So, if you’re like me, you have questions about East Palestine, Ohio and its residents. If you’re like me, you may be a bit dubious about exactly how necessary it was to explode a cloud of chlorine gas over a small border town. If you’re like me, there’s a part of you that wonders—just a little bit—whether this controlled explosion was absolutely necessary or whether it was just the fastest and cheapest way to get the trains rolling again.
Now, as I said in last week’s episode, I’m going to stick with the facts. I’m going to stick with the publicly available data from sources that are as reputable and broadly accepted as we can find. Notice I phrased that last sentence very carefully. There’s no media outlet I trust altogether. There’s no member or branch of government that I trust altogether. There’s no corporation or industry I trust altogether. But the reality is that we DO have to get journalism from somewhere and you have to pick your poison and cross reference major media with independent media with independent experts in certain topics. Frankly, it would be the cat’s meow if we could just trust one of the 3-letter-networks. But I think that unwise.
But the dubious of their truthfulness doesn’t mean that the major media outlets aren’t going to be the most well-funded and broadly accepted groups that are going to have the easiest access to the power players. But that’s a whole ‘nother story that we’ll have to talk about another day.
Because when it comes to the East Palestine derailment and the (cough) cleanup there are a lot of questions. These questions don’t have easy answers—or maybe not easy answers that the likes of us are ever going to be privy to—but they do have answers. While no one individual may be personally and entirely responsible for what happened, there certainly are people who bear responsibility.
As of the time of recording, it would appear that the best explanation for WHY the train derailed is because of a catastrophic failure on an overheated wheel-bearing. OK. I get it. Wheel bearings wear-out. They are a part that is literally designed to wear out. You wear out the bearing so you don’t wear out the axle.
So, let’s assume that this is true—that there was no skullduggery as some are asserting and which I am not asserting and I don’t believe—let’s just take it at face value that the blown wheel-bearing caused the derailment. OK. A series of questions should follow:
Why did the bearing overheat?
When was the last time the bearing assembly was inspected?
Why was the bearing allowed to overheat to the degree that it caused a derailment?
Because the thing is, bearing failures, according to one study, are the number 3 cause of train derailments, accounting for about 6% of all derailments, and moreover, bearing failure derailments are more common than some other factors in speeds over 25mph—thus they are more likely to be serious accidents than railyard derailments happening under 10mph. Now, since there are about 1,000 derailments a year, and of those, according to older data that we’re assuming is fairly stable, a little over 50% of derailments are on the main rails, and since bearing failures are responsible for about 6% of derailments, we can say that AT MINIMUM there are 30 derailments on the mail lines, per year, due to bearing failure.
Now, maybe you’re saying that that number is acceptably low. I don’t agree. I don’t agree because bearing failure derailments are largely preventable. I’m not saying bearing failure is entirely preventable. I’m saying that bearing failure derailments are largely if not entirely preventable. There is technology that will act as an advanced-warning-system that will alert engineers and others to the danger of a failed bearing, with MORE than enough lead time to replace the bearing. Now, the railways DO have infrared sensors that CAN detect wheel bearing failure. However these sensors are placed up to 20 miles apart and overheat failure can occur within 2 miles. Which to me isn’t a solution, but rather a cheap way of pretending to do something about a problem that you have no intention of actually solving because solving the problem is expensive and hard. And if there’s one thing the railroad industry doesn’t like it’s expensive and hard. There are practical technologies that can be implemented but simply aren’t because, well, it’s expensive!
In fact there are a lot of things that could be done to improve railroad safety. But they’re all expensive. And the simple fact of the matter is that the railroad industry has determined that they would rather pay to clean up the accidents than to prevent them in the first place. Which, to me, sounds like callous disregard for other people.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not a ridiculous person. I understand that just because a safety measure might save 1 life or prevent 1 accident that we should do it. There are things that are ruinously expensive. We could lower the speed limit on trains and heck, we could outlaw trains—but that’s not really a solution to the logistical challenges that this country faces. I know that dollars and cents do matter. But I also know that this is not just a matter of dollars and cents—and it makes no sense to pretend that it is.
Because here’s the thing. If the railroads have the technology and it is economically feasible to implement it and they are choosing not to because it isn’t as profitable as just paying for the cleanup then that is evil.
It’s similar to the question of why the railroads aren’t required to have lights and crossbars at every intersection. Is it expensive? Yes. Do we know that it saves lives? Yes. Why should taxpayers bear that burden? Look into the history of railroads and you’ll see that few people have ever gotten the kind of sweetheart deals that the railroads got. Moreover, the railroads are ludicrously profitable. Back in 2019 they had profitability rates higher than 50%! Just the 7 biggest rail companies in the US and Canada netted over $27B in 2021. I’m guessing that they could have spent some of the $27B putting gates with lights and arms on all the intersections that lack them. According to the Ohio Public Utilities Commission, the average upgrade costs about $200,000. At that rate they could upgrade 135,000 railway crossings. There are only 129,500 public at grade crossings!!! And half of them already have some kind of advanced warning system!
So, if you’re keeping score at home, that means that with one year’s net income the 7 biggest rail companies in America could MORE than pay to upgrade ever single public at grade crossing. Every one of them. Why isn’t this mandated? Why has nothing been done about this?
Money.
Plain and simple.
Money.
Another fun fact for those keeping score at home. When Governor DeWine gave the go-ahead to detonate the vinyl chloride the ignition of vinyl chloride created hydrogen chloride and phosgene gas. If you feel like phosgene is a term you’ve heard before it’s because it is. You’re thinking back to your World History class in 10th grade and remembering that phosgene is one of the names for chlorine gas…that they used…in WWI…to kill people…which was banned by the Geneve Conventions…which is a war-crime to use on people.
But it’s OK, guys, don’t worry, we weren’t dropping chemical weapons on our nations’ enemies, no we’d never do something that evil; we just created a cloud of chlorine gas overtop of a bunch of poor white people. And poor people don’t count anyways, and they ‘specially don’t count if they’re poor whites! We might maybe give a crap about poor non-whites, but naw we ain’t a-gonna shed a tear over that plain white trash, even if Fancy is their name.
Brothers and sisters, I’m not saying that there’s any one person to blame for the derailment. And maybe engaging in an act that would in some circumstances be considered a war-crime REALLY was the safest option because a catastrophic explosion would have been worse. MAYBE, just MAYBE, recapture of those gasses into a refrigerated car to prevent explosion was impossible or impracticable. Maybe. I’m not a chemical engineer. I’m not a hazmat expert.
But I am a man with questions. I want to know how preventable this derailment was. I want to know how necessary the detonation was. I want to know what will be done to make the people of East Palestine and its environs whole. I want to know who will be held responsible if people do develop cancer and die from this. I want to know why the most profitable industry in this country is allowed to continue to ignore improved safety technologies, lay off workers, and reduce safety standards. This isn’t to save the industry! It isn’t cut-corners or no mo choo-choos! No. These are multi-billion dollar concerns that just seem to operate with impunity.
And frankly, the most absurd thing of all of this is that Norfolk Southern has given a ludicrous pittance of money for a disaster cleanup and made vague promises to help to town recover in its press releases, but NS , despite these press releases and promises, seems rather more interested in getting this all over as quickly and cheaply as possible. It frankly astonished me that this town had poison gas released over it because of a train wreck and the people were told to go thoroughly deep clean their homes themselves—from the poison!
I am utterly shocked that officials would have the nerve to tell the residents of East Palestine—and its environs—to just go clean up the poison themselves…you know the poison that Norfolk Southern spilled and the government OKed detonating! But it’s OK everybody, they’re just rural whites, who live in a small border town. They’ll only be relevant for another half a news cycle and then we can just leave their lives and community shattered and move on with makin’ money.
And this is a theological concern. This is something Christians should care about. The Mosaic Law states that we are our brothers’ keepers and Jesus commands us to love our neighbors. You can’t love your neighbor when you are choosing slightly more exorbitant profits over people’s lives—over the lives of entire communities and entire ecosystems!
Friends, brothers, sisters, justice does matter to God. And a nation that will allow some of the wealthiest people in the world to poison a whole community and walk away without making them whole is a perverse, degenerate, and wicked nation. I hope that we’re better than that. I hope Ohio is better than that. I pray that Governor DeWine and Attorney General Yost will use every power at their disposal to ensure that Norfolk Southern pays every last red cent to make this right, not just some phony-balogna clean-up which is just getting the tracks cleared, but that they are paying to fix and repair homes, to purchase new homes, to clean the soil, to replace livestock, to pay for medical care, from now until the last person exposed to this poison is dead and gone or Jesus has returned. Because that’s justice and accountability. That’s how Norfolk Southern makes it right. AND IF and ONLY IF corporations like Norfolk Southern are forced by the state, will they make this right. So, friends, brothers, sisters, get on the phone, type up some emails and let DeWine and Yost and your State Congressional representatives know that Norfolk Southern must make this right. And the railroad industry must be compelled to increase railroad safety. Only that is justice.
Anything less is injustice. Anything less, is legalized theft, and legalized bloodshed. And God has some strong things to say about nations that don’t punish bloodletters and badmen.
I pray our nation, our state, will hold those accountable accountable. As Christians and citizens we ought to join our voices together and make them heard so that the Ohio government knows that the people of Ohio won’t stand for East Palestine being railroaded.