“It’s the same old story: corporations are buying back stock, taking dividends and laying off workers,” Brown said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union. According to him, at the same time, the management of the railways “does not adequately invest in the safety of the trains and of the railway lines themselves”.
Residents of East Palestine, a rural town of fewer than 5,000, are still complaining about the aftermath of a Norfolk Southern corporate train that veered off course and caused an accident on February 3. As a result of the derailment of a 150-car train, chemicals, including vinyl chloride, were spilled over a wide area.
Crews are cleaning up the accident site and the railway has implemented a water, air and soil testing program, according to Alan Shaw, the corporation’s chief executive. The company has set up a $1 million “down payment” fund to help rebuild a community of about 4,800 people, Shaw said.
Senator Brown said “hundreds of millions” of dollars would be needed to help local families test their water and air, pay their bills and rebuild on the ground.
