen of those truckloads were disposed of at a licensed hazardous waste treatment and disposal facility in Michigan and five truckloads were returned to East Palestine.

    About 102,000 gallons of liquid waste and 4,500 cubic yards of solid waste remained Saturday in storage on site in East Palestine – not including the five truckloads returned, according to DeWine. Additional solid and liquid wastes are being generated as the cleanup progresses, he added.

    Dingell told CNN on Saturday that neither she nor Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer were aware of plans for toxic waste to be delivered to disposal sites in her district.

    “I called everybody,” Dingell said. “Nobody had really been given a heads up that they were coming here.”

    Across the country, Texas Chief Executive Lina Hidalgo expressed frustration that she first learned about the expected water shipments to her state from the news media – not from a government agency or Texas Molecular, the company hired to dispose of the water.

    She added that although there’s no legal requirement for her office to be notified, “it doesn’t quite seem right.”

    Hidalgo said Texas Molecular told her office Thursday that half a million gallons of the water was already in the county and the shipments began arriving around last Wednesday.

    On Thursday, Texas Molecular told CNN it had been hired to dispose of potentially dangerous water from the Ohio train derailment. The company said they had experts with more than four decades of experience in managing water safely and that all shipments, so far, had come by truck for the entire trip.

    Hidalgo’s office had been seeking information about the disposal, including the chemical composition of the firefighting water, the precautions that were being taken, and why Harris County was the chosen site, she said.

    According to a Thursday news release from Ohio Emergency Management Agency, more than 1.7 million gallons of contaminated liquid had been removed from the immediate site of the derailment. Of that, more than 1.1 million gallons of “contaminated liquid” from East Palestine had been transported off-site, with the majority going to Texas Molecular and the rest going to a facility in Vickery, Ohio.

    CNN asked the Ohio agency the location of the remaining 581,500 gallons which had been “removed” but not “hauled off-site” and has yet to receive a response.

    Regarding the causes of the accident, a National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report found that one of the train’s cars carrying plastic pellets was heated by a hot axle that sparked the initial fire, said Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the safety board. So far, the investigation found the three crew members on board the train did not do anything wrong prior to the derailment, though the crash was “100% preventable,” she said.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • First on CNN: Federal teams providing flyers to East Palestine families and conducting health surveys following toxic train wreck | CNN Politics

    First on CNN: Federal teams providing flyers to East Palestine families and conducting health surveys following toxic train wreck | CNN Politics

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    Federal teams are going door-to-door to check in with residents of East Palestine, Ohio, and conducting health surveys as part of the federal government’s response to the toxic train derailment that has fueled anxiety about the safety of the air and water in the town, according to a White House official.

    The teams are providing informational flyers with federal and local resources and completing the surveys after President Joe Biden directed the move, according to the official.

    This latest step comes as frustrated locals in East Palestine complain about feeling sick and raise long-term health concerns after the Norfolk Southern train wreck earlier this month caused toxic chemicals to seep into the water, air and soil.

    The two-page flyer, obtained first by CNN, includes emergency resources for residents as well as details on how to schedule a free health assessment or arrange testing for a private well or drinking water. It also includes the number of a dedicated poison control hotline for questions related to the train derailment, and details on the next federal US Environmental Protection Agency-led public meeting at 6 p.m. March 2 in the Palestine High School Auditorium.

    The flyers are being handed out by members of the EPA, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with the goal of reaching 400 homes by Monday, according to the White House official. The health surveys are being conducted by the CDC.

    Biden on Friday directed agencies to go door-to-door to check in with residents after he received an update on the federal government’s response to the derailment from senior officials, including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and the heads of the EPA and FEMA, according to the official.

    The President currently has no plans to visit Ohio and on Friday defended his administration’s response to the crisis, which has drawn criticism from Republicans, including East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway, who told Fox News earlier this week that Biden’s decision to visit Ukraine while the situation was unfolding in Ohio was “the biggest slap in the face, that tells you right now he doesn’t care about us.”

    “You know, we were there two hours after the train went down – two hours,” Biden told reporters on Friday. “I’ve spoken with every single major figure in both Pennsylvania and in Ohio, and so the idea that we’re not engaged is just simply not there. And initially, there was not a request for me to go out even before I was heading over to Kyiv, so I’m keeping very close tabs on it. We’re doing all we can.”

    The National Transportation Safety Board on Thursday released its preliminary report on the investigation into the February 3rd train derailment, which concluded that the wreck in Ohio was completely preventable, and investigators now will begin examining the procedures and practices prior to the derailment.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Turkey arrests nearly 200 people over alleged poor building construction following quake tragedy | CNN

    Turkey arrests nearly 200 people over alleged poor building construction following quake tragedy | CNN

    [ad_1]


    Istanbul, Turkey
    CNN
     — 

    Nearly 200 people have been arrested for alleged poor building construction following the catastrophic earthquake that struck Turkey earlier this month, Turkey’s Justice Ministry said.

    About 50,000 people were killed across Turkey and Syria after the earthquake struck on February 6.

    The ministry said that 626 people were “suspects” after buildings fully collapsed or were seriously damaged in the wake of the earthquakes. Some of the suspects died in the quake while police are still hunting for others.

    On Saturday, Turkey’s Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said evidence had been collected at thousands of buildings.

    More than 5,700 buildings in Turkey have collapsed, according to the country’s disaster agency, and questions have been asked about the integrity of structures in some areas of the affected regions.

    “The thing that strikes mostly are the type of collapses – what we call the pancake collapse – which is the type of collapse that we engineers don’t like to see,” said Mustafa Erdik, a professor of earthquake engineering at Bogazici University in Istanbul. “In such collapses, it’s difficult – as you can see – and a very tragic to save lives. It makes the operation of the search and rescue teams very difficult.”

    Erdik also told CNN the images of widespread destruction and debris indicates “that there are highly variable qualities of designs and construction.” He says the type of structural failures following an earthquake are usually partial collapses. “Total collapses are something you always try to avoid both in codes and the actual design,” he added.

    After previous disasters, building codes were tightened – which should have ensured that modern builds would withstand large tremors. Yet many damaged buildings across the stricken region appeared to have been newly constructed. Residents and experts are now questioning if the government failed to take the necessary steps to enforce building regulations.

    Yasemin Didem Aktas, structural engineer and lecturer at University College London, told CNN that while the earthquake and its aftershocks constituted “a very powerful event that would challenge even code compliant buildings,” the scale of damage indicates that buildings didn’t meet safety standards.

    “What we are seeing here is definitely telling us something is wrong in those buildings, and it can be that they weren’t designed in line with the code in the first place, or the implementation wasn’t designed properly,” Didem Aktas said.

    Several critics are also questioning the Turkish government’s periodic approval of so-called “construction amnesties” – essentially legal exemptions that, for a fee, forgave developers for constructing projects without the necessary safety requirements.

    The amnesties were designed to legalize older sub-standard buildings that had been erected without the proper permits. They also didn’t require developers to bring their properties up to code.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Biden: ‘At this point I’m not’ planning to visit East Palestine, Ohio, after toxic train derailment | CNN Politics

    Biden: ‘At this point I’m not’ planning to visit East Palestine, Ohio, after toxic train derailment | CNN Politics

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    President Joe Biden told reporters at the White House Friday he has no plans travel to East Palestine, Ohio, and defended his administration’s response to the train derailment there that caused a toxic chemical spill.

    “At this point, I’m not,” Biden said, when asked if he has any plans to visit the community, pointing instead to his and his administration’s early and consistent response to the disaster.

    “You know, we were there two hours after the train went down – two hours,” Biden said. “I’ve spoken with every single major figure in both Pennsylvania and in Ohio, and so the idea that we’re not engaged is just simply not there. And initially, there was not a request for me to go out even before I was heading over to Kyiv, so I’m keeping very close tabs on it. We’re doing all we can.”

    Biden, who was briefed Friday on the latest developments, noted that he had held a “long meeting with my team” on Zoom.

    Following Biden’s comments, a White House official shared a detailed timeline outlining the federal government’s response in the wake of the derailment, including the arrival of federal teams from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Transportation, the Federal Railroad Administration, and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration just two hours after Norfolk Southern reported the derailment to the National Response Center at 10:53 p.m. ET on February 3.

    According to the timeline, the White House contacted Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine to offer additional federal assistance on February 5, with Biden calling DeWine and Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro on February 6.

    “Federal teams have continued to arrive in East Palestine – investigating the cause of the derailment, making Norfolk Southern clean up its mess and reimburse families, conducting public health screenings, monitoring the air and water, and screening over 550 homes,” the official told CNN.

    But the Biden administration’s response has drawn criticism from Republicans, including East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway, who told Fox News earlier this week that Biden’s decision to visit Ukraine while the situation was unfolding in Ohio was “the biggest slap in the face, that tells you right now he doesn’t care about us.” In remarks from East Palestine Wednesday, former President Donald Trump slammed the Biden administration’s handling of the situation, telling supporters in Ohio, “You are not forgotten.”

    Per the White House, Biden made calls Tuesday from Warsaw, Poland, to receive updates on the EPA’s response, including with PA Administrator Michael Regan, Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, Ohio Republican Rep. Bill Johnson, DeWine and Shapiro.

    Pressed on the administration’s response, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Thursday, “Yes, he [Biden] is satisfied” at his administration’s response, while touting agency work throughout the crisis.

    “Showing up is having the Environmental Protection administrator on the ground, showing up is having the DOT secretary on the ground to talk about what is the next process, holding to account the account the company that caused the spill,” she said, while criticizing “bad faith attacks” against members of Biden’s administration, including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Texas and Michigan officials say they didn’t know water, soil from Ohio train wreck would be transported into their jurisdictions | CNN

    Texas and Michigan officials say they didn’t know water, soil from Ohio train wreck would be transported into their jurisdictions | CNN

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    Officials in Texas and Michigan are complaining they didn’t receive any warning that contaminated water and soil from the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, would be shipped into their jurisdictions for disposal.

    About 2 million gallons of firefighting water from the train derailment site are expected to be disposed in Harris County, Texas, with about half a million gallons already there, according to the county’s chief executive.

    “It’s a very real problem, we were told yesterday the materials were coming only to learn today they’ve been here for a week,” Judge Lina Hidalgo said Thursday.

    Contaminated soil from the derailment site is being taken to the US Ecology Wayne Disposal in Belleville, Michigan, US Rep. Debbie Dingell of Michigan said Friday.

    “We were not given a heads up on this reported action,” Dingell said in a news release on Friday. “Our priority is to always keep the people we represent safe.”

    Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said 4,832 cubic yards of soil have been removed from the ground in East Palestine and about six truckloads were on the way to Michigan.

    The complaints widen the controversy caused by the February 3 train derailment that left residents complaining about feeling sick after hazardous chemicals seeped into the air, water and soil.

    A National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report found that one of the train’s cars carrying plastic pellets was heated by a hot axle that sparked the initial fire, according to Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the safety board.

    Residents worry rashes and headaches may be tied to chemicals from train crash

    As the temperature of the bearing got hotter, the train passed by two wayside defect detectors that did not trigger an audible alarm message because the heat threshold was not met at that point, Homendy explained. A third detector eventually picked up the high temperature, but it was already too late by then.

    “This was 100% preventable. … There is no accident,” Homendy said during a news conference Thursday.

    Residents in East Palestine frustrated by lack of answers

    In a news conference Thursday, Hidalgo expressed frustration that she first learned about the expected water shipments Wednesday from the news media – not from a government agency or Texas Molecular, the company hired to dispose of the water.

    Hidalgo said Texas Molecular told her office Thursday that half a million gallons of the water was already in the county and the shipments began arriving around last Wednesday.

    She added that although there’s no legal requirement for her office to be notified, “it doesn’t quite seem right.”

    Texas Molecular is receiving the water from trucks, but it’s unclear if trucks are used for the entire trip, Hidalgo said. The company told her office they’re receiving about 30 trucks of water a day, she said.

    Texas Molecular said Friday that all shipments, so far, have come by truck for the entire trip.

    “Texas Molecular neither transports nor selects the mode of transportation for the water,” Jimmy Bracher, vice president of Sales for VLS Environmental Solutions, which owns Texas Molecular, told CNN in a statement Friday evening.

    “The company that generates the waste will determine/select who ships the wastewater and they must be DOT and EPA approved transporters,” Bracher said.

    On Thursday, Texas Molecular told CNN it has been hired to dispose of potentially dangerous water from the Ohio train derailment. The company said they are experts with more than four decades of experience in managing water safely.

    Hidalgo’s office is seeking information about the disposal, including the chemical composition of the firefighting water, the precautions that are being taken, and why Harris County was the chosen site, she said.

    “There’s nothing right now to tell me – to tell us – there’s going to be an accident in transport, that this is being done in such a way that is not compatible with the well, that there’s a nefarious reason why the water is coming here and not to a closer site,” Hidalgo said. “But it is our job to do basic due diligence on that information.”

    More than 1.7 million gallons of contaminated liquid has been removed from the immediate site of the derailment, according to a Thursday news release from the Ohio Emergency Management Agency. Of this, more than 1.1 million gallons of “contaminated liquid” from East Palestine has so far been transported off-site, with the majority going to Texas Molecular and the rest going to a facility in Vickery, Ohio.

    CNN has asked the Ohio agency the location of the remaining 581,500 gallons which has been “removed” but not “hauled off-site” and has yet to receive a response.

    Wayne County, Michigan, officials have been in contact with officials with a variety of federal and state agencies, along with the train company involved in the derailment since learning of the transportation of the contaminated materials, Wayne County Executive Warren C. Evans said in a news conference on Friday evening. Evans said the county did not receive a call from anyone that this was happening.

    The

    Professor: Independent expert needed in toxic spill response

    “Doing it in a way that doesn’t let citizens of Wayne County know that it’s coming just looks nefarious to me,” Evans said.

    Officials are not aware if this move was done “maliciously or not” but says there are “disconnects,” Evans said.

    “We learned about it via the grapevine and then saw Governor DeWine announced it on his site,” Dingell said in a news conference.

    Five trucks have been transported to the area so far, 99% with contaminated water and 1% with contaminated soil, according to Dingell. The truck containing soil could have been transported to the area as early mid-week, Dingell added.

    The transportation of the materials to the facility in Michigan has been paused and another site is likely to be found, Dingell and Evans said.

    CNN has reached out to the EPA and Norfolk Southern, the company that owns the derailed train, for comment.

    The 149-car train operated by Norfolk Southern had three employees on board: a locomotive engineer, a conductor and a trainee who were all in the head end of the locomotive, Homendy told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Thursday.

    So far, the investigation found the crew did not do anything wrong prior to the derailment, though the crash was “100% preventable,” she said.

    The next phase of the investigation will examine the train’s wheelset and bearing as well as the damage from the derailment, the NTSB report noted. The agency will also focus on the designs of tank cars and railcars, along with maintenance procedures and practices.

    Investigators will also review the train operator’s use of wayside defect detectors and the company’s railcar inspection practices. More specifically, determining what caused the wheel bearing failure will be key to the investigation, Homendy said.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • A first report on the Ohio toxic train wreck was released. Here’s what it found — and what investigators are still looking into | CNN

    A first report on the Ohio toxic train wreck was released. Here’s what it found — and what investigators are still looking into | CNN

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    After federal officials released an initial report concluding that this month’s toxic train wreck in Ohio was completely preventable, investigators will begin examining procedures, practices and design prior to the derailment that has sparked long-term concerns among hundreds of frustrated residents.

    The National Transportation Safety Board on Thursday released its preliminary report on the investigation into the February 3 train crash in East Palestine, Ohio, where residents have been complaining about feeling sick after hazardous chemicals seeped into the air, water and soil.

    Ohio environmental officials made a civil referral this week asking the state attorney general’s office to begin “legal and/or equitable civil actions” against Norfolk Southern, which could result in a civil complaint if negotiations with the company were to fail.

    The NTSB report found that one of the train’s cars carrying plastic pellets was heated by a hot axle that sparked the initial fire, according to Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the safety board. As the temperature of the bearing got hotter, the train passed by two wayside defect detectors that did not trigger an audible alarm message because the heat threshold was not met at that point, Homendy explained. A third detector eventually picked up the high temperature, but it was already too late by then.

    “This was 100% preventable. … There is no accident. Every single event that we investigate is preventable,” Homendy said during a news conference Thursday. “The NTSB has one goal, and that is safety and ensuring that this never happens again.”

    The next phase of the investigation will examine the train’s wheelset and bearing as well as the damage from the derailment, the NTSB report noted. The agency will also focus on the designs of tank cars and railcars along with maintenance procedures and practices.

    Plus, investigators will review the train operator’s use of wayside defect detectors and the company’s railcar inspection practices. More specifically, determining what caused the wheel bearing failure will be key to the investigation, Homendy said.

    On Friday, Homendy said on “CNN This Morning” that she’s concerned politics could cloud the investigation and prevent safety improvements. Former President Donald Trump visited the site of the train derailment on Wednesday where he criticized President Joe Biden’s administration’s handling of the railway disaster.

    “This is not a time for politics,” Homendy said. “There is a time for politics. It is not this.”

    On Thursday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg also visited the derailment site, and when asked how political figures like Trump could help, Buttigieg addressed the former president directly saying he could “express support for reversing the deregulation that happened on his watch.”

    Another key aspect of the investigation will focus on the response to the chemical disaster, particularly the manual detonations of tanks carrying toxic chemicals.

    Five of the 38 derailed train cars were carrying more than 115,000 gallons of vinyl chloride, according to the NTSB’s report. Exposure to high levels of vinyl chloride can increase cancer risk or cause death.

    Those five cars “continued to concern authorities because the temperature inside one tank car was still rising,” indicating a polymerization reaction which could have resulted in an explosion, the report said. To help prevent a potentially deadly blast of vinyl chloride, crews released the toxic chemical into a trench and burned it off on February 6 — three days after the derailment.

    Since then, some East Palestine residents have said they are experiencing headaches, dizziness, nausea and bloody noses — a host of health issues they say they did not have prior to the crash.

    At the same time, officials have been adamant in reassuring residents of the air’s safety and the municipal water supply.

    Around 2 million gallons of firefighting water from the train derailment site are expected to be disposed in Harris County, Texas, according to the county’s chief executive.

    Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said her office was told by Texas Molecular on Thursday that the shipments began arriving around last Wednesday, she said.

    Texas Molecular was hired to dispose of the potentially dangerous water from the train derailment, the company, which said it has more than four decades of experience in managing water safely, has told CNN.

    The company told Hidalgo’s office Thursday that half a million gallons was already in the county.

    Hidalgo expressed frustration that she first learned about the water shipments from the news media – not from a government agency or Texas Molecular,

    “It’s a very real problem we were told yesterday the materials were coming only to learn today they’ve been here for a week,” Hidalgo said.

    She added that although there’s no legal requirement for her office to be notified, “It doesn’t quite seem right.”

    Texas Molecular is receiving the water from trucks, but it’s unclear if trucks are used for the entire trip, Hidalgo said. The company told her office they’re receiving about 30 trucks of water a day, she said.

    CNN is seeking comment from Texas Molecular about how the water is being transported.

    Hidalgo said her office is looking for information about the disposal, including the chemical composition of the firefighting water, the precautions that are being taken, and why Harris County was the chosen site.

    “There’s nothing right now to tell me – to tell us – there’s going to be an accident in transport, that this is being done in such a way that is not compatible with the well, that there’s a nefarious reason why the water is coming here and not to a closer site,” Hidalgo said. “But it is our job to do basic due diligence on that information.”

    A total of 1.7 million gallons of contaminated liquid has been removed from the immediate site of the derailment, according to a Thursday news release from the Ohio Emergency Management Agency.

    More than 1.1 million gallons of “contaminated liquid” from East Palestine has been transported off-site so far, with the majority going to Texas Molecular and the rest going to a facility in Vickery, Ohio.

    CNN has asked the Ohio agency the location of the remaining 581,500 gallons which have been “removed” but not “hauled off-site.”

    Congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Michigan said she was “not given a heads up” that contaminated soil from East Palestine would be transported to the US Ecology Wayne Disposal in Belleville, Michigan.

    “We were not given a heads up on this reported action,” Dingell said in a press release on Friday, “Our priority is to always keep the people we represent safe.”

    Dingell said inquires to the EPA, Department of Transportation, Norfolk Southern, US Ecology, the state of Ohio and others involved are in the process.

    On Friday afternoon, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine released an update on the removal of the contaminated site in East Palestine, saying that soil would be transported to Michigan.

    So far, 4,832 cubic yards of soil have been removed from the ground in East Palestine. Approximately six truckloads of that contaminated soil are on their way to the hazardous waste disposal facility in Michigan, according to a press release from DeWine.

    The 149-car train operated by Norfolk Southern on February 3 had three employees on board: a locomotive engineer, a conductor and a trainee who were all in the head end of the locomotive, Homendy told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Thursday.

    So far, the investigation found the crew did not do anything wrong prior to the derailment, though the crash was “100% preventable,” Homendy said.

    Video of the train before the derailment showed what appeared to be an overheated wheel bearing, according to the NTSB report. Footage showed sparks flying from underneath the train.

    NTSB investigators are now focusing on one train car’s wheel set and bearing to figure out what may have caused the overheating, Homendy said.

    “We have a lot of questions about that,” she said Friday, including the “thresholds and why they vary so much between railroads.”

    Ultimately, it’s the railroads that set the temperature thresholds for the detectors, Homendy said.

    Releasing publicly a probable cause or causes for the derailment could take 12 to 18 months, Homendy said during the news conference.

    “We are very deliberative. We are the gold standard when it comes to investigations globally, and we are methodical in our approach,” Homendy said. “But if we see a safety issue that we need to be addressed immediately, something systemic, we will not hesitate to issue an urgent safety recommendation.”

    In the meantime, here’s what the NTSB preliminary report found so far:

    • One wheel bearing’s temperature reached a “critical” level — 253 degrees Fahrenheit above the ambient temperature — and prompted an audible alarm that instructed “the crew to slow and stop the train to inspect a hot axle,” the report says.
    • The train’s engineer applied the train’s brakes and additional braking after the alert of an overheating axle, the report states. “During this deceleration, the wheel bearing failed,” Homendy explained. “Car 23 derailed, and the train initiated an emergency brake application and came to a stop.”

    Even after reading the preliminary NTSB report, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost told “CNN This Morning” that there’s still a lot of facts he doesn’t know.

    Among his biggest questions are: “Had the train been shorter, had there been additional staff, could this have been averted? Based on the alerts that occurred, how long is the reaction time and how is that influenced by the size of the train?” Yost told CNN.

    The US Environmental Protection Agency has ordered Norfolk Southern to cover the full cost of cleaning up the aftermath of the train crash.

    “EPA has special authority for situations just like this where we can compel companies who inflict trauma and cause environmental and health damage to communities, like Norfolk Southern has done, to completely clean up the mess that they’ve caused and pay for it,” EPA administrator Michael Regan said.

    Norfolk Southern will be required to:

    • Provide a descriptive work plan on how they intend to clean up the water, soil and debris
    • Reimburse the EPA for providing residents a cleaning service of their homes and businesses
    • Show up to public meetings and explain their progress

    If the company does not follow the order, the EPA will step in to complete the duties, while fining Norfolk Southern up to $70,000 a day, Regan said Wednesday during a CNN town hall.

    “And the law gives us the authority to charge Norfolk Southern up to three times the amount that the cleanup will cost us,” he said.

    The company plans to take a series of measures moving forward to minimize the long-term impacts of chemicals on the land and groundwater, including ripping up the tracks where the train derailed and removing soil underneath, Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw said.

    Shaw added his company is working with the Environmental Protection Agency on a “long-term remediation plan.”

    Yost, who received the referral from the Ohio EPA to initiate necessary legal civil actions against Norfolk Southern this week, told CNN any criminal referral in Ohio regarding the derailment would be a decision made by local prosecutors.

    “We’ve been in contact with the local county prosecutor, and … we may be assisting him, but at this point, he has not empaneled a grand jury, to my understanding,” he said Friday on “CNN This Morning.”

    Ohio environmental officials made a civil referral Tuesday asking Yost’s office to “initiate all necessary legal and/or equitable civil actions” and “seek appropriate penalties” against Norfolk Southern, according to a copy of the referral provided by the attorney general’s office.

    “I respectfully request that this referral result in the filing of a civil complaint in the appropriate court if efforts on your part to resolve this matter through negotiation fail,” Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Director Anne Vogel wrote in a letter to Yost.

    Vogel cited potential violations of state laws regarding air and water pollution and solid and hazardous waste.

    Expanding the definition of a high-hazard flammable train – a standard the derailed train did not meet, despite sparking a major fire – is among the changes NTSB advocated for in the past, Homendy said Friday.

    NTSB urged regulators to include in the classification “a broad array of flammable materials,” rather than focusing on crude oil, she said.

    Additionally, NTSB will look at whether vinyl chloride needs to be carried in more fortified cars, Homendy said.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Rare blizzard warnings issued in Southern California as Midwest digs out from powerful winter storm | CNN

    Rare blizzard warnings issued in Southern California as Midwest digs out from powerful winter storm | CNN

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    A slow-moving winter storm brought snow, rain and high winds to the West on Friday, prompting rare blizzard warnings in Southern California.

    In its first-ever blizzard warning, the National Weather Service in San Diego said the San Bernardino County mountains could see 3 to 5 feet of snow through Saturday morning.

    Blizzard warnings were also issued for Los Angeles and Ventura counties through Saturday afternoon. Up to 5 feet of snow is possible with some isolated areas seeing between 7 and 8 feet. The National Weather Service’s Los Angeles office issued its last blizzard warning on February 4, 1989.

    “This storm system will be unusually cold, and snow levels will be very low. In fact, areas very close to the Pacific Coast and also into the interior valleys that are not accustomed to seeing snow, may see some accumulating snowfall,” the National Weather Service said early Friday.

    “For Friday morning through Saturday afternoon, plan to hunker down and avoid travel. The worst impacts from flooding and blizzard conditions occur Friday afternoon through Saturday morning, when any non-essential or non-emergency travel should be postponed!” the San Diego weather service said.

    The National Weather Service on Friday afternoon issued a flash flood warning with a “considerable flash flood damage threat,” for Los Angeles and surrounding areas. This is the second highest level of flood warning from the NWS, only topped by a flood emergency.

    Over 6 million people are covered by the warning, including downtown Los Angeles, Pasadena, Beverly Hills, Burbank and Santa Barbara.

    “Flash flooding is already occurring…and is expected to worsen into the evening hours,” the NWS warning said.

    The weather service also warned that debris flows are likely from previous burn scars in the region.

    Up to 5 inches of rain could fall across lower elevations of the greater Los Angeles area while the mountains could see 6 inches. In the San Diego area, up to 3 inches of rain is possible in lower elevations while the mountains could get 7 inches.

    The storm has put more than 20 million people under flood watches and more than 30 million people under high wind alerts across Southern California – roughly two months after the state endured rounds of deadly flooding. The highest gusts in the warning areas could reach 75 mph.

    The storm system will impact Northern California early in the day Friday. Up to 6 inches of snow is possible across lower elevations and up to 3 feet could fall on the region’s highest peaks before conditions begin to improve by Friday evening as the storm slips to the south.

    The Sierra Nevada Mountains could see up to 6 feet of snow Friday into Saturday and in Nevada, a blizzard warning for northwestern Nye County will be in effect Friday morning through early Saturday.

    “Heavy snow, winds gusting as high as 60 mph, will cause zero visibility due to blowing and drifting snow,” the weather service warned.

    Snow has already hit the Santa Cruz Mountain, resident Ngugi Kihara told CNN on Friday.

    “We never seen this much snow up here,” Kihara said. “We woke up to it. It started yesterday but picked up a lot overnight. Lots of trees are falling and all the roads around us are closed. Power is out and has been mostly gone since Tuesday.”

    Children revel in the rare snowfall in Yucaipa with a view of the San Bernardino County mountains in California.

    Power outages were already adding up in California early Friday, with nearly 75,000 customers in the dark, largely in the northern region. That accounts for a small portion of the more than 820,000 power outages recorded nationwide as the day began, according to PowerOutage.us. The majority of the outages – nearly 720,000 – were in Michigan, where freezing rain and ice this week damaged utility lines and trees.

    The storm struck the West as a ferocious, multiday winter storm began to subside after wreaking havoc in several states across the West, northern Great Plains the Great Lakes region and New England.

    Several counties in Wyoming went into search-and-rescue mode after more than 40 inches of snow fell in the southern parts of the state over the course of several days and motorists were trapped in heavy snow, the state highway patrol said on Twitter.

    Ice covered tree branches are seen on the ground after a freezing ice storm in Ypsilanti, Michigan, on Thursday.

    Minneapolis, Minnesota, saw more than 13 inches in a three-day period this week. More than 160 vehicle crashes were reported statewide, and dozens of cars spun off roads Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Minnesota State Patrol said in a series of tweets.

    Minneapolis officials have declared a one-day snow emergency beginning Friday, and city crews have been plowing and treating streets.

    Since the storm began Monday evening, cumulative snowfall reached dozens of inches in some cities, including 48 inches in Battle Lake, Wyoming, 32 inches in Dupuyer, Montana, and 29 inches in Park City, Utah.

    But snow was not the storm’s only culprit. Severe icing was also a danger.

    Ann Arbor, Michigan, recorded 0.65 inches, while Fransville, Wisconsin, measured 0.75 inches of ice.

    And in New England, icy conditions likely contributed to a massive 15-vehicle pileup on the Massachusetts Turnpike Thursday night, according to a tweet by the Massachusetts State Police.

    The chain-reaction crash involved multiple personal vehicles and tractor trailers, officials said. Troopers, firefighters and EMS responded to the incident and multiple victims had to be transported to the hospital, according to the tweet.

    As northern regions of the country were measuring snowfall and ice accumulation, parts of the Southeast were experiencing record-high heat.

    More than 50 daily record highs were recorded in the Southeast Thursday.

    • St. Simons Island, Georgia, saw a high temperature of 88 degrees, an all-time February record.
    • Tupelo, Mississippi, reached a high temperature of 87 degrees, another an all-time February record. The previous record of 84 degrees was set Wednesday.
    • Raleigh, North Carolina, saw a high temperature of 85 degrees, which was an all-time February record. The previous record of 84 degrees was set in 1977.

    The dueling winter storm and southern heat wave created a stark 100-degree temperature difference between the Northern Rockies and the South earlier this week.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Earthquakes Fast Facts | CNN

    Earthquakes Fast Facts | CNN

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    Here’s a look at earthquakes worldwide.

    The US Geological Survey describes an earthquake as “the ground shaking caused by a sudden slip on a fault. Stresses in the earth’s outer layer push the sides of the fault together. Stress builds up and the rocks slip suddenly, releasing energy in waves that travel through the earth’s crust and cause the shaking that we feel during an earthquake.”

    Earthquakes are measured using seismographs, which monitor the seismic waves that travel through the Earth after an earthquake strikes.

    Scientists used the Richter Scale for many years to measure earthquakes but now largely follow the “moment magnitude scale,” which USGS says is a more accurate measure of size.

    (selected timeline of earthquakes around the world with death tolls exceeding 100)

    June 4, 2000 – A magnitude 7.9 earthquake strikes southern Sumatra, Indonesia, killing an estimated 103 people.

    January 13, 2001 – A magnitude 7.7 earthquakes hits near San Miguel, El Salvador, killing an estimated 852 people.

    January 26, 2001 – An estimated 20,000 people are killed by a magnitude 7.7 earthquake centered in Gujarat, India.

    February 13, 2001 – Another earthquake strikes El Salvador, magnitude 6.6. Three hundred and fifteen people are estimated to have been killed.

    June 23, 2001 – An estimated 138 people are killed in Peru by an 8.4-magnitude earthquake.

    March 3, 2002 – In the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan, an estimated 166 people are killed by a magnitude 7.4 earthquake.

    March 25, 2002 – Another earthquake in the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan, this one a magnitude 6.1, kills 1,000 people.

    June 22, 2002 – A magnitude 6.5 earthquake strikes western Iran, killing an estimated 261 people.

    February 24, 2003 – In southern Xianjiang, China, a magnitude 6.3 quake leaves an estimated 263 people dead.

    May 1, 2003 – A 6.4-magnitude quake strikes eastern Turkey, killing approximately 177 people.

    May 21, 2003 – An estimated 2,266 people are killed by a magnitude 6.8 quake in northern Algeria.

    December 26, 2003 – A magnitude 6.6 earthquake strikes the city of Bam in southeast Iran. Around 31,000 people die in the quake.

    February 24, 2004 – Approximately 631 people are killed in Morocco by a magnitude 6.4 quake.

    December 26, 2004 – A magnitude 9.1 earthquake strikes off the west coast of Northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The earthquake and tsunamis generated by the earthquake kill 227,898 people in India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania and Bangladesh. The quake releases an amount of energy equal to a 100-gigaton bomb and lasts between 500-600 seconds.

    February 22, 2005 – A magnitude 6.4 earthquake strikes central Iran, killing at least 612 people.

    March 28, 2005 – A magnitude 8.6 earthquake strikes off the coast of Indonesia, on the same fault line that originated a December 26 earthquake that launched a deadly tsunami. At least 1,300 people are killed.

    October 8, 2005 – A magnitude 7.6 earthquake strikes Pakistan. At least 86,000 people are killed.

    May 26, 2006 – A magnitude 6.3 earthquake occurs in central Java, Indonesia, killing at least 5,749 people.

    July 17, 2006 – A magnitude 7.7 quake strikes Java, Indonesia, killing an estimated 730 people.

    August 15, 2007 – A magnitude 8.0 earthquake hits Peru, about 100 miles south of the capital of Lima. Approximately 514 people are reported dead.

    May 12, 2008 – A magnitude 7.9 earthquake strikes in central China, killing more than 87,000 people.

    October 28, 2008 – A 6.4-magnitude earthquake strikes Pakistan, killing an estimated 166 people.

    April 6, 2009 – A magnitude 6.3 earthquake strikes central Italy, killing 295 people.

    September 29, 2009 – A magnitude 8.0 earthquake in the Samoa Islands kills 192 people.

    September 30, 2009 – A magnitude 7.6 earthquake strikes Sumatra, Indonesia, killing more than 1,000 people.

    January 12, 2010 – A 7.0-magnitude earthquake strikes 14 miles west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. USAID estimates the death toll to be about 230,000, but other estimates are as high as 316,000.

    February 27, 2010 – An 8.8-magnitude earthquake strikes central Chile, killing an estimated 547 people.

    April 13, 2010 – A 6.9-magnitude earthquake strikes China’s Qinghai province. Approximately 2,968 people are reported dead.

    October 25, 2010 – At least 503 people die due to a magnitude 7.7 earthquake off Indonesia and a subsequent tsunami.

    February 21, 2011 – A 6.3-magnitude earthquake strikes Christchurch, New Zealand. An estimated 181 people are killed.

    March 11, 2011 – A 9.1-magnitude earthquake strikes near the east coast of Honshu, Japan, causing a massive tsunami. The quake’s epicenter is 231 miles away from Tokyo. The total of confirmed deaths and missing is over 22,000.

    September 18, 2011 – A magnitude 6.9 earthquake strikes Sikkim, India, killing an estimated 111 people.

    October 23, 2011 – A 7.1-magnitude earthquake strikes eastern Turkey. The death toll is 604 people.

    February 6, 2012 – A 6.7-magnitude earthquake strikes off the coast of Negros, Philippines, killing at least 113 people.

    August 11, 2012 – Two earthquakes hit northern Iran. The first to strike is a 6.4-magnitude earthquake. 11 minutes later, a second earthquake with a magnitude of 6.3 hits. At least 306 people are killed.

    November 7, 2012 – A 7.4 earthquake off the coast of Guatemala kills an estimated 139 people.

    April 20, 2013 – An earthquake strikes the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan, killing at least 192 people. The USGS gauges it at 6.6-magnitude and the China Earthquake Networks Center estimates it at 7.0-magnitude.

    September 24, 2013 – A magnitude 7.7 earthquake hits the Balochistan province of Pakistan. More than 300 people are reported killed.

    August 3, 2014 – An earthquake hits China’s Yunnan province, killing at least 615 people and injuring more than 2,400. The USGS gauges the quake at 6.1 magnitude and the China Earthquake Networks Center estimates it at 6.5 magnitude.

    April 25, 2015 – A 7.8-magnitude earthquake strikes Nepal, and is centered less than 50 miles from its capital Kathmandu. The death toll is more than 8,000, with 366 missing, according to Nepal’s National Emergency Operations Center. Weeks later on May 12, a 7.3-magnitude earthquake strikes the already reeling country of Nepal, killing at least 125 in Nepal, India and Tibet.

    October 26, 2015 – A 7.5-magnitude earthquake hits South Asia, killing at least 364 people and injuring more than 2,000 others. The epicenter is in northeastern Afghanistan, but most of the deaths – at least 248 – are reported in Pakistan.

    April 16, 2016 – A 7.8-magnitude earthquake strikes coastal Ecuador, killing 663 people.

    August 24, 2016 – A 6.2-magnitude earthquake strikes central Italy, killing at least 290 people.

    September 19, 2017 – A 7.1-magnitude earthquake hits Mexico City and surrounding states, killing at least 369 people.

    November 12, 2017 – A 7.3-magnitude earthquake hits the border region between Iraq and Iran. More than 600 people are killed.

    September 28, 2018 – A 7.5-magnitude earthquake strikes the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. More than 2,100 people are killed and 1,300 missing from the earthquake and resulting tsunami.

    August 14, 2021 – A 7.2-magnitude earthquake strikes southwest Haiti. Two days later, Tropical Storm Grace brings strong winds and heavy rain to the same region, complicating relief efforts. Approximately 2,248 people are killed and 12,763 injured.

    June 22, 2022 – A 5.9-magnitude earthquake strikes eastern Afghanistan. More than 1,000 people are killed and at least 1,500 are injured.

    November 21, 2022 – A 5.6-magnitude earthquake hits the Cianjur region in West Java, Indonesia, killing more than 334 people.

    February 6, 2023 – A 7.8-magnitude earthquake strikes Turkey and Syria. The epicenter is 23 kilometers (14.2 miles) east of Nurdagi, in Turkey’s Gaziantep province. More than 50,000 people are killed and tens of thousands injured.

    (from the USGS)

    May 22, 1960 – Chile, 9.5

    March 28, 1964 – Prince William Sound, Alaska, 9.2

    December 26, 2004 – Sumatra, Indonesia, 9.1

    March 11, 2011 – Honshu, Japan, 9.1

    November 4, 1952 – Kamchatka, Soviet Union, 9.0

    February 27, 2010 – Chile, 8.8

    January 31, 1906 – Ecuador, 8.8

    February 4, 1965 – Rat Islands, Alaska, 8.7

    August 15, 1950 – Assam, Tibet, 8.6

    April 11, 2012 – Northern Sumatra, Indonesia, 8.6

    March 28, 2005 – Northern Sumatra, Indonesia, 8.6

    March 9, 1957 – Andreanof Islands, Alaska, 8.6

    April 1, 1946 – Unimak Island, Alaska, 8.6

    February 1, 1938 – Banda Sea, Indonesia, 8.5

    November 11, 1922 – Chile-Argentina Border, 8.5

    October 13, 1963 – Kuril Islands, 8.5

    February 3, 1923 – Kamchatka, Soviet Union, 8.4

    September 12, 2007 – Southern Sumatra, Indonesia, 8.4

    June 23, 2001 – Arequipa, Peru, 8.4

    March 2, 1933 – Sanriku, Japan, 8.4

    January 12, 2010 – Haiti – 316,000 killed (magnitude 7.0). Other sources report 230,000.

    July 27, 1976 – Tangshan, China – 255,000 killed (7.5)

    December 26, 2004 – Sumatra, Indonesia – 227,898 killed in quake and resulting tsunami (9.1)

    December 16, 1920 – Haiyuan, China – 200,000 killed (7.8)

    September 1, 1923 – Kanto, Japan – 143,000 killed (7.9)

    October 5, 1948 – Ashgabat, Turkmenistan – 110,000 killed (7.3)

    May 12, 2008 – Eastern Sichuan, China – 87,587 killed (7.9)

    October 8, 2005 – Pakistan – 86,000 (7.6)

    December 28, 1908 – Messina, Italy – 70,000 (7.2)

    May 31, 1970 – Chimbote, Peru – 66,000 killed (7.9)

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • East Palestine derailment spurs rare signs of bipartisan agreement on rail safety. Will Washington act? | CNN Politics

    East Palestine derailment spurs rare signs of bipartisan agreement on rail safety. Will Washington act? | CNN Politics

    [ad_1]

    Editor’s Note: Watch East Palestine, Ohio, residents pose questions to Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and EPA Administrator Michael Regan. “A CNN Town Hall: Toxic Train Disaster, Ohio Residents Speak Out” airs tonight at 9 p.m. ET on CNN.



    CNN
     — 

    A fiery train wreck that released toxic materials in an Ohio town is raising new questions in the halls of the nation’s capital over the regulation of the rail industry and if stricter measures could have prevented the disaster.

    News of the East Palestine, Ohio, derailment – and its potential harmful effects on the environment and health of local residents – has propelled both Democrats and Republicans in Congress to press the Biden administration on whether there’s enough oversight to keep rail workers and communities near railroads safe. And the supervising agency broadly responsible for regulating rail safety, the Department of Transportation, is calling on Congress to make it easier to institute safety reforms.

    This rare, general bipartisan agreement about taking action in the wake of the derailment follows years of Republicans generally supporting deregulation of the rail industry, including with the broad rollback of transportation rules during the Trump administration.

    Unions, current and former regulatory officials, and members of Congress from both parties have signaled some optimism about the possibility that the Ohio disaster may mark a rare opportunity for Washington to get something done to enhance the rail industry’s safety standards. But what’s unclear is whether there’s enough momentum for both parties in Congress to propel the issue forward into tangible actions. Nor is it clear whether the rail industry’s strong lobbying efforts will pare down any proposed measures or play a hand in eliminating them altogether.

    Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in an interview with CNN on Tuesday that that he’s fed up with the rail industry’s pressure campaigns to diminish regulatory reforms.

    “I’ve had it,” he said. “We have had situation after situation where even modest, reasonable reform gets just a full court press.”

    “I do think if the railroads, like Norfolk Southern, are in a mode right now where they’re saying, ‘We’re going to do everything it takes and everything we can.’ Let’s give them a chance to show it,” Buttigieg later added. “But let’s be very clear, I’m not waiting for them to do this work. I’m just saying they have a chance to put their money where their mouth is.”

    Experts point out several areas of opportunity to enhance rail safety and hold rail companies further accountable: updating trains’ braking system, shortening the lengths of freight trains, further separating cars with hazardous material, requiring more crew member be on board, and increasing penalties.

    Many of these proposals, experts say, have been around for decades, and have oftentimes been diminished or entirely eliminated after rail lobbying efforts. Data compiled by the nonprofit OpenSecrets show that Norfolk Southern spent $1.8 million on federal lobbying last year.

    Norfolk Southern posted record profits from railway operations of $4.8 billion in 2022, up from its previous record of $4.45 billion in 2021. The company did not respond to questions Wednesday on whether it expects to change its share repurchase plans in the wake of the derailment.

    “Unfortunately, derailments like this are preventable and they become inevitable when there’s more risk in the system,” Sarah Feinberg, a former administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration during the Obama administration, told CNN. “The industry has fought tooth and nail against safety regulations, but I also think that’s typical of any industry.”

    Lobbying influence from the rail industry is “a big problem and they have a stranglehold on Congress, especially in the Senate,” Greg Hynes, national legislative director for the SMART Transportation Division union, told CNN.

    “It’s all about the bottom line and they adhere to the operating ratios that Wall Street is so hungry for, which includes lowering head counts – which includes fewer safety inspections, fewer brake tests, fewer people doing the job that they need to do,” he added.

    Buttigieg recently sent a letter Sunday to Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw demanding accountability and calling for greater safety regulations. And DOT subsequently announced on Tuesday that it would take a three-pronged approach to enhance rail safety – push companies to voluntarily adopt additional safety measures, call on Congress to do more and bolster administration efforts to regulate the industry.

    Among other plans to advance existing efforts or deploy existing funding, DOT says it’s initiating focused safety inspections as well as pursuing additional federal rulemaking on high-hazard flammable trains and electronically controlled pneumatic brakes.

    DOT also says it’s working to advance a proposed rule that would require a minimum of two crew members for most railroad operations. Leadership for Norfolk Southern met with Buttigieg and other DOT officials and expressed concerns about the proposed rule. Among other issues, Norfolk Southern argues it will lead to significant labor costs

    Crucial to efforts to enhance rail safety, administration officials and rail experts say, is Congress’ ability to untie the executive branch’s hands.

    DOT is asking Congress to increase the maximum fines that can be issued to rail companies for violating safety regulations. And similar to its regulatory efforts announced Tuesday, DOT is calling on Congress to expand the rules “governing high-hazardous shipments, including high-hazard flammable trains, pushing past industry opposition” and follow through “on new bipartisan support to modernize braking regulations and increase the use of electronically controlled pneumatic brakes.”

    “The apparatus that exists was to allow safety regulators to write and finalize common sense safety regulations that will protect people – protect their homes, protect their water, protect their children, protect their health – it’s totally broken,” Feinberg said. “And the reason it’s totally broken is because the Congress and others – other administrations – will insert themselves into the process and take it over … from safety regulators and say, ‘I know better and I’m going to protect the industry from whatever you’re trying to force its hand on.’”

    The American Association of Railroads, an industry group, has said that “until NTSB has completed their investigation, AAR will not comment on potential policy changes in relation to this event as the cause and any underlying factors have not yet been fully determined.” The NTSB is set to release a preliminary report on the derailment investigation Thursday morning.

    Congressional committees are set to review the environmental and safety impacts of the East Palestine derailment. Although efforts to enhance regulatory oversight of the rail industry have generally broken along party lines, some Republicans and Democrats appear to be moving in the same direction.

    Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, a Washington state Democrat, sent a letter last week to seven of the largest railroad company CEOs, inquiring about safety practices involved in rail transportation of hazardous materials. She’s also requested a joint staff-level briefing with the Environment and Public Works Committee, asking federal transportation and environmental agencies to appear, according to Politico.

    House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair Sam Graves, a Missouri Republican, scheduled a bipartisan briefing for members of the committee last week, and there may be further briefings for committee and all House members to help keep them informed of the status and relevant issues, Graves’ office told CNN.

    Republican Sens. J.D. Vance of Ohio and Marco Rubio of Florida sent a letter to DOT requesting information about the administration’s regulatory oversight, questioning whether the three crew members on board the Norfolk Southern train that derailed were enough to staff the 149-car locomotive.

    Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, the leading Republican on the Senate Commerce committee, last week tweeted that he fully agreed with Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, who wrote, in part, “We need Congressional inquiry and direct action from [Buttigieg] to address this tragedy.”

    Republican candidates for president Nikki Haley and former President Donald Trump have criticized President Joe Biden for not visiting the site of the derailment, arguing that his trip to Ukraine and Poland this week shows he’s more focused on a foreign crisis than what’s happening at home – an increasingly frequent critique of the president and his administration.

    Trump – whose administration sidelined the pending rule to require freight trains to have at least two crew members – appeared in East Palestine on Wednesday alongside Vance.

    Rubio and Buttigieg, meanwhile, are in a spat – with the secretary suggesting the senator was previously parroting lines from the rail industry and Rubio calling for Buttigieg’s resignation.

    “Anybody who has seen fit to get on television and talk about this incident, talk about this issue, can do right by the people of East Palestine and everybody else who lives near a railroad,” Buttigieg told CNN. “Not just when it comes to this case, but when it comes to the future, by getting on the right side of this issue, and helping to raise – not lower – the bar of accountability for the railroad industry.”

    Biden on Wednesday posted on Instagram about his phone call with his EPA Administrator Michael Regan and officials from Ohio and Pennsylvania to discuss the East Palestine situation. He also accused the Trump administration of limiting the ability to strengthen rail safety measures and said some of his current Republican critics were trying to dismantle the EPA.

    “The Department of Transportation has made clear to rail companies that their pattern of resisting safety regulations has got to change,” the caption stated. “Congress should join us in implementing rail safety measures. But the Department of Transportation is limited in the rail safety measures they can implement. Why? For years, elected officials – including the last (administration) – have limited our ability to implement and strengthen rail safety measures.”

    Following repeated calls for Buttigieg to visit the Ohio site, the secretary said earlier this week that he intended to visit East Palestine when the time was right. And then on Wednesday, DOT announced that he would visit on Thursday.

    A DOT spokesperson said Buttigieg had planned to go when it was “appropriate and wouldn’t detract from the emergency response efforts. The Secretary is going now that the EPA has said it is moving out of the emergency response phase and transitioning to the long-term remediation phase.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Norfolk Southern is paying $6.5 million to derailment victims. Meanwhile, it’s shelling out $7.5 billion for shareholders | CNN Business

    Norfolk Southern is paying $6.5 million to derailment victims. Meanwhile, it’s shelling out $7.5 billion for shareholders | CNN Business

    [ad_1]


    New York
    CNN
     — 

    Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw pledged Tuesday the freight railroad will spend $6.5 million to help those affected by the release of toxic chemicals from its derailment nearly three weeks ago in East Palestine, Ohio. But in a plan released earlier this year, the company said it’s planning to spend more than a thousand times that amount — $7.5 billion — to repurchase its own shares in order to benefit its shareholders.

    The company spent $3.4 billion on share repurchases last year, and $3.1 billion in 2021, bringing its recent share repurchases to $6.5 billion. That towers over what it said is its financial commitment to East Palestine, which it said exceeds $6.4 million in direct aid to families and government agencies, in addition to what will be required in cleanup costs.

    There is no estimate as to the total cost to Norfolk Southern from the derailment, including the cost of cleanup that the Environmental Protection Agency says will be the railroad’s responsibility.

    It’s not clear how much of the accident’s cost will fall on Norfolk Southern. The company revealed Wednesday during a conference call with investors that it has as much as $1.1 billion worth of liability insurance coverage that it can draw upon to compensate third parties for losses caused by the accident. It also has about $200 million worth of insurance coverage to cover damage to its own property, such as tracks or equipment.

    In March 2022, Norfolk Southern

    (NSC)     announced a new $10 billion share repurchase plan. Its latest annual financial report, filed just hours before the derailment this month, shows that it still had $7.5 billion available to buy additional shares under that repurchase plan as of December 31.

    Norfolk Southern did not respond to questions Wednesday on whether it expects to change its share repurchase plans in the wake of the derailment.

    The company also returned an additional $1.2 billion to shareholders in the form of dividend payments in 2022, and $1 billion in 2021, bringing total payments to shareholders to $4.6 billion last year and $4.1 billion in 2021.

    The shareholders did much better than the company’s 19,000 employees. Total employee compensation in 2022 came to $2.6 billion, up from $2.4 billion in 2021.

    The amount that Norfolk Southern and other major freight railroads are spending on shareholders got a lot of attention in December, when they successfully fought a move in Congress to require them to give hourly workers at least seven sick days a year as part of a labor contract imposed on the industry by Congress in order to avoid an economically crippling rail strike. And it’s getting new attention in the wake of the derailment, along with questions about whether the environmental disaster could have been avoided if the railroad had spent more on staffing and safety.

    “Corporations do stock buybacks, they do big dividend checks, they lay off workers,” said Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday. “They don’t invest in safety rules and safety regulations, and this kind of thing happens.”

    The accident is under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. While the cause has yet to be determined, it is known that freight railroads have fought tougher safety rules in the past.

    One rule the industry successfully fought would have required a more modern braking system on trains carrying significant amounts of hazardous materials. The Federal Railroad Administration, which proposed the rule under the Obama administration, estimated a more modern braking system would reduce by nearly 20% the number of rail cars in a derailment that puncture and release their contents.

    The FRA estimated those better brakes would cost the entire industry $493 million, spread over a period of 20 years. The Association of American Railroads, the trade industry group that represents most US freight railroads, estimated a much greater cost — about $3 billion, but again, spread over 20 years. That would mean around $150 million a year for an entire industry that is earning billions of dollars of annual profits.

    Still, it was able to block the rule from ever taking effect, based partly on the argument it was too costly for the potential benefit.

    “The railroads are quick to point out their lack of funds to provide adequate staffing, paid sick leave and improved safety, yet they have billions of dollars to spend on stock repurchases,” said Eddie Hall, national president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, the industry’s second-largest union behind the one that represents conductors.

    Share repurchases are designed to help increase the value of the stock by reducing the number of shares outstanding.

    In theory, each remaining share becomes more valuable since it represents a greater percentage of the company’s overall ownership. The earnings per share, a key measure used by investors to judge a company’s profitability, can rise even if the total dollars earned by the company goes down, as the pool of shares available to the public shrinks further.

    But Norfolk Southern’s profits aren’t going down. They’re going up — by quite a bit. It posted record profits from railway operations of $4.45 billion in 2021, and broke that record in 2022 when it earned $4.8 billion on that basis.

    Other freight railroads are also reporting improving profits, and have joined Norfolk Southern in massive share repurchases.

    Union Pacific

    (UNP)     purchased $6.3 billion worth of shares in 2022, and has plans to purchase an additional 84 million shares, worth more than $16 billion at its current value. CSX repurchased $4.7 billion worth of shares last year and has plans to buy an additional $3.3 billion going forward. Like Norfolk Southern, both UP and CSX spent more on share repurchases than they did on total employee compensation.

    Share repurchases are not limited to the rail industry. Chevron

    (CVX)     recently announced plans to repurchase $75 billion worth of its stock with windfall record profits that came from high oil prices. Across corporate America, share repurchases reached almost $1 trillion for the first time last year, coming in at $936 billion according to S&P Dow Jones Indices, up from $882 billion in 2021.

    Share repurchases are forecast to top $1 trillion this year.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • 2 dead, 3 injured in semi-truck fire and explosion near Miami | CNN

    2 dead, 3 injured in semi-truck fire and explosion near Miami | CNN

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    Two people are dead and three injured after semi-trucks and other vehicles exploded and burned in Medley, Florida, Tuesday morning, police said.

    Miami-Dade Fire and Rescue units responded to an explosion at an address a fire department map showed as a truck dealer in the suburb of Medley.

    “Upon arriving to the scene, crews found multiple vehicles on fire,” said Anthony Nuñez, a fire department spokesperson.

    Aerial video from CNN affiliate WSVN showed a large plume of black smoke over the area, where several semi-tractors, cars and a structure were engulfed in flames.

    More than 20 Miami-Dade Fire and Rescue units were at the scene, a spokesperson for the department said.

    “Crews deployed multiple hose lines to put the fire out,” the fire department said. The blaze was under control Tuesday afternoon.

    CNN affiliate WSVN video showed several semi-tractors, cars and a structure engulfed in flames.

    Two of the injured had burn injuries, according to Nuñez. One was airlifted to a Miami hospital, and another was transported by ground. A third injured person was treated at the scene.

    Two people were pronounced dead at the scene, the Miami-Dade Police Department said.

    The cause is still under investigation, the police department added.

    The Miami-Dade Police Homicide Unit was called to the scene by Medley Police, a Miami-Dade spokesperson told CNN.

    Medley is an industrial area of Miami-Dade and is near Doral, where another fire has been burning for more than a week.

    CNN has reached out to Medley Police for more information.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Norfolk Southern CEO defends railroad’s response to Ohio derailment | CNN Business

    Norfolk Southern CEO defends railroad’s response to Ohio derailment | CNN Business

    [ad_1]


    East Palestine, Ohio
    CNN
     — 

    Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw defended his company’s actions since the disaster caused by the derailment of one of its trains in East Palestine, Ohio, and promised the railroad will pay for the cleanup.

    “Norfolk Southern is committed to the community and citizens of East Palestine,” Shaw told CNN Tuesday. “We’re going to be here today, we’re going to be here tomorrow, we’re going to be here a year from now and we’re going to be here five years from now.”

    Shaw’s defense of his company came as Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro charged that Norfolk Southern’s “corporate greed, incompetence and lack of care for our residents is absolutely unacceptable to me.” He announced that his state has made a criminal referral to investigate the railroad’s handling of the derailment, which occurred near the Ohio-Pennsylvania state line.

    Shaw said the company has already paid out $6.5 million to citizens living near the site of the derailment 19 days ago that ignited a days-long inferno, shot plumes of black smoke into the air and led to the intentional release of vinyl chloride to help avert a more catastrophic blast.

    Shaw said the railroad has been in agreement with the actions of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and local efforts on the ground in East Palestine since the train derailment.

    “From day one I’ve made the commitment that Norfolk Southern is going to remediate the site,” Shaw said. “We’re going to do it through continuous long-term air and water monitoring. We’re going to help the residents of this community recover and we’re going to invest in the long-term health of this community and we’re going to make Norfolk Southern a safer railroad.”

    In response to a question about a criminal referral being sent to the Pennsylvania attorney general and criticism from the governor of Pennsylvania that Norfolk Southern provided officials with inaccurate information, conflicting models of data and refused to explore alternative courses of action with the derailment in the early days, Shaw said he did not see the press conference where these statements were made and could not respond.

    He went on to describe coordination during the controlled burn and release after the derailment.

    “I was at unified command, and I can tell you that the governors of Ohio and Pennsylvania, Mayor Conaway, Fire Chief Drabick, the National Guard and Norfolk Southern were aligned,” Shaw said in an interview with CNN Tuesday. “The controlled burn — controlled release was the safest course of action for the citizens of East Palestine.”

    Shaw said Norfolk Southern has been coordinating with the Ohio EPA and local officials and, so far, has been very present in the community since the February 3 accident. He said he first came to East Palestine in the immediate aftermath of the accident and visited a family assistance center that the company put in place, where he checked in on residents, making sure that they had everything that they needed.

    “We’re also very focused on reimbursing the residents in this community for what they’ve been through so far,” he said.

    There are no estimates from the railroad or public officials as yet as to the costs of the accident, either from clean-up or compensation to the communities and residents.

    Norfolk Southern “started as soon as the derailment occurred,” he said. “Within an hour we had air testing in place and about an hour after that we had water testing in place.”

    Shaw said his company continues to monitor air and water quality and has conducted hundreds of tests with thousands of data points, “all of which have come back clean.”

    In an interview on CNBC, Shaw said if East Palestine was his home, he would be OK having his own children return to the town, saying that Tuesday was the third day he has been on the site since the derailment.

    “I know they’re hurt. I know they’re scared. I know they’re confused,” he said of local residents. “They’re looking for information about who to trust. I encourage them to ask questions. They’re going to see that all the testing, whether it’s done by the EPA or local health officials or our independent contractors, show that it’s safe to return to this community.”

    “This has been a traumatic experience. All toxicity reports, all the testing shows that we’re clean. However if folks are experiencing symptoms with which they’re not accustomed, I would strongly encourage them to go see a trusted medical professional,” he said.

    He said that while testing of water and air have come back safe so far, “if folks in this community want additional air testing in their homes, they’ll get it. If folks in this community want additional water testing, they’ll get it. If folks in this community want bottled water, they’re going to get it.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • 1 person dead after Monday explosion and fire at Ohio metal factory | CNN

    1 person dead after Monday explosion and fire at Ohio metal factory | CNN

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    One of the 13 people taken to local hospitals after an explosion Monday at a metal factory near Oakwood, Ohio, has died, according to Captain Brian DiRocco with the Oakwood Village Fire Department.

    The explosion was at the I. Schumann & Co. building, a metal alloy factory, DiRocco said.

    “There was a lot of smoke, a lot of fire, and a lot of injured people,” DiRocco said at a news conference Tuesday, adding that the interior of the building looks “catastrophic” and that the damage is extensive.

    DiRocco did not have an update on the condition of the others who were taken to hospitals. At least two were in critical condition Monday at MetroHealth Medical Center, where four patients were being treated, according to Dorsena Drakeford, a media relations specialist at the center.

    Local officials have been working with the State Fire Marshal, EPA, ATF and OSHA since Monday afternoon in the investigation of the explosion and fire. The cause is still unknown.

    Several people had burn injuries, DiRocco said. All staff have been accounted for, he added. One additional person was treated at the site, DiRocco said Monday.

    The bulk of the fire was out as of 5 p.m. Monday. The explosion and fire occurred around 3 p.m. and left debris scattered around the area, according to DiRocco.

    Several fire departments responded to a large fire at the scene, the Twinsburg Fire Department said. The fire department sent one crew to respond to patients and they transported at least one person to the hospital, the department told CNN.

    With the fire located in the area of Walton Hills and Oakwood, many rural fire departments responded.

    Stephenie Davis was at her job in Oakwood Village when she suddenly felt the entire building start to shake. She walked to a window and saw a “huge cloud of black smoke” coming from a building less than 1,000 feet away, Davis told CNN.

    Davis and her coworkers went outside to see what happened and saw debris on the roof and scattered through the parking lot, she said.

    “Some windows at our neighboring building in front of us were blown out, cars were damaged and debris was on the ground on fire,” Davis said.

    Videos posted to Facebook show a large smoke cloud consuming the sky as flames continue to burn at a building across the street. Pictures show the burning debris in the parking lot next to a truck with dents and damage.

    “Everyone was in shock and looking at their cars and the building where the smoke was exiting,” Davis said. “We heard another smaller boom and everyone started to either get in their cars to leave or go back into their work building for safety.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Ohio governor drinks the tap water as the EPA demands Norfolk Southern manage all cleanup of a toxic train wreck — or face consequences | CNN

    Ohio governor drinks the tap water as the EPA demands Norfolk Southern manage all cleanup of a toxic train wreck — or face consequences | CNN

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    The US Environmental Protection Agency is ordering Norfolk Southern to handle and pay for all necessary cleanup after a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio.

    The EPA announced its legally binding order Tuesday, 18 days after the freight train derailed. The disaster ignited a dayslong inferno, shot plumes of black smoke into the air and led to the intentional release of vinyl chloride to help avert a more catastrophic blast.

    Some residents have reported health problems, and about 3,500 fish have died in Ohio waterways since the wreck.

    “Norfolk Southern will pay for cleaning the mess that they created and the trauma that they inflicted on this community,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said Tuesday.

    As part of the EPA’s legally binding order, Norfolk Southern will be required to:

    • Identify and clean up any contaminated soil and water resources,

    • Reimburse the EPA for cleaning services to be offered to residents and businesses to provide an additional layer of reassurance, which will be conducted by EPA staff and contractors,

    • Attend and participate in public meetings at the EPA’s request and post information online, and

    • Pay for the EPA’s costs for work performed under the order.

    The order will take effect Thursday. The EPA said it will exercise its strongest authority against the train’s operator under CERCLA – the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act.

    “In no way, shape or form will Norfolk Southern get off the hook for the mess that they created,” Regan said.

    If the rail company fails to meet the demands, the EPA said it will immediately step in, conduct the necessary work and then seek to compel Norfolk Southern to pay triple the cost.

    In response to the EPA’s announcement, Norfolk Southern said it has been working to clean up the site and will continue helping residents.

    “We recognize that we have a responsibility, and we have committed to doing what’s right for the residents of East Palestine,” Norfolk Southern said in a statement to CNN.

    “We have been paying for the clean-up activities to date and will continue to do so. We are committed to thoroughly and safely cleaning the site, and we are reimbursing residents for the disruption this has caused in their lives. We are investing in helping East Palestine thrive for the long-term, and we will continue to be in the community for as long as it takes. We are going to learn from this terrible accident and work with regulators and elected officials to improve railroad safety.”

    Hours before the EPA’s announcement, Regan and Gov. Mike DeWine visited an East Palestine home and tried to reassure residents that the municipal water supply is safe.

    They raised two glasses filled with water straight from the tap and toasted before drinking.

    The municipal water supply comes from five wells deep underground that are encased in steel, state officials have said. But residents with private well water should get that water tested before using it, since that water may be sourced closer to the ground’s surface.

    “State and local authorities will continue the water sampling efforts, and EPA will continue indoor air screenings to residents within the evacuation zone,” Regan said Tuesday.

    But “I recognize that no matter how much data we collect or provide, it will not be enough to completely reassure everybody,” the EPA chief said.

    “It may not be enough to restore the sense of safety and security that this community once had. But we’re going to work together, day by day, for as long as it takes to make sure that this community feels at home once again.”

    The soil under the railroad track at the site of the wreck is still contaminated, and the tracks need to be lifted to remove that soil, the director of Ohio’s Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday.

    The governor acknowledged residents’ concerns about the contaminated soil and said 4,588 cubic yards of soil and 1.1 million gallons of contaminated water have been removed from East Palestine.

    “The railroad got the tracks back on and started running and the soil under the tracks had not been dealt with,” DeWine said. “The tracks will have to be taken up, and that soil will have to be removed.”

    To address the growing reports of rashes, headaches, nausea and other symptoms in East Palestine, the state opened a new health clinic for residents.

    The health clinic will have registered nurses, mental health specialists and – at times – a toxicologist, the Ohio Department of Health said.

    Medical teams from the US Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention and the US Department of Health are expected to arrive in the community as early as this week to help assess what dangers might remain.

    Authorities have repeatedly assured residents that the air and municipal water supply in the town are safe. Crews have checked hundreds of homes and have not detected any dangerous levels of contaminants, the EPA said.

    Still, life in East Palestine has been uprooted as residents question the findings and wonder whether it’s really safe to drink the water or breathe the air.

    “It will be important to monitor people’s health and the environment around the train derailment for some time to come since health impacts may not emerge until later,” said Dr. Erin Haynes, an environmental health scientist at the University of Kentucky.

    “We should never say we’re done looking at this community for potential exposures and health impacts.”

    Petroleum based chemicals float on the top of the water in Leslie Run creek after being agitated from the sediment on Monday in East Palestine.

    Some waterways were contaminated after the crash, killing an estimated 3,500 fish. But officials have said they believe those contaminants have been contained.

    Norfolk Southern installed booms and dams to restrict the flow of contaminated water from Sulphur Run and Leslie Run – two streams where fish were found dead, the EPA said.

    “The spill did flow to the Ohio River during that initial slug, but the Ohio River is very large, and it’s a water body that’s able to dilute the pollutants pretty quickly,” Ohio Environmental Protection Agency official Tiffani Kavalec said last week.

    Kavalec said the agency is pretty confident that the “low levels” of contaminants that remain are not getting passed on to water customers.

    A series of pumps have been placed upstream to reroute Sulphur Run around the derailment site, Norfolk Southern said Monday.

    “Environmental teams are treating the impacted portions of Sulphur Run with booms, aeration, and carbon filtration units,” Norfolk Southern added. “Those teams are also working with stream experts to collect soil and groundwater samples to develop a comprehensive plan to address any contamination that remains in the stream banks and sediment.”

    Water intakes from the Ohio River that were shut off Sunday “as a precautionary measure” were reopened after sampling found “no detections of the specific chemicals from the train derailment,” the Greater Cincinnati Water Works and Northern Kentucky Water District said Monday.

    A third utility provider – Maysville utility in Kentucky – announced that it temporarily shut off water intakes from the Ohio River on Saturday, when the toxic chemicals released into the river from the derailment were expected to arrive at the water treatment intake in Kentucky, utility general manager Mark Julian said.

    Water measurements have been below the level of concern, Julian said, and Maysville took precautionary measures in temporarily shutting down their Ohio River intake valve due to the public concern.

    “The takeaway is that anyone along the Ohio River where the contaminants made their way can breathe a sigh of relief,” he said.

    A member of Ohio EPA Emergency Response looks for fish at Leslie Run creek and checks for chemicals in East Palestine on Monday.

    Meanwhile, the majority of the hazardous rail cars remain at the crash site as investigators continue to probe the wreck. But about 15,000 pounds of contaminated soil and 1.1 million gallons of contaminated water have been removed from the scene, Norfolk Southern announced Monday.

    The contaminated soil became a point of contention last week after a public document sent to the EPA on February 10 did not list soil removal among completed cleanup activities. It is not yet known what significance or impact the soil that was not removed before the railroad reopened on February 8 will have had on the surrounding areas.

    As skepticism spreads about the safety of the air and water, some local businesses say they’ve seen fewer customers.

    “Everybody’s afraid … They don’t want to come in and drink the water,” Teresa Sprowls, a restaurant owner in East Palestine, told CNN affiliate WOIO.

    A stylist at a hair salon told WOIO there’s no doubt the salon lost business and that customers may be worried about what may be in the water washing their hair.

    “I know a lot of our businesses are already suffering greatly because people don’t want to come here,” local greenhouse owner Dianna Elzer told CNN affiliate WPXI.

    Her husband, Donald Elzer, echoed her concerns, saying, “It’s devastating. The longer it goes on, the worse it gets.”

    Dianna Elzer also worried about longer-term economic impacts to the community.

    “Our property values – who is going to want to buy a house here now?” she told WPXI. “It’s going to be a long struggle to get back to where we were.”

    As residents call for accountability from both Norfolk Southern and government officials, US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said he plans to visit East Palestine “when the time is right” – but did not announce a date.

    He did announce Monday new efforts by the Department of Transportation to improve rail safety.

    “We are accelerating and augmenting our ongoing lines of effort on rail regulation and inspection here at the US DOT, including further regulation on high hazard flammable trains and electronically controlled pneumatic brakes – rules that were clawed back under the previous administration – to the full extent of that we are allowed to under current law, and we will continue using resources from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to fund projects that improve rail safety,” Buttigieg said.

    A DOT news release said the agency will continue to press for the “Train Crew Staffing Rule,” which would require a minimum of two crew members during most railroad operations. Norfolk Southern has opposed the proposed rule.

    Norfolk Southern has committed millions of dollars’ worth of financial assistance to East Palestine, including $3.4 million in direct financial assistance to families and a $1 million community assistance fund, among other aid, the company said.

    Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw posted an open letter telling East Palestine residents, “I hear you” and “we are here and will stay here for as long as it takes to ensure your safety and to help East Palestine recover and thrive.”

    “Together with local health officials,” Shaw said, “we have implemented a comprehensive testing program to ensure the safety of East Palestine’s water, air, and soil.”

    Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled the first name of Ohio Environmental Protection Agency official Tiffani Kavalec.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Venice canals run dry amid fears Italy faces another drought | CNN

    Venice canals run dry amid fears Italy faces another drought | CNN

    [ad_1]


    Venice
    Reuters
     — 

    Weeks of dry winter weather have raised concerns that Italy could face another drought after last summer’s emergency, with the Alps having received less than half of their normal snowfall, according to scientists and environmental groups.

    The warning comes as Venice, where flooding is normally the primary concern, faces unusually low tides that are making it impossible for gondolas, water taxis and ambulances to navigate some of its famous canals.

    The problems in Venice are being blamed on a combination of factors – the lack of rain, a high pressure system, a full moon and sea currents.

    Italian rivers and lakes are suffering from severe lack of water, the Legambiente environmental group said Monday, with attention focused on the north of the country.

    The Po, Italy’s longest river which runs from the Alps in the northwest to the Adriatic, has 61% less water than is normal at this time of year, it added in a statement.

    Last July, Italy declared a state of emergency for areas surrounding the Po, which accounts for roughly a third of the country’s agricultural production and suffered its worst drought for 70 years.

    “We are in a water deficit situation that has been building up since the winter of 2020-2021,” climate expert Massimiliano Pasqui, from Italian scientific research institute CNR, was quoted as saying by Corriere della Sera, a daily newspaper.

    “We need to recover 500 millimeters in the northwestern regions: We need 50 days of rain,” he added.

    Water levels on Lake Garda in northern Italy have fallen to record lows, making it possible to reach the small island of San Biagio on the lake via an exposed pathway.

    An anticyclone has been dominating the weather in western Europe for 15 days, bringing mild temperatures more normally seen in late spring.

    Latest weather forecasts do however signal the arrival of much-needed precipitation and snow in the Alps in coming days.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Magnitude 6.3 earthquake strikes southern Turkey killing 3 and injuring hundreds, 2 weeks after massive quake killed thousands | CNN

    Magnitude 6.3 earthquake strikes southern Turkey killing 3 and injuring hundreds, 2 weeks after massive quake killed thousands | CNN

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck southern Turkey on Monday killing at least three people and injuring hundreds more, according to Turkish and Syrian officials, two weeks after a massive earthquake killed tens of thousands of people in both countries.

    The quake struck Turkey’s southern Hatay province, near the Syrian border, Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD) said Monday.

    The quake’s epicenter was in the province’s Defne district, Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said Monday, adding that there have been 26 aftershocks since.

    Three people had died and 213 were injured on Monday, Soylu said, and rescue services are still searching several buildings.

    In northwest Syria, there have been more than 130 injuries, the White Helmets volunteer rescue group said Monday. The quake also led to the collapse of a number of buildings that were already hit by the previous earthquake.

    “Our teams are working to take the injured to hospitals, inspect the affected villages and towns, and remove rubble to open the roads for the ambulances,” the White Helmets said.

    The United States Geological Survey (USGS) initially reported the quake as being of magnitude 6.4 at a depth of 10 kilometers before revising it down to 6.3 magnitude.

    Officials have been urging the public to stay away from buildings. Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay earlier Monday asked the public “not to enter the damaged buildings, especially to take their belongings.”

    The mayor of Samandag, near where the quake hit, said some buildings had collapsed and that the mood was one of panic following the AFAD warning.

    CNN teams in Adana, Turkey felt the quake, as did eyewitnesses in Gaziantep and Mersin.

    Monday’s earthquake follows a deadly magnitude 7.8 earthquake on February 6 that left more than 46,000 people dead in Turkey and Syria.

    Families who were affected by the the earthquake two weeks ago told CNN of the terror caused by Monday’s tremors.

    “We went back to our house and this shock happened again and we went out… may God help us,” said Zahir, who lives in a town between the cities of Iskenderun and Antakia, in Turkey’s Hatay province.

    “We don’t know what to do today – today we will stay in the car and in the tent, we don’t know what will happen till tomorrow,” he told CNN.

    People react after an earthquake in Antakya.

    On Sunday, Turkey’s disaster management authority said it had ended most search and rescue operations nearly two weeks after the earthquake struck as experts say the chances of survival for people trapped in the rubble this far into the disaster are unlikely.

    Some efforts remain in the provinces of Kahramanmaraş and Hatay. On Saturday, a couple and their 12-year-old child were rescued in Hatay, 296 hours after the earthquake, state news agency Anadolu reported.

    Efforts to retrieve survivors have been hampered by a cold winter spell across quake-stricken regions, while authorities grapple with the logistical challenges of transporting aid into northwestern Syria amid an acute humanitarian crisis compounded by years of political strife.

    This story has been updated with new information from USGS.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • As residents near the toxic train wreck in Ohio worry about rashes, sore throats and nausea, the state sets up a health clinic | CNN

    As residents near the toxic train wreck in Ohio worry about rashes, sore throats and nausea, the state sets up a health clinic | CNN

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    While officials have repeatedly sought to assure residents that the water and air in East Palestine, Ohio, are safe after the derailment of a train carrying hazardous materials earlier this month, anxiety has permeated the community amid reports of rashes, nausea and headaches.

    The state now plans to open a health clinic in East Palestine Tuesday for residents concerned about possible symptoms related to the derailment and the Biden administration announced it deployed experts to help assess what dangers remain in the area after Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine requested medical teams from the US Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention and the US Department of Health.

    It’s been over two weeks since a train carrying vinyl chloride derailed in the small community of less than 5,000 people, igniting a dayslong inferno and prompting crews to carry out detonations to the toxic chemical to prevent a potentially deadly explosion.

    The detonations unleashed a black cloud of smoke over the area, where a chemical stench lingered for days. While it was deemed safe for evacuated residents to return home on February 8, community members have questioned how safe their village is and the validity of the air and water tests.

    US Sen. Sherrod Brown said residents are “right to be skeptical.”

    “We think the water’s safe,” Brown told CNN, citing comments made by the administrators of the state and federal Environmental Protection Agencies. “But when you return to your home, you should be tested again for your water and your soil and your air, not to mention those that have their own wells.”

    Testing of air quality in more than 530 homes has shown no detection of contaminants, the US Environmental Protection Agency said Sunday.

    As for the water, no vinyl chloride has been detected in any down-gradient waterways near the train derailment, EPA official Tiffani Kavalec told CNN last week.

    And while some waterways in the area were contaminated – killing thousands of fish downstream – officials have said they believe those contaminants to be contained.

    After crews discovered the contaminated runoff on two surface water streams, Sulphur Run and Leslie Run, Norfolk Southern installed booms and dams to restrict the flow of contaminated water, according to the EPA.

    Still, despite the assurances from officials that the water is safe, some residents are too afraid to drink from their taps and the town has been distributing bottled water.

    Desiree Walker – a 19-year resident of the town who lives just 900 feet from the derailment site – told CNN affiliate WOIO that she refuses to let her children drink the water, fearing it could have long-term health effects.

    “There’s a big concern because they’re young. They’ve got their whole life ahead of them,” Walker said. “I don’t want this to impact them down the road. I want them to have a long, happy life.”

    Walker said her family is feeling symptoms, but doctors tell them they don’t know what to test for.

    “At nighttime especially is when we smell it the most,” she told the station. “Our throats are sore, we’re coughing a lot now. My son, his eyes matted shut.”

    As anger and frustration bubbled in the small town, hundreds of East Palestine residents attended a town hall last week to express concerns over air and water safety in their community.

    Residents reported a variety of issues – including rashes, sore throats, nausea and headaches – and shared worries that the symptoms could potentially be related to chemicals released after a train derailment.

    “Why are people getting sick if there’s nothing in the air or in the water,” one resident yelled during the gathering.

    Ayla Antoniazzi and her family returned to their house less than a mile from the crash site the day after evacuation orders were lifted. The mother made sure to air the house out and wash all the linen before bringing her children home.

    “But the next day when they woke up, they weren’t themselves,” Antoniazzi said. “My oldest had a rash on her face. The youngest did too but not as bad. The 2-year-old was holding her eye and complaining that her eye was hurting. She was very lethargic, so I took them back to my parents’ home.”

    The Ohio Department of Health’s clinic opening Tuesday is meant to help East Palestine recover from the incident, officials said. The clinic will have registered nurses, mental health specialists and, at times, a toxicologist, the agency said.

    “I heard you, the state heard you, and now the Ohio Department of Health and many of our partner agencies are providing this clinic, where people can come and discuss these vital issues with medical providers,” said the department’s director, Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff.

    The decision to conduct controlled detonations at the derailment site on February 6 has also fueled skepticism and questions about safety.

    Ayla Antoniazzi's 4-year-old daughter developed a rash after going back to school in East Palestine.

    Officials said the move was meant to avert an explosion at the site of the derailment by venting the toxic vinyl chloride gas and burning it in a pit, a move that shot up a thick plume of smoke over the town.

    Vinyl chloride – a man-made substance used to make PVC – can cause dizziness, sleepiness and headaches and has also been linked to an increased risk of cancer in the liver, brain, lungs and blood.

    The burning vinyl chloride gas could break down into compounds including hydrogen chloride and phosgene, a chemical weapon used during World War I as a choking agent, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency and CDC.

    After the detonation, crews checked the air for chemicals of concern, including phosgene and hydrogen chloride, as well as butyl acrylate, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether acetate, and 2-ethylhexyl acrylate, according to the EPA, and reported that the data was normal.

    Work now continues to clear the crash site.

    The train’s operator, Norfolk Southern, is “scrapping and removing rail cars at the derailment location, excavating contaminated areas, removing contaminated liquids from affected storm drains, and staging recovered waste for transportation to an approved disposal facility,” the EPA said Sunday.

    “Air monitoring and sampling will continue until removal of heavily contaminated soil in the derailment area is complete and odors subside in the community,” the agency said.

    US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg sent a letter Sunday to Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw, demanding accountability and calling for greater safety regulations.

    “The people of East Palestine cannot be forgotten, nor can their pain be simply considered the cost of doing business,” Buttigieg wrote to the railway’s chief executive.

    “You have previously indicated to me that you are committed to meeting your responsibilities to this community, but it is clear that area residents are not satisfied with the information, presence, and support they are getting from NorfolkSouthern in the aftermath and recovery,” Buttigieg added.

    Brown also pledged to hold the rail company accountable for the impacts on the community, saying in a news conference he would “make sure Norfolk Southern does what it says it’s going to do, what it’s promised.”

    “All the cleanup, all the drilling, all the testing, all the hotel stays, all of that is on Norfolk Southern. They caused it, there’s no question they caused it,” Brown said, adding the total cost could amount to either tens or hundreds of millions of dollars.

    Norfolk Southern’s CEO posted an open letter Saturday telling East Palestine residents, “I hear you” and “we are here and will stay here for as long as it takes to ensure your safety and to help East Palestine recover and thrive.”

    “Together with local health officials, we have implemented a comprehensive testing program to ensure the safety of East Palestine’s water, air, and soil,” Shaw said in the letter, adding that the company also started a $1 million fund “as a down payment on our commitment to help rebuild.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link