PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Pennsylvania State Senate on Thursday held a hearing on the Feb. 3 derailment of a Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio, near the Pennsylvania border. It took place just hours after the National Transportation Safety Board released its preliminary report on the incident, which pointed to an overheated wheel bearing as a contributing factor.
The crew operating the Norfolk Southern train did not receive a critical warning about an overheated axle until just before 50 of the 149 railcars went off the tracks, according to the report. Eleven of the derailed cars were carrying hazardous materials and subsequently ignited.
The report indicates a standard safety device on the rail track, called a hot bearing detector, picked up signals of a hot axle and prompted an audible alarm notifying the crew to check it out.
“The report indicates a wheel bearing on one of the railcars was overheating for several miles before an alarm alerted the crew, and the engineer applied the brakes — but the train still derailed,” NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said.
An engineer applied the brakes to slow down the Norfolk Southern train, which was traveling at 47 mph, already below the 50 mph speed limit. According to the report, the train passed three sensors, each recording temperatures increasing to 253 degrees at the last sensor, before derailing.
When the train stopped, the crew notified the East Cleveland dispatcher of smoke and a possible derailment.
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Two days later, responders were still concerned because the temperature inside one of the tank cars kept rising. This indicated the hazardous vinyl chloride it was carrying could be undergoing a chemical reaction and posed an explosion threat. Officials seeking to avoid an uncontrolled blast vented five rail cars and burned the toxic chemical, sending flames and black smoke high into the sky for several hours.
Absence of information
Richard Negrin, acting secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection said Norfolk Southern pushed back when his department asked about potential alternatives to venting those cars.
“So, we were forced into a situation of making a decision on what we need to do at this point in time, understanding that they want to vent and burn five cars of vinyl chloride,” Negrin told senators.
“Now, these cars have laid on the ground for three days. Fires have died down significantly. The cars have not failed to this point. So we're trying to get a better appreciation for this, understanding that this is not our incident to manage; it is squarely in Ohio at that point in time.”
Lonnie Miller of East Palestine told senators that residents were encouraged to evacuate their homes.
“So many families live paycheck to paycheck in East Palestine. They have no finances to just be able to pick up and go and find a hotel room.”
And though many residents have since returned, they've done so amid concerns for their health, even as authorities maintain they did their best to protect people. Miller said information about their safety was hard to find.
“There was nothing. We were relying on social media to know what was happening in our own backyard,” she testified.
Amanda Kemmer of Darlington, Pennsylvania, said residents were told that evacuation before the venting process was voluntary, so in the absence of information, she chose to stay home with her children.
“And when they did the chemical release, you just saw this big, ominous cloud coming out over East Palestine until the whole sky was black,” Kemmer said. “And then you get this chemical smell in the house.”
That evening, everyone in her house was sick, Kemmer said.
“And you know, at that point, I knew I made the wrong decision to stay.”
Miller said was able to take her family to a hotel about a half hour away — “and I can tell you, when I was walking my dog the very next day after the controlled burn, I was picking up feathers. I know now that those feathers were being lost from the birds that were flying through those chemicals.”
Growing criticism
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine had called out the railroad company's failure to address the contaminated soil underneath its tracks before repairing them and running freight again.
“Our original plan would have effectively and safely remediated the soil under our tracks. As I listened to community members over the past two weeks, they shared with me their concerns about that approach. I appreciate the direct feedback, and I am addressing it," Norfolk Southern President and CEO Alan H. Shaw said in a written statement.
Norfolk Southern announced late Wednesday it would excavate the soil under two tracks. Officials say tons of contaminated soil has been removed from the area around the crash site — enough to fill one and a half Olympic-size swimming pools.
Gov. Josh Shapiro says his administration has made a criminal referral of Norfolk Southern to the attorney general’s office. Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted told CNN ahead of the report's release that its findings had the potential to form the basis of their own criminal referral.
NTSB released its preliminary findings as U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, criticized for failing to visit East Palestine earlier, went on a tour of the crash site Thursday, three weeks after the crash.
The government is facing growing criticism over the federal response to the disaster. The Biden White House has defended its response, saying officials from the Environmental Protection Agency, the NTSB and other agencies were at the rural site within hours of the derailment. The White House says it has also offered federal assistance, and FEMA has been coordinating with the state emergency operations center and other partners.
Another Biden administration official, EPA Administrator Michael Regan, has been to East Palestine multiple times, most recently Tuesday as the EPA ordered Norfolk Southern to pay for the cleanup.
Among those criticizing Buttigieg was former President Donald Trump, who came to Ohio on Wednesday. The Department of Transportation said Buttigieg is visiting now that the EPA has declared the emergency phase of the crash to be over and the start of long-term cleanup efforts is underway.
The reception for Buttigieg was decidedly more muted, with little fanfare around the village of just under 5,000 residents. Trump won nearly 72% of the vote in this heavily Republican region in the 2020 election.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, whose Pennsylvania district borders the East Palestine disaster site, asked Norfolk Southern to expand the boundaries of the geographic zone in which it is providing financial assistance and testing. He asserted the current zone excludes many affected Pennsylvania residents and businesses, and said the company should commit to cleaning up soil and water up to 30 miles beyond it.
“Norfolk Southern is failing to show any commitment to rebuilding lost trust in our community,” Deluzio wrote in a letter to Shaw. Providing additional resources “would help your company restore the sense of security that the Norfolk Southern train derailment and its aftermath destroyed.”
The NTSB is still investigating.