Ohio

By Jake Johnson - Common Dreams, November 2, 2023

Web Editor's Note: unfortunately, they didn't.

"The citizens of Cincinnati are at a historical crossroads," wrote one locomotive engineer of Issue 22. "The choice they make could either uphold a legacy of public ownership that has withstood the test of time or cede control to private interests."

Cincinnati voters will decide next Tuesday whether to allow the company responsible for the toxic train crash in East Palestine, Ohio earlier this year to purchase the last remaining municipally owned interstate railroad in the United States.

Norfolk Southern has been working to buy the Cincinnati Southern Railway (CSR) for years, but the effort largely flew under the national radar until one of the company's trains derailed in East Palestine in February 2023, unleashing chemical pollution that sparked major public health concerns and put the small Ohio town in the spotlight.

The wreck brought renewed scrutiny to Norfolk Southern's lax safety procedures, poor treatment of workers, and long history of lobbying against basic regulatory measures, making the hugely profitable corporation a poster child of rail industry greed and dysfunction.

Concerns about Norfolk Southern's practices in the wake of the East Palestine disaster have fueled opposition to the company's proposed $1.6 billion purchase of the CSR, which has been in public hands since its construction in the late 1800s.

The unelected Cincinnati board of trustees that manages the 338-mile CSR and the city's Democratic mayor announced and celebrated the proposed sale last November, setting the stage for the November 7 vote on Issue 22.

Cincinnati Interfaith Workers Center organizer Magda Orlander toldIn These Times on Wednesday that public opposition to the proposed sale has been "snowballing" since early voting began in early October. The grassroots group Derail the Sale has formed in opposition to Issue 22 and a number of local organizations, including the Cincinnati NAACP and Neighborhoods United Cincinnati, have joined the fight.

By Edward Carver - Common Dreams, June 26, 2024

The chair of the National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday condemned Norfolk Southern for interfering with its investigation into last year's East Palestine train crash and the "vent and burn" of harmful chemicals that followed.

The remarks came at the final NTSB hearing on the disaster, in which the agency released a preliminary report—damning to Norfolk Southern and its contractors—from a 17-month investigation. NTSB officials explained that a decision to intentionally burn vinyl chloride, a carcinogen, from five derailed train cars was flawed and resulted from the company's selective sharing of information with officials at the time.

Norfolk Southern's uncooperative approach didn't stop after the vent-and-burn, according to the NTSB. Throughout the investigation, the company delayed or avoided sharing information, sought to "manufacture" evidence, and even issued a "threat" to agency staff, Jennifer Homendy, the NTSB chair, said.

"Norfolk Southern's abuse of the party process was unprecedented and reprehensible," Homendy said, also describing it as "unconscionable."

She praised NTSB investigators "for their fortitude in the face of mounting pressure, for their laser focus on the facts."

By Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco - Grist, June 24, 2024

On February 3, 2023, a freight train owned by Norfolk Southern carrying thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals derailed in the town of East Palestine, Ohio. For days, flames engulfed the rail cars, which contained highly hazardous materials, including vinyl chloride and butyl acrylate, used in the production of plastic. A thick, tall plume of black smoke billowed from the accident site and forced the evacuation of thousands of residents. Now, scientists say that traces of this pollution was found across 16 states, spanning 540,000 square miles from Wisconsin to Maine to South Carolina.

“Everybody expected a local contamination issue,” said David Gay, coordinator of the National Atmospheric Deposition Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and lead author of the new study. “But I think what most people don’t understand about this fire is how big it was and how wide-ranging the implications are.”

Gay and his colleagues tracked the pollution from the fire by testing rain and snow samples from approximately 260 sites across the country in the two weeks following the derailment. The analysis, published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, estimates that the fire in eastern Ohio impacted about 14 percent of U.S. land area and one-third of the country’s population, or 110 million people. 

Across these areas, researchers recorded some of the highest soil pHs, or alkaline soil, and levels of chloride ions in the past decade following the fire in East Palestine. Gay said that the elevated measurements documented during the two-week spike, while certainly unusual, were not dangerous. “It was jumping out like a red light,” said Gay. “I never would have guessed it would have been in Wisconsin, no way in hell.” 

By Julie Grant - Allegheny Front, June 21, 2024

After a train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, last year, and chemicals were released throughout the community, the National Transportation Safety Board investigated what happened and why. 

The agency will hold a meeting on Tuesday to vote on its findings. One major issue is whether Norfolk Southern provided all relevant information to decision-makers as the disaster unfolded. 

What happened?

The Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine on February 3, 2023, a Friday night, and fires flared up from the smoldering tank cars through the weekend. 

A Unified Incident Command quickly formed. It included Norfolk Southern, emergency responders, Ohio governor Mike DeWine, and was led by East Palestine Fire Chief Keith Drabick. 

That Monday, Drabick stood behind the governor at a press conference, as DeWine explained why he and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro were issuing mandatory evacuation orders for residents in a one-by-two miles radius around the derailment site, more than 2,000 people.

“The vinyl chloride contents of five rail cars are currently unstable and could potentially explode, causing deadly disbursement of shrapnel and toxic fumes,” DeWine said. 

He then pointed at a map with a red circle outlining a one-mile radius around the derailment site: “Those in the red area, those in the red area are facing grave danger of death. Those in the orange area are at severe risk of injury, including skin burns and severe lung damage.” 

By staff - FracTracker Alliance, June 5, 2024

Key Findings

• The DOE’s lack of transparency about ARCH2 prevents meaningful public feedback, leaving communities uninformed and unable to engage in decision-making.
• Hydrogen blending raises safety concerns due to hydrogen embrittlement, potentially affecting pipelines, valves, and household appliances.
• Reliance on carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology introduces risks like subsurface carbon dioxide migration, posing threats to nearby communities.
• Fracking for methane can lead to groundwater contamination, air pollution, and health effects for nearby communities.
• While promising temporary jobs, ARCH2 is unlikely to generate significant long-term employment, potentially extending reliance on coal and gas industries and contributing to job and population loss.

Overview

The Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2) project is a major initiative of the U.S. Department of Energy aimed at developing a hydrogen economy in the Appalachian region. However, despite promises of significant advancement in clean energy and economic growth, the project presents substantial risks to the environment and human health and safety.

This article is based on comments submitted to the Department of Energy (DOE) by FracTracker Alliance regarding the hub’s potential environmental, health, and economic impacts on local communities, including the lack of transparency from the DOE, the dangers associated with hydrogen blending, underground gas migration risks, and the impacts of continued reliance on fossil fuel extraction.

By Reid Frazier - Alleghany Front, May 30, 2024

A coalition of community and environmental groups is calling on the Department of Energy to suspend talks with a hydrogen hub in Appalachia and disclose more information about the project.

The Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub, or ARCH2, was one of seven “clean hydrogen hubs” awarded by the Department of Energy last year. 

“Very little information has been shared, and the concerns have only continued to be raised by the public,” says Tom Torres, hydrogen campaign coordinator for the Ohio River Valley Institute, which wrote a letter to the agency outlining its complaints.

The hub is a consortium of companies, governments and nonprofits that will produce hydrogen from natural gas. The DOE awarded the hub up to $925 million to produce “low-carbon” hydrogen. 

But how it will do this, and where companies will build these projects, remains unclear, Torres said. 

The groups are asking the hub to disclose information like site locations for the hydrogen projects involved in ARCH 2, as well as track records of developers associated with them. They also want community groups to be involved in negotiations, planning, construction and operation of the hub. 

“[T]he Department has done little to establish the necessary conditions for ‘deep, deep partnership,’” according to the letter, which was signed by the Ohio River Valley Institute and 54 other groups. (Ohio River Valley Institute is supported by The Heinz Endowments, which also funds The Allegheny Front.)

The letter adds that the agency has offered “scant” public information about the project: “[L]ittle more than four approximate, selectively designed, preliminary maps…and project descriptions as short as three words — and no substantive opportunity to shape this proposal while negotiations continue behind closed doors,”

Jill Hunkler, executive director of Ohio Valley Allies, a community group, said in a statement that “even the most basic details” of the project are lacking. 

“Impacted communities deserve to be informed and have their voices included in the negotiation phase,” Hunkler said. “How can we take this process seriously when the DOE has yet to answer the questions presented to them by concerned citizens in our region?”

Announced last year, the hydrogen hubs were meant to kick start a low-carbon hydrogen network around the country. When used for energy, hydrogen emits no carbon dioxide. But making hydrogen from natural gas – the most common way it is manufactured – produces carbon dioxide emissions. ARCH2 developers have said they may use carbon capture technology to store those emissions and, in the process, create 21,000 jobs. 

By Steve Zeltser, Jami Ray Wallace, and Chris Albright - Labor Video Project, April 12, 2024

By Nicole Fabricant and Steve Zeltser - Labor Video Project, March 30, 2024

By Steve Zeltser, et. al. - Labor Video Project, March 28, 2024

By Chris Albright, et. al - Labor Video Project, March 26, 2024