Posted on 02/15/2023 1:35:00 PM PST by Carriage Hill
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg shifted part of the blame for the recent derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals in Ohio on the Trump administration reversing a little-known safety rule. Buttigieg noted Tuesday evening that his agency had taken a series of steps to improve rail safety through "historic investments," but said it was constrained by the Trump administration action. In 2018, the Department of Transportation (DOT) withdrew a rule proposed three years earlier requiring trains carrying certain dangerous chemicals to utilize electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes, saying the technology's benefits were inconclusive.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
All yours Petey.
More than a year and a half into office, President Joe Biden has not nominated anyone to be administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, or PHMSA, part of the Transportation Department.
Has Buttplug showed up for work yet or is he still on maternity leave ?
LOL.
“Something bad is going on.”
My first thought when I heard about it.
Based on what I’ve read, here’s my understanding of the situation as it relates to ECBs.
There was an initial push during the Obama administration, to increase safety measures, including ECB requirements, for trains carrying large quantities of hazardous chemicals - including the chemicals that were on-board the Ohio train. The Obama administration eventually decided to implement a scaled back version of said regulation by limiting the proposed safety measures to trains carrying crude oil. Therefore, the new safety measures, including the ECB requirement, were never implemented for train’s carrying the kinds of chemicals that spilled in Ohio. As a result, the rescinding of the ECB requirement that occurred under the Trump administration had no effect on trains like the Ohio train, because ECBs were never required for such cargoes in the first place.
I guess blaming the FRA and the DOT is out of the question.
I’m betting that the same exact folks, barring a retirement or two, that were there in 2015 to present, are still there today.
They’re the ones that deal with the railroads. They’re the ones that deal with the lawyers and the lobbyists.
They’re the ones that being information to the President with which he bases any decisions on. I’d be really curious to see the paper trail and the signatures on it.
It’s well known that Congress has abdicated too many of its responsibilities to the agencies. Wonder how that played a role in all of this.
No.
Can’t say what I want to say
Resign, Mayor Pete. That is your only honorable course. You are in way over your head, and you do not even show up to do the job. With all the emphasis on writing ever more regulations about minutiae, the Department of Transportation somehow missed this?
You have been in office two years now, and the transportation infrastructure continues to deteriorate at an accelerating rate.
Maybe let’s NOT be running trains with hazardous materials in greater lengths than can be managed?
Lol!! FR NeverTrumpers most pleased.
His agency had taken a series of steps to improve rail safety through “historic investments.
The train wreck proves the quality of his work.
Biden didn’t have any problem reversing by EO the Keystone……….guess rail regulations didn’t qualify.
A Freeper predicted they would find a way to blame this on Trump yesterday or the day before.
He says that because it passed the blood brain barrier.
There have been over a dozen train derailments in The U.S. in the last six weeks alone. Something bad is going on.
I’ve posted about this on other threads about these things.
Much if this has to do with the current “business models” being implemented by the railroads.
Starting in March 2017, CSX was taken over by an activist hedge fund, which placed Hunter Harrison in charge of the railroad.
His model is/was…fire as many people as we can….make the trains longer and heavier….if you don’t like your job we’ll find someone to replace you.
The rail system/tracks in the IS aren’t designed for longer, heavier trains. One of the reasons for the derailments.
Results at CSX under Harrison, et al??? More derailments. More blocked crossings-sometimes for days since there weren’t enough crews. More injuries. More retirements and folks not being replaced.
They did the same thing to Canadian Northern and Canadian Pacific.
But of course, government caused the problem, government has to fix the problem.
Never are the folks running the railroads into the ground questioned.
This is not about brakes. If the failure was caused by what it appears then this is about other negligence in having an adequet safety system. An Axle should not be sparking and grinding for miles and miles until it breaks. There are to many simple ways to prevent that from happening in this day and age. Cameras, sensors, and none of them really expensive.
lol.. trumps fault.
A. he didn’t make the law
B. he didn’t derail the train
C. he’s been out of office for 2 fricking years
D. didn’t democrats control everything the last 2 years, why didn’t they “fix” the law?
Cameras did catch the sparks and axle fire well before the spill, but no one acted. I saw the film last night on Fox...
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