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department of transportation
Lawsuit Aims to End 'Cruel War on Our Environment' by Trump and Musk
"Musk has shown that he can and will destroy a federal agency in a single weekend," said one advocate. "If his deranged antics are allowed to continue, we might never be able to fix the damage to America's environment."
Mar 03, 2025
A leading conservation group filed suit Monday to stop U.S. President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk from "gutting" over a dozen of the federal government's environmental agencies and departments.
This isn't the Center for Biological Diversity's first lawsuit targeting Trump's Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, but it is the first lawsuit in the country "challenging DOGE's efforts to eviscerate the agencies charged with protecting the environment, natural resources, and wildlife," according to a statement from the group.
The suit names as defendants the Environmental Protection Agency and departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Interior, and Transportation, as well as several entities under them: the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Federal Aviation Administration, Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and National Park Service.
"The world's richest man has created an alternative power structure inside the federal government for the purpose of controlling spending and pushing out employees."
" Elon Musk and his hacker minions are tearing apart the federal agencies that protect our public lands, keep our air and water clean, and conserve our most cherished wildlife. The public has every right to know why they're waging this cruel war on our environment," said Brett Hartl, the center's government affairs director.
"Musk has shown that he can and will destroy a federal agency in a single weekend," Hartl added. "If his deranged antics are allowed to continue, we might never be able to fix the damage to America's environment."
The suit alleges "a flagrant violation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), which requires transparency, open public participation, and balanced representation when the president or executive branch agencies establish or use nonfederal bodies for the purpose of seeking advice or recommendations."
Trump's executive order establishing DOGE directs all agencies to form teams, or what FACA calls advisory committees, controlled by Musk. The complaint argues that "defendants have failed to ensure that the DOGE teams comply with the balance and openness requirements of FACA."
"Mr. Musk and other billionaire and tech executives working with DOGE stand to benefit personally and financially from the DOGE teams' work, including by securing government contracts, slashing environmental rules that apply to their companies, and reducing the government's regulatory capacity and authority, including by targeting specific agencies, statutes, and spending decisions that affect their businesses," the filing warns.
The complaint notes recent reporting that "Musk is using his influence over the DOGE teams to rapidly consolidate control over large swaths of the federal government, sideline career officials, gain access to sensitive databases, and dismantle agencies and regulatory systems."
"Since President Trump assumed office—and without any congressional approval—the world's richest man has created an alternative power structure inside the federal government for the purpose of controlling spending and pushing out employees," the document adds. "Meanwhile, Musk has been named as a special government employee, which subjects him to less stringent rules on ethics and financial disclosures regarding his role overseeing DOGE and the DOGE teams."
The new case calling on the court to require compliance with FACA comes after the center filed another federal suit in Washington, D.C. last Thursday with the aim of using the Freedom of Information Act to unveil details about what Hartl said "should be called the Department of Government Evisceration."
It also follows U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, launching a probe last month into Musk's official title. The congressman demanded answers from the White House by this coming Thursday.
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Secretary Buttigieg, Act Now to Secure Justice for Shiloh Before Trump Takes Charge
I doubt you would want your legacy to read, “USDOT Secretary Pete let the Black Shiloh community and homeowners drown.”
Nov 18, 2024
Dear Secretary Pete Buttigieg,
I understand you and your top-level appointed officials at the U.S. Department of Transportation are preparing to leave their positions given the results of the November 5 elections. Again, I am pleading with you to fully resolve the highway flooding problem and secure the funds for binding commitments to cover flood damages to homes, businesses, and property in Elba, Alabama’s historically Black Shiloh community before the Biden-Harris administration comes to an end on January 20, 2025. We have two months to get justice for the Shiloh community. Let’s not fail them. Remember, they have been flooded for six-plus years.
Again, the matter of highway flooding in my hometown of Elba is no stranger to you and the USDOT. On February 27 this year, the Bullard Center sponsored a small delegation of Shiloh leaders to meet with Assistant Secretary Christopher Coes and high-level USDOT officials in Washington, D.C. And on April 3 of this year, you and several high-ranking members of your staff, including Assistant Secretary Coes and Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt (who has already left FHWA), participated in our “Journey to Justice” tour of the Shiloh community, talked with flood impacted residents, and saw firsthand the devastation left behind by six-plus years of highway flooding. It’s not a pretty picture—a shameful and dark reminder of misuse and abuse of federal transportation tax dollars.
Yes, racism created the highway flooding problem in Shiloh and it will require environmental justice to fix it.
Through no action or fault of their own, Shiloh residents are helpless as their beloved community becomes a small lake after a rainstorm—all due to racism, reckless design, and expansion of U.S. Highway 84 (that began in 2018 by the Alabama Department of Transportation or ALDOT) under the first Trump administration USDOT. And worse, lack of government response to the Shiloh residents’ complaints about flooding and damage to their homes and property add to growing mistrust of government—including restrictive covenants ALDOT attached to residents’ deeds and an unconscionable property settlement agreement that limits the ability of current and future residents to file actions against the state. The persistent flooding is also responsible for causing residents to lose homeowners insurance coverage, making them even more vulnerable to future economic losses due to climate change.
There is an abundance of documentation and irrefutable evidence to show flooding was not a problem in Shiloh before the Alabama DOT (ALDOT) widened U.S. 84 from two lanes to four lanes and elevated it, placing the once-flat land in the Shiloh community in a bowl and forcing stormwater downhill to flood its residents. To understand this highway flooding problem, one need not be a highway planner, engineer, hydrologist, or lawyer. It’s common-sense knowledge that gravity is forcing water downhill—in this case forcing highway stormwater into the Shiloh community.
By applying the widely accepted “polluter pays principle,” it’s clear who caused the problem and where the responsibility for addressing the flooding problem rests. ALDOT caused highway flooding in the Shiloh community and should be tasked with fixing the highway and required to pay for the damages and losses suffered by the Shiloh home, business, and property owners.
The hard-working Shiloh residents deserve better. They should not have their hard-earned tax dollars used to build a highway project that’s destroying their community and stealing their inheritance and intergenerational wealth. It would be shameful and immoral to allow the flooding problem in Shiloh to carry over into the second Trump administration, when it could be fully resolved on your watch under the Biden administration. I doubt you would want your legacy to read, “USDOT Secretary Pete let the Black Shiloh community and homeowners drown.” Yes, racism created the highway flooding problem in Shiloh and it will require environmental justice to fix it.
The October 4 Voluntary Resolution Agreement (VRA) between FHWA and ALDOT was reached on a civil rights discrimination complaint filed by Shiloh homeowners against the tate agency more than two years ago. The VRA represents binding commitments to fix the highway stormwater drainage system. It’s understandable why Shiloh residents see the VRA only as a partial civil rights victory, since the agreement does nothing to resolve or compensate residents for property losses or damaged homes and businesses. This is a textbook example of highway robbery. A just solution requires putting in place binding commitments to fully compensate Shiloh residents for more than six-plus years of flood losses and damages to their homes, businesses, and property, and offering voluntary buyouts and relocation for those who seek it. That’s the just, fair, and equitable thing to do.
Again, it is important the VRA fix the highway stormwater drainage problem. And it is equally important that binding commitments and an agreement to address damaged homes, property, and businesses be reached before this administration ends because it is unlikely the next USDOT under a second Trump administration would be inclined to resolve highway flood damages and losses of Shiloh residents that were caused by ALDOT under the first Trump administration USDOT.
Finally, ALDOT caused the problem and ALDOT should be held accountable to pay for a comprehensive solution—not a “partial fix” as contained in the VRA. The pressure is mounting for Secretary Pete to act as the clock is ticking for you to step up and make the flooded Shiloh community residents whole before this administration’s time runs out for them on your watch. It’s the just thing to do and the right time to do it. And you need to act with the urgency of now! Let’s not have the record show “you left Black people in Shiloh to drown” on your watch.
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Two Years Later, Biden Has Yet to Appoint Key Safety Regulator at DOT
Despite all of the media attention on the horrible derailment in East Palestine, Ohio there has been little attention on the leaderless agency tasked with preventing such disasters.
Apr 08, 2023
More than halfway through President Biden’s term, there remain numerous critical appointed positions across the executive branch that remain empty. My colleagues have written extensively about the scope of this confirmation crisis. Some notable remaining vacancies include a seat on the Federal Communications Commission, around two dozen US Attorneys, and a seat on the National Transportation Safety Board. While much of this is due to obstruction by Senate Republicans, the importance of advancing good nominees remains. The fixes to the procedural delays are beyond Biden’s control (though not necessarily beyond Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s). But fighting to get the right people into positions of authority is still a top priority. As the mantra goes: personnel is policy.
But there is one critical, if low-profile, position that has not had a nominee at all: administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Administration (PHMSA). Interestingly, despite all of the media attention on the horrible February derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in East Palestine, OH — including increased coverage of the response effort from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Department of Transportation (DOT) — there has been little attention on PHMSA itself.
PHMSA is an administration within DOT and is directly responsible for regulating dangerous trains. The weakened rule around high-hazard flammable trains is the work of Trump’s PHMSA. New rules addressing those shortcomings will also fall on its plate. And PHMSA’s authority extends well beyond just those rules, as it is responsible for regulating the safety (as its name implies) of pipelines and a litany of other transportation issues around moving dangerous materials. This includes flammable fuels like oil, natural gas, and coal, as well as radioactive substances and dangerous chemicals such as ammonium nitrate-based fertilizer. It’s a small and obscure agency, but undoubtedly a very important one.
The fact that such an important post as the PHMSA administrator has been purposefully left vacant is telling. It shows a lack of recognition around the post’s seriousness. And while the blame ultimately goes all the way to the White House, we would be remiss to absolve Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Presidents are famously busy and rely on input from their cabinet to determine what personnel decisions need to be prioritized. This is especially the case with technical offices, where the President depends on the subject matter expertise of their cabinet secretaries.
Additionally, President Biden, by not naming a nominee, has entrusted Buttigieg with deciding leadership at PHMSA. Unlike other administrations within DOT, the deputy administrator of PHMSA is appointed by the Secretary of Transportation without any need for presidential consultation or approval.
Tristan Brown, PHMSA’s deputy administrator, was handpicked by Buttigieg. That means that even more than is the case with other DOT administrations, the successes and failures of PHMSA ultimately go back to Buttigieg. As an aside, entrusting the deputy administrator with the full workload of the administrator here is a departure from Secretary Buttigieg’s handling of a similar vacancy at the FAA, where the deputy was bypassed for acting administrator, despite federal statute stating he should have gotten the job. PHMSA has no such explicit statutory language for its deputy. Also unlike PHMSA, the Transportation Secretary does not appoint the deputy FAA administrator — the President does.
While there have been encouraging signs lately of Buttigieg leaning more into his role of a regulator, including blocking the proposed Spirit-JetBlue merger, he still has a lot of work to do. Seeing Buttigieg talk about the rail industry obfuscating regulation and publicly pressuring airlines to get rid of junk fees shows he can take on the corporations he oversees. But for two years now, he has spent much of his term as an administration spokesperson on TV while allowing critical DOT business, like banning those junk fees, recovering billions of dollars owed to consumers, and improving rail brake regulations, to slip through the cracks.
Buttigieg is good with the media, including Fox News, and that has value to the administration, but the technocratic processes he oversees cannot come at the expense of a good media hit. The post he signed up for is a notoriously low profile one, partly because of how down in the weeds it can get. It’s fine for Buttigieg to have a higher media presence, but he cannot choose cameras over his unique legal obligations to regulate avaricious transportation companies.
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Rail Workers Warn Safety Bill Loopholes Are Big Enough to 'Run a Freight Train Through'
"If the language is not precise, the Class 1 railroads will avoid the scope of the law without violating the law, yet again putting the safety of our members and American communities into harm's way," said one union leader.
Mar 03, 2023
Amid heightened national focus on railway safety in the wake of the East Palestine, Ohio disaster and other recent accidents, one railroad workers' union warned Friday that, while welcome, a bipartisan rail safety bill has "loopholes big enough to operate a 7,000-foot train through."
The Railway Safety Act of 2023—introduced earlier this week by Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.)—is meant to "prevent future train disasters like the derailment that devastated East Palestine."
The legislation would impose limits on freight train lengths—which in some cases currently exceed three miles. The measure was introduced a day after Democratic U.S. Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) put forth a bill that would require the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to impose stricter regulations on trains carrying hazardous materials.
"We welcome greater federal oversight and a crackdown on railroads that seem all too willing to trade safety for higher profits," Eddie Hall, national president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), said in a statement.
While BLET appreciates that Brown's bill includes language stipulating that "no freight train may be operated without a two-person crew consisting of at least one appropriately qualified and certified conductor and one appropriately qualified and certified locomotive engineer," the union warned of "significant" exceptions in the proposal. For example, the bill as currently written would only apply to operations on long-distance freight trains.
BLET said it "will seek changes to the wording of the two-person crew language to tighten the loopholes."
"If the language is not precise, the Class 1 railroads will avoid the scope of the law without violating the law, yet again putting the safety of our members and American communities into harm's way," Hall argued. "You can run a freight train through the loopholes."
In 2015, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and the Federal Railroad Administration finalized a rule requiring the installation of electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) braking systems on trains carrying hazardous materials.
Corporate lobbyists subsequently pressed the Obama administration to water down the rule, which was repealed entirely during the Trump administration's regulatory rollback spree.
Current U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has not made reinstating the ECP rule a priority. Instead, DOT regulators are considering a proposal backed by the Association of American Railroads, an industry lobby group, that would reduce brake testing. Five major rail unions including BLET strongly oppose the proposal.
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To Prevent More 'Catastrophic Derailments,' Rail Workers Outline Plan for Immediate Reforms
"We demand that the railroad be run safely, efficiently, and professionally, and not as some 'cash cow' for Wall Street investors and billionaires," said one union leader. "Much of what is wrong with the rail industry today can be fixed easily and quickly."
Feb 24, 2023
Three weeks after the lives of East Palestine, Ohio residents were upended by a fiery wreck involving a Norfolk Southern-owned train overloaded with hazardous materials, rail union leaders on Friday implored federal regulators and lawmakers to "focus on the primary reasons for the derailment and take immediate action to prevent future disasters."
In a statement, Railroad Workers United (RWU) pointed to the National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) newly published preliminary report on the February 3 crash and subsequent burnoff of vinyl chloride and other carcinogenic chemicals, which suggests that an overheated wheel bearing likely caused the train to derail. The inter-union alliance of rail workers also cited NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy, who said Thursday at a press conference: "This was 100% preventable. We call things accidents—there is no accident. Every single event that we investigate is preventable."
RWU, which has previously highlighted how industry-led deregulation and Wall Street-backed policies such as "precision-scheduled railroading" have made the U.S. rail system more dangerous, said Friday that "Class 1 freight rail carriers, including Norfolk Southern, have prioritized profits over safety, cutting maintenance, equipment inspections, and personnel in all crafts while increasing the average train size to three miles or more."
In the words of RWU co-chair Gabe Christenson: "Railroad workers experience firsthand every day the dangers inherent in this style of railroading. It has impacted their safety and health, state of mind, and lives on and off the job."
"Limits on train lengths and weights are necessary to prevent catastrophic derailments."
Jason Doering, general secretary of RWU, echoed Christenson's message, saying: "Every day we go to work, we have serious concerns about preventing accidents like the one that occurred in Ohio. As locomotive engineers, conductors, signal maintainers, car inspectors, track workers, dispatchers, machinists, and electricians, we experience the reality that our jobs are becoming increasingly dangerous due to insufficient staffing, inadequate maintenance, and a lack of oversight and inspection."
"We recognize," Doering added, "that limits on train lengths and weights are necessary to prevent catastrophic derailments."
One week ago, RWU made the case for nationalization, arguing that the U.S. "can no longer afford private ownership of the railroads; the general welfare demands that they be brought under public ownership."
In the absence of such sweeping transformation, which remains far-off given the current state of the beleaguered U.S. labor movement, the alliance on Friday demanded that federal agencies and Congress move quickly to "rein in" Norfolk Southern and other profit-maximizing rail corporations that have fought regulations, laid off workers, and purchased billions of dollars in stock rather than investing in employees and safety upgrades.
Specifically, RWU called on regulators and lawmakers to:
- Ensure sufficient staffing to do the job properly, efficiently, and safely, with all trains operating with a minimum of a two-person crew;
- Cap train length and weight at a reasonable level to mitigate the increased likelihood of breakdowns, train separations, and derailments;
- Implement adequate and proper maintenance and inspections of locomotives and rail cars, tracks and signals, wayside detectors, and other infrastructure; and
- Standardize ample training and time off without the harassment of draconian attendance policies.
Of these measures, only a proposed rule to require two-person crews—described by RWU as loophole-ridden—was included in the blueprint the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) unveiled Tuesday to hold rail companies accountable and protect the well-being of workers and fenceline communities.
The DOT also encouraged rail carriers to voluntarily provide sick leave. Norfolk Southern—facing intense scrutiny and backlash amid the ongoing East Palestine disaster—agreed Wednesday to provide up to a week of paid sick leave per year to roughly 3,000 track maintenance workers.
But because the Biden administration and Congress recently imposed a contract without paid sick leave on rail workers who were threatening to strike, the vast majority still lack this basic lifesaving benefit, as do millions of private sector workers in other industries who are also awaiting legislation to address the issue.
Characterizing the DOT's plan as inadequate, RWU said Tuesday that "rank-and-file railroad workers can diagnose and fix the problems" and urged U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to enact "some of our solutions."
RWU treasurer Hugh Sawyer reiterated that call on Friday.
"We demand that the railroad be run safely, efficiently, and professionally, and not as some 'cash cow' for Wall Street investors and billionaires," said Sawyer. "Much of what is wrong with the rail industry today can be fixed easily and quickly by acting on what is outlined above. We demand action NOW."
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NTSB Report Suggests Overheated Wheel Bearing May Have Derailed Toxic Train in Ohio
The preliminary report came as U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg—under pressure to boost rail safety rules—visited East Palestine, the site of the Norfolk Southern train derailment.
Feb 23, 2023
Federal investigators on Thursday released a highly anticipated preliminary report about the February 3 derailment of a train carrying hazardous materials in East Palestine, Ohio, where residents are now worried about health and environmental effects.
Norfolk Southern Railway's (NS) train 32N featured two head-end locomotives, a distributed power locomotive, and 149 railcars—20 of which were transporting combustible liquids as well as flammable liquids and gas, including vinyl chloride.
Thirty-eight cars derailed, including 11 containing hazardous materials "that subsequently ignited, fueling fires that damaged an additional 12 non-derailed railcars," according to the new National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report. Amid fears of an explosion, crews conducted a "controlled venting of the five vinyl chloride tank cars."
While the release of hazardous materials and its short- and long-term impacts on residents and the region have garnered national attention—and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this week ordered Norfolk Southern to pay for cleaning up contaminated soil and water—the NTSB's four-page report has put focus on a potential cause of the derailment: a wheel bearing failure.
Citing Allan Zarembski, director of the Railway Engineering and Safety Program at the University of Delaware, The Washington Post reported Thursday that "an overheated bearing is perhaps the most common cause of a failed axle in a derailment."
"In recent years," the newspaper added, "railroads—including Norfolk Southern—have added sensors on tracks that measure the temperature of bearings to determine whether overheating could pose a derailment risk."
Train 32N, which Norfolk Southern workers say they knew was unsafe, passed three hot bearing detector (HBD) systems—designed to detect overheating and provide audible real-time warnings to crews—before it derailed, the NTSB report says. At milepost 79.9, the suspect bearing from car 23 was 38°F above ambient temperature; at milepost 69.01, it was 103°F; at milepost 49.81, it was 253°F.
NS crews are supposed to stop and inspect potential problems when alerts indicate that there is "a difference between bearings on the same axle greater than or equal to 115°F," or there is a bearing between 170°F and 200°F, the publication notes. If the recorded temperature is greater than 200°F, the instruction is to "set out" the railcar.
In this case, the HBD system at milepost 49.81 "transmitted a critical audible alarm message instructing the crew to slow and stop the train to inspect a hot axle," the document details. "The train engineer increased the dynamic brake application to further slow and stop the train. During this deceleration, an automatic emergency brake application initiated, and train 32N came to a stop."
"After the train stopped, the crew observed fire and smoke and notified the Cleveland East dispatcher of a possible derailment," the report continues. "With dispatcher authorization, the crew applied handbrakes to the two railcars at the head of the train, uncoupled the head-end locomotives, and moved the locomotives about 1 mile from the uncoupled railcars. Responders arrived at the derailment site and began response efforts."
In addition to outlining the evidence collected from the scene, the NTSB document stresses that the investigation is ongoing:
Investigators examined railroad equipment and track conditions; reviewed data from the signal system, wayside defect detectors, local surveillance cameras, and the lead locomotive's event recorder and forward-facing and inward-facing image recorders; and completed interviews. NTSB investigators identified and examined the first railcar to derail, the 23rd railcar in the consist. Surveillance video from a local residence showed what appeared to be a wheel bearing in the final stage of overheat failure moments before the derailment. The wheel bearing and affected wheelset have been collected as evidence and will be examined by the NTSB. The vinyl chloride tank car top fittings, including the relief valves, were also removed and examined by the NTSB on scene. The top fittings will be shipped to Texas for testing under the direction of the NTSB.
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) national president Eddie Hall said in a statement Thursday that the union has been assisting the NTSB in its investigation, which will continue, and though an agreement with the board limits some of what he can say today, the former locomotive engineer wanted to emphasize a few points not included in the report.
"First, we were very fortunate this time that there were three crew members on this train," Hall said. "They were able to respond to the emergency, uncouple the locomotives from the train cars, and take other action. If this had been a train operated by one crew member it may have taken longer to react to the fire caused by the failure of the bearings, axles, and other mechanical items. It's not unusual for things to go wrong on trains and sometimes many things. This is why it is important to have experienced engineers and conductors onboard. But, despite running ever longer trains that routinely carry hazardous materials, railroad CEOs have pushed for having only one person on the train and to even use remotely-operated trains. This is a serious mistake."
"Second, the railroads and their trade association, the Association of American Railroads (AAR), employ armies of lobbyists on Capitol Hill who are there not to promote safety regulations but to slow the implementation of federal safety regulations or attempt to eliminate them altogether. Over the past two decades, they have spent nearly a half billion dollars lobbying Congress," he continued. "In the absence of federal requirements, it's important to note that the railroads will continue to self-regulate."
"The railroads have opposed any government regulation on train length; they have sought waivers to eliminate having trained inspectors monitor rail cars; and they have pushed back on the train crew staffing rule," he added. "Already, the AAR and the railroads are pushing back against attempts to learn from this derailment... Now is the time to toughen regulations on America's railroads to keep both railroad workers and the communities our members operate through safe."
The report was put out as U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited East Palestine—the day after an appearance there from former President Donald Trump, who is seeking the GOP's 2024 presidential nomination and whose administration rolled backback Obama-era rail safety regulations.
Buttigieg's trip to the Ohio town also followed the Tuesday release of a U.S. Department of Transportation's plan to hold rail companies accountable and protect workers and affected communities—a plan which, as Common Dreams reported, has "too many holes," according to Railroad Workers United.
Politico noted that Buttigieg on Thursday morning addressed why he had not visited the town sooner.
"What I tried to do is balance two things: My desire to be involved and engaged and on the ground—which is how I’m generally wired to act—and my desire to follow the norm of Transportation secretaries, allowing NTSB to really lead the initial stages of the public-facing work," he said. "I'll do some thinking about whether I got that balance right, but I think the most important thing is first of all making sure the residents here have what they need."
This post has been updated with comment from the BLET.
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As Trump Visits East Palestine, Critics Say 'He Should Be Apologizing' for Safety Rollbacks
"If residents of East Palestine... truly knew the reality, a delegation of townsfolk would likely greet Trump with tiki torches and pitchforks," wrote one commentator.
Feb 22, 2023
Ahead of former President Donald Trump's Wednesday visit to East Palestine, Ohio—where a Norfolk Southern-owned train transporting carcinogenic chemicals derailed on February 3, prompting a mass evacuation and release of pollutants—progressive critics highlighted the key role his administration played in making the fiery crash and its toxic aftermath more likely.
During his speech, Trump—considered a leading GOP presidential candidate for 2024 despite spearheading a deadly coup attempt following his 2020 loss—criticized how President Joe Biden's administration has responded to the environmental and public health disaster unfolding in East Palestine, a poor rural town of about 4,700 people located a few miles west of the Pennsylvania border.
But as critics noted beforehand, the Trump administration's gutting of train safety rules at the behest of railroad industry lobbyists was instrumental in creating the conditions for the derailment and ensuing chemical spill and burnoff, which has provoked fears of groundwater contamination and air pollution.
"He should be apologizing to that community for his administration rolling back rail regulations," progressive stalwart Nina Turner, a former Ohio state senator, tweeted prior to Trump's address.
Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch made a similar point in an opinion piece published earlier this week.
"If residents of East Palestine—a modern news desert of downsized or disappeared news sources, which allows misinformation to fester—truly knew the reality, a delegation of townsfolk would likely greet Trump with tiki torches and pitchforks," Bunch wrote, comparing the former president's visit to "the tendency of a criminal to return to the scene of his crime."
Bunch noted that "Trump acted specifically to sabotage a nascent government effort to protect citizens from the growing threat posed by derailments of outdated, poorly equipped, and undermanned freight trains that were increasingly shipping both highly flammable crude oil from the U.S. fracking boom as well as toxic chemicals like the ones that would derail in East Palestine."
"Trump had been in office for less than a year when he moved to kill the 2015 rule change initiated by the Obama administration that would have required freight trains to upgrade the current braking technology that was developed in the 19th century for state-of-the-art electronic systems," wrote Bunch, who pointed out that this came after Norfolk Southern and other rail carriers donated more than $6 million to Republican candidates in 2016 and spent millions more on lobbying.
"With the investigation into the East Palestine wreck still in its early phases, it's not clear if the modern brakes—originally required for installation by 2021—could have prevented the toxic derailment or whether the specific Obama rule would have applied," Bunch continued. "But experts do believe the new brakes could have mitigated the wreckage—and thus the release of so many hazardous chemicals."
"The rule reversal wasn't the only time that Team Trump sided with Big Rail over the forgotten Americans who live on the wrong side of their tracks," he added. "In 2019, for example, the Trump administration moved to not strengthen but relax regulations on shipping fracked natural gas through communities like East Palestine. The same year, Trump's White House also killed an Obama-era proposal that would have required two crew members in freight-train locomotives."
"The Trump approach to the rail industry was to let the companies do what they wanted, which was to avoid regulations, slash jobs, and extract profit."
Ahead of Trump's visit, More Perfect Union also argued on social media that the ex-president's "attempt to portray himself as a friend of the town and as someone who would have stood up to Norfolk Southern... couldn't be further from the truth."
As the progressive media outlet observed, the Trump administration "withdrew multiple rail safety recommendations and moved toward a 'self-regulatory approach' where rail companies could do as they pleased."
"It's no surprise that the Trump years were filled with dangerous deregulation," More Perfect Union asserted, describing his decision to nominate top rail industry executives to lead the Federal Railroad Administration and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration as "a prime example of the revolving door between business and government."
"The Trump approach to the rail industry was to let the companies do what they wanted, which was to avoid regulations, slash jobs, and extract profit," the outlet continued. "This approach, and rail companies' greed, has led to over 1,000 derailments each year. Some are massive catastrophes like East Palestine. But every single one is harmful. And if the industry isn't regulated and forced to change, we'll soon be seeing more disasters."
When Trump "pretends to care about rail workers, or the people of East Palestine, we can't believe him," More Perfect Union added. "His record tells a very different story, the story of his own role in creating this problem in the first place."
Even some conservative critics of Trump have questioned the sincerity of his visit.
"It's clear that it's a political stunt," Ray LaHood, a Republican ex-member of Congress who led the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) during former President Barack Obama's first term, told Politico on Wednesday. "If he wants to visit, he's a citizen. But clearly his regulations and the elimination of them, and no emphasis on safety, is going to be pointed out."
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) wasted little time in doing exactly that, calling the GOP's indignation "fake" soon after Trump announced his travel plans.
Bunch acknowledged that "it's beyond hypocritical for Trump to bring his Harold Hill-huckster shtick to East Palestine when residents are still experiencing headaches and breathing foul air from the kind of catastrophe he didn't lift a finger to stop from the Resolute Desk."
"But also it's a bit baffling why Biden or his Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg—who seems to be channeling his inner McKinsey & Co. these days—haven't gone to Ohio," he argued. "Especially when Trump and any other Republicans hoping to make political hay off of East Palestine's misery are coming to town empty-handed."
"None of the anti-Biden critics on this issue have offered a solution, because they can't," wrote Bunch. "The only fix for the kind of runaway abuses of modern capitalism that cause these environmental catastrophes is government regulation, aided by empowering worker safety with strong unions—two things that the Trump-led GOP has opposed at every turn."
Even in the wake of the disaster, Republican lawmakers have refused to demand stronger regulations, as HuffPost reported:
Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio), a vocal Biden critic who represents East Palestine, on Tuesday dismissed immediate calls for stricter rail regulations, saying actions toward accountability will hinge on the findings of a National Transportation Safety Board [NTSB] investigation into the derailment.
"That will dictate whether there are laws, regulations that need to be changed, whether there were rules that were violated," he said during a news conference in East Palestine. "We don't know any of that yet, and we won't know that until NTSB releases its report."
Hours before Trump spoke, Buttigieg announced that he plans to travel to East Palestine on Thursday. His visit is expected to coincide with the publication of the NTSB's preliminary report about its ongoing probe into the crash.
"Trump and any other Republicans hoping to make political hay off of East Palestine's misery are coming to town empty-handed."
On Tuesday, Buttigieg unveiled DOT's recommendations for improving the safety of the nation's rail system, though an inter-union alliance of rail workers immediately criticized the plan as inadequate.
Given the scale of the problems—and in light of the transportation secretary's ongoing refusal to exercise his authority to reinstate previously gutted rules along with his consideration of an industry-backed proposal to further weaken the regulation of train braking systems—union leaders have called for nationalizing the railways and implementing their proposed solutions.
Turner, for her part, emphasized that she has "been outspoken about the two years the Biden administration had [to] fix these problems."
"The Trump administration is at fault, as is the Obama administration," Turner contended, referring to the fact that the latter's regulations were also watered down in response to industry pressure.
"The Ohio GOP is to blame as well," she added, echoing recent reporting on Norfolk Southern's campaign to influence state-level lawmakers and officials. "Failure at every level of government and multiple administrations led to this."
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Biden Implored to Avert 'Carbon Bomb' by Blocking Texas Gulf Oil Terminals
"It's hypocritical for the Biden administration to allow these things to get built and then say the U.S. wants to decrease its own emissions," said one climate campaigner.
Feb 21, 2023
The Biden administration's plan to potentially allow four new oil terminals along the Texas Gulf Coast would unleash a "carbon bomb" potentially equivalent to three years of all U.S. emissions and belie President Joe Biden's stated intent to "act boldly on climate," according to an analysis published on Tuesday.
The analysis—which was conducted for The Guardian by Global Energy Monitor, a San Francisco-based NGO that tracks fossil fuel projects around the world—found that if all four terminals are built and operate at full capacity for their expected 30-year lifespan, they will generate a staggering 24 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases.
According to The Guardian:
The federal government has already quietly approved the Sea Port Oil Terminal project, a proposed offshore oil platform located 35 miles off the Texas coast, south of Houston, and will decide whether to allow three other nearby oil terminal proposals. Combined, the four terminals would expand U.S. oil exports by nearly seven million barrels every day, handling the capacity of half of all current national oil exports.
"The amount of oil going through these projects, and the resulting emissions, are pretty astounding," said Global Energy Monitor analyst Baird Langenbrunner.
Sea Port Oil Terminal (STOP), the largest of the projects, would produce an estimated seven billion metric tons of annual greenhouse emissions, followed by Bluewater Texas (6.7 billion metric tons), Blue Marlin (6.6 billion), and Texas GulfLink (3.8 billion). In 2019, U.S. emissions totaled 6.6 billion metric tons, according to the analysis.
"Even if the emissions are a bit lower... we are fast-forwarding ourselves to the date where we have to stop completely emitting," said Langenbrunner. "Any extra emissions are in direct conflict with climate goals and it's hypocritical for the Biden administration to allow these things to get built and then say the U.S. wants to decrease its own emissions."
SPOT was approved by the Biden administration last November over the strong objections of climate, environmental, and other campaigners. As currently planned, the project would consist of several pipelines—the longest of them 50 miles long—storage tanks, and a deepwater oil export platform.
Last month, green and community groups sued the U.S. Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration (MARAD) over its approval of SPOT.
"Licensing SPOT exclusively serves the fossil fuel industry's goal of extracting every last drop of oil from the Permian Basin, while failing the communities and ecosystems of the Gulf, our nation, and global climate," Devorah Ancel, a senior attorney at the Sierra Club—one of the groups filing the suit— said at the time.
"Considering the administration's stated commitment to 'tackle the climate crisis,' it is particularly troubling that MARAD's review of SPOT's environmental and community impacts entirely fails to account for the project's significant contributions to climate change," Ancel added, "including impacts from excessive greenhouse gas pollution that will push temperatures higher in the Houston area and disrupt global climate."
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'Too Many Holes': Rail Workers Say Buttigieg Plan of Action Is Not Enough
"Rank-and-file railroad workers can diagnose and fix the problems. We will believe Pete Buttigieg is serious when he starts talking about public ownership of critical railroad infrastructure and enacting some of our solutions."
Feb 21, 2023
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg's newly unveiled plan to improve railroad safety is inadequate, an inter-union alliance of rail workers declared Tuesday.
The U.S. Department of Transportation's (USDOT) blueprint for holding rail corporations accountable and protecting the well-being of workers and affected communities comes after a Norfolk Southern-owned train overloaded with vinyl chloride and other carcinogenic chemicals crashed in East Palestine, Ohio on February 3, precipitating a toxic spill and fire that has sparked fears of air pollution and groundwater contamination.
In contrast to the hundreds of U.S. derailments that go largely unnoticed each year, the unfolding environmental and public health disaster on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border has helped expose the dangerous consequences of the Wall Street-driven transformation and deregulation of the freight rail industry—a long-standing process intensified by the Trump administration and so far unchallenged by the Biden administration.
"Profit and expediency must never outweigh the safety of the American people," Buttigieg—who has yet to exercise his authority to restore previously gutted rules and was mulling an industry-backed proposal to further weaken federal oversight of train braking systems as recently as February 10, according to The Lever—said Tuesday in a statement.
"We at USDOT are doing everything in our power to improve rail safety," said Buttigieg, "and we insist that the rail industry do the same—while inviting Congress to work with us to raise the bar."
USDOT called on Norfolk Southern and other rail carriers to "provide proactive advance notification to state emergency response teams when they are transporting hazardous gas tank cars through their states instead of expecting first responders to look up this information after an incident occurs" and to "provide paid sick leave," among other things.
The department also urged Congress to increase how much it can penalize companies for safety violations, noting that "the current maximum fine, even for an egregious violation involving hazardous materials and resulting in fatalities, is $225,455." As Buttigieg tweeted, "This is not enough to drive changes at a multibillion-dollar company like Norfolk Southern."
Finally, USDOT committed to strengthening its regulation of the rail industry by "advancing the train crew staffing rule, which will require a minimum of two crew members for most railroad operations," and by "initiating a focused safety inspection program on routes over which high-hazard flammable trains (HHFTs) and other trains carrying large volumes of hazardous material travel," among other proposals.
"Each of these steps," the agency said, "will enhance rail safety in the United States."
But according to Railroad Workers United (RWU), which focused in particular on the issue of train crew staffing, "there are too many holes" in Buttigieg's plan to ensure the safety of the nation's rail system.
"As currently written, the proposed rule could allow for numerous instances of single-crew operations in the coming years," RWU tweeted. The alliance also shared a letter it sent to USDOT last September accusing the Federal Railroad Administration of "attempting to placate unions, community groups, and the general public on the one hand with a 'two-person train crew rule' while, on the other hand, signaling a green light to the industry to run trains with a single crew member."
The U.S. endures more than 1,000 train derailments per year and has seen a 36% increase in hazardous materials violations committed by rail giants in the past five years.
After another Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous materials derailed last week near Detroit, Michigan, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) joined RWU in characterizing these daily occurrences as predictable—and preventable—outcomes of cost-cutting and profit-maximizing policies pushed by rail industry bosses and financial investors.
Given the scale of the problems and the slow pace and limited nature of the rulemaking process, RWU recently implored the U.S. labor movement to support the nationalization of the country's railroad system, arguing that "our nation can no longer afford private ownership of the railroads; the general welfare demands that they be brought under public ownership."
The alliance reiterated that demand on Tuesday, writing on social media that "we will believe Pete Buttigieg is serious when he starts talking about public ownership of critical railroad infrastructure and enacting some of our solutions."
As More Perfect Union noted, the six most "urgent changes" outside of nationalization recommended by RWU to "improve safety and stop the railroads' worst excesses and abuses" include:
- Preserve the standard two-person crews;
- Restrictions on train length;
- Adequate time off for rail workers to mitigate fatigue;
- Proper staffing levels to allow work to be done safely and efficiently;
- Equip all railcars and trains with electrically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes; and
- Implement safety programs that pinpoint hazards, not worker behaviors.
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) national president Eddie Hall, meanwhile, said in a statement that Buttigieg "is correct in saying that 'a healthy and well-supported workforce is a safer workforce.'"
"It's outrageous that 79% of the American public employed in the private sector receive paid sick leave benefits but not locomotive engineers and conductors, the essential workers who keep the supply chain operating," said Hall. "Many of our union's general chairmen are currently in talks with the railroads about correcting this safety lapse and injustice."
The Biden administration and Congress recently imposed a contract without paid sick leave on rail workers who were threatening to strike, and federal lawmakers have refused to pass legislation extending the lifesaving benefit to the millions of workers who lack it nationwide.
While Hall praised Buttigieg for saying that "profit and expediency must never outweigh the safety of the American people," the union leader lamented that the transportation secretary "didn't say anything specifically about 'PSR,' the operating model adopted by the nation's largest railroads designed to cut corners and boost profits."
"I assure you the 'S' in PSR is not about safety," said Hall. "Under PSR or Precision Scheduled Railroading, which in itself is an oxymoron, the railroads have cut the workforce by nearly a third over the past six years. They have reduced the number of thorough inspections of rail cars, along with other service cuts. Under the PSR model the largest railroads have lengthened trains to as long as three miles from end to end and intentionally slowed the supply chain."
"Railroads largely self-regulate and PSR has led to irresponsible practices at the cost of safety," he added. "It needs to be eliminated or reformed."
The National Transportation Safety Board is currently investigating the cause of the derailment in East Palestine. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday ordered Norfolk Southern to pay for all associated cleanup work.
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Threatening Legal Action, Groups Call On Buttigieg to Ensure Ohio Toxic Train Crash Is Last of Its Kind
"It should not take another exploding train to get DOT's attention."
Feb 17, 2023
With progressive lawmakers and rail workers condemning the profit-driven railway scheduling policies that employees say are to blame for the February 3 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, environmental advocates on Friday called on the U.S. Department of Transportation to reinstate safety rules to prevent similar crashes.
Representing Waterkeeper Alliance, Sierra Club, Riverkeeper, Washington Conservation Action, and Stand, environmental law group Earthjustice wrote to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, demanding a response to an administrative appeal the organizations originally put forward in 2018, after the agency repealed electronic braking system requirements for trains carrying hazardous material.
After the Trump administration repealed the rule—with the strong support of rail companies including Norfolk Southern, the operator of the train that crashed in East Palestine—the groups warned that the Department of Transportation (DOT) had not conducted mandatory safety tests and did not allow the public to provide input into the change.
Following more than four years of "silence" from the federal government, including the Biden administration, the groups wrote, it has taken "a tragedy... to turn attention to this issue again."
"The Biden administration must do everything in its power to protect the people in East Palestine and other rail-adjacent communities from the devastating impacts of train accidents and explosions."
Two weeks after the disaster, the agency "has not moved to reinstate an Obama-era rail safety rule aimed at expanding the use of better braking technology," reported The Lever last week.
"We seek an assurance that the department will provide an expeditious response, albeit long overdue, to our administrative appeal," wrote the groups. "If we do not hear from you with a timeline for such a response, we will consider taking legal action."
Earthjustice's original appeal of the DOT's braking system decision pertained specifically to trains that carry large amounts of crude oil, while the 150-car Norfolk Southern train that crashed in East Palestine, Ohio was carrying hazardous materials including vinyl chloride, which has been linked to liver cancer and other cancers.
During a "controlled release" of chemicals that officials began after the crash to prevent an explosion, the burning of the vinyl chloride sent into the air hydrogen chloride, which can irritate the throat, eyes, and skin; and phosgene, a colorless gas that can cause vomiting and difficulty breathing and was used as a weapon during World War I.
"Railroads crisscross the nation running along our waterfronts, bridging our rivers, and rolling through our neighborhoods," said Sean Dixon, executive director at Puget Soundkeeper. "Reliance on century-old braking technology is unacceptably negligent; the DOT cannot continue to delay modernization of this vital aspect of rail safety. Hazardous, flammable cargos of dangerous chemicals and volatile hydrocarbons present an undeniable threat to public health and the environment—a threat that must be mitigated, immediately."
Since the derailment, East Palestine residents—who have been told by officials that it's safe for them to return to their homes following a brief evacuation—have reported nausea, shortness of breath, dizziness, and headaches.
"It is not clear whether the Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous and cancer-causing chemicals in Ohio would have been covered by DOT's repealed brake system requirement," said Earthjustice. "What is clear, however, is that the agency has failed to require up-to-date, modern brake systems for most trains carrying explosively toxic materials."
As Common Dreams reported Thursday, another train operated by Norfolk Southern derailed outside Detroit. The train was carrying liquid chlorine, but officials said the substance was not near the cars that overturned and a railroad representative told a local NBC affiliate that no hazardous materials were spilled.
"It's troubling that the revised safety regulations clearly do not go far enough to prevent such disasters, and the government's ability to respond and provide essential disclosures to the community is far from adequate," said Devorah Ancel, senior attorney at the Sierra Club. "The Biden administration must do everything in its power to protect the people in East Palestine and other rail-adjacent communities from the devastating impacts of train accidents and explosions."
Earthjustice demanded that Buttigieg take immediate action instead of waiting for yet another accident to endanger a community, where attorney Kristen Boyles noted residents have no control over what chemicals trains that pass through are carrying or what safety measures railroad companies are taking.
"It should not take another exploding train to get DOT's attention," said Boyles. "Communities can't keep trains out, can't get safety measures, can't know what trains are carrying, and yet are left with the human health and environmental problems when there's an accident."
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