The company hired by Norfolk Southern has already persuaded 340 residents to sign agreements that reportedly waive their legal rights in the aftermath of Ohio's train crash.
Thank you so much for digging on this abomination. My co worker's husband used to work for Norfolk and says that there is soooooo much corruption. We live in Cincinnati. This matter touches us personally.
I've a dear friend Richard, (changed name to protect him) USED to work for the RailRoad as a yardmaster. He said the RR's are the worst managed industries in the Nation. They are essentially run by Wallstreet. They spent 161 Billion ($161,000,000,000.00) on stock buybacks recently while implementing "Precision Scheduled Railroading" a fancy term that means: barebones crews, no paid time off, hostile work environments, rule by fear, overwork, overbearing pressure, longer more dangerous trains, few places to fix them, no time to fix them, & few mechanics nearby, prosecution & blaming those who bring up safety issues - to the point that you keep your head down - just go along to get along. 90 second per car inspections are what you do instead of industry standard 3 mins per car to catch safety issues & if you point out thats not enough time to do it, you're fired. It is in a state of decay than cannot be fixed until the Wall Street mindset ruling policy is destroyed. This disaster is the fruit of such policies of decay.
ECP Brakes or Electronically Controlled Pneumatic Brakes are available which could have prevented the disaster. Those brakes stop all the cars simultaneously as 1 unit without pileup. Current brakes, brake 1 car at a time from the front while the rest of the train piles up from behind still going at speed mounting pressure, building up from heavy cars & sheer train length behind pushing, crowding & crushing cars in the middle (in this case vinyl chloride tankers) until a derailment ensues. (Those derailed, pierced, leaking tankers could have been pumped out into tanker trucks - but that would take longer) Vynil chloride boils as a poisonous gas at 8 degrees F, not to mention the other tanker cars of other toxic chemicals & vapors & how the leaking ones would interact on the ground, in the air or in the nearby waterways.
What is the lesser of 2 evils?
•Leave it on the ground while waiting for EPA hazmat teams to arrive while further contaminating precious ground & water seriously contaminating the local area intensely like Chernobyl?
•Burn it up in the atmosphere setting it ablaze creating hydrogen Chloride gas (a.k.a. Phosgene - a banned WWI chemical) +other unknown chemical reactions creating a toxic poison soup of chemicals falling down as acid rain on farmlands in WV, KY, TN, PA, OH & all nearby waterways, not to mention those waterways flow to the Mississippi Delta.
Why would any overworked railway worker and/or bought off environmental expert working for the RR risk their lives with a possible explosion or death by poison gases?
Enter: FAST - good - CHEAP Pick 2! Was there another choice?
I don't know. Do you? Please comment.
Trains run on 18th century technology in our 21st century because the corporations bought their regulators as regulators roll onto their backs allowing industry to still run on ball bearing brakes that fail due to friction heat where ball bearings wear out, stall, & then inevitably burst into flame, then the train catches FIRE. When ECP Brakes are available and could be implemented for a very paltry $500,000,000 - 1/2 billion dollars which to the RR industry, is chump change. Compare to their $161 Billion $161,000,000,000 recent stock buyback. 1/2 a billion is less than a 1/2 a 1% of that. .5% would be $805,000,000 cheap bastards could easily afford it.
Greedy Railroad Executives treat their employees like perpetually punished slaves in a hellish communist regime. It is like working for an Abusive Alcoholic husband - that pays decently. Start with a world class Quality team deeply invested in the public welfare they destroyed & caring for their employees by giving them time, training & tools free from Wall St harassment so this never happens again. Finally Relegating "Precision Scheduled Railroading" to the dustbin of history as it is the recipe for Hell on Earth!
I've another set of friends that bought 5 acres of farmland 4 miles from the disaster in OH that closed escrow last Fall to plant crops this Spring. They think everything is OK because the news told them the wind didn't blow on their property, and officials say its all OK. It is mindboggling to think nothing of the initial railcar pileup, vinyl chloride and other toxic chemical tankers being breeched with the deadly contents spilling onto the ground after the first week of February's cold snap, snow, rain and muddy slush everywhere. That toxic brew leeching into nearby creeks killing fish, frogs & fauna before the profoundly idiotic idea of burning everything. I can wrap my head around how profoundly BAD this all is but for locals to believe the Corporate prognostications of "its all OK, you can come back home now, nothing to see here everything is alright." How can you not look at video footage of hazmat teams chemical soaking booms in the creeks soaking up a rainbowish film of oily residue on top of the water with dead fish, frogs and insects everywhere? I just can't fathom how we are even living on the same planet.
Why did all this burn before a soberly reasoned idea could present itself on how best to handle things in the long run for everyone involved, instead of only serving the needs of Norfolk Southern Railroad?
Where is Norfolk Southern Railroad's Safety Manual how to handle the worst possible fiasco?
They wanted this rail line to open up ASAP to keep abundant money flowing - to hell with the townspeople. This is summed up best by Hazardous Materials expert Sil Caggiano:
"We nuked a town just to get a rail line open".
Does this serve We, the People?
Who was weighing out the cost the people of East Palestine OH, and a dozen other states were going to have to pay in health, wealth property? Does Northrup Southern even care?
My friends who bought the land are in their 60's, refugees from Communist CA. Looking to grow their own food back where they grew up. Now what? Get a pittance for their land or worse be driven into bankruptcy fighting a lawsuit with Norfolk Southern while they farm their contaminated land and water suffering from untold cancers while they struggle to survive? While RR & Wallstreet Fat Cats lay blameless with more than $200+ Billion dollars?
At the same time our country falls further into Endless Distraction Narratives and the Decay of perpetual Disaster one after the other? Till the point where Americans can no longer care, are overwhelmed with where to start to salvage our not so long ago great nation....Our hearts burn for Justice - for Criminals Big & small to be held to account. For our Ethics to be restored & Liberty secured?
My friend Richard got out of the RR industry 5 years ago but is close with friends still in & is not surprised by any of this - just heartsick like the rest of us are. All those people, animals, land & waterways, that suffer at the hands of greedy Wall Street. While those in charge of protecting We, the people sold us out for a few shekels. The greedy should all suffer the fate of having to drink water only from the worst affected areas of the disaster for the rest of their lives. This is a tale of PROFITS BEFORE PEOPLE for sure.
I pray all the severity of it makes marked and lasting change. But that would take the cooperation of 24/7 news on this subject on a National/International level for a month of more to fully shame these profoundly evil and greedy wall street driven Railroad executives into lasting positive change for the long haul. Like we used to have on the Gulf Oil or Exxon Valdez Oil Spills - even then I am not sure we can measure any lasting change there.
There are too many distractions now. News of Biden being responsible for Nordstream 2's destruction being sidelined by UFO stories with basically no photographic proof is beyond stunning in & of itself. (Invisible virus, invisible UFOs? Come On Sheeple! Biden blew up Nordstream 2 & is on record threatening it a few months before.)
However, we must stay focused on worst railway disaster in US history in OH and it's future consequences for America. We must resolve the will to hold Norfolk Southern Railway & Wall streets feet to the fire (while not being distracted) It has to hurt the RR & WallStreet hard enough for them to change. Otherwise with deepest regret this will continue on.
Assaulted from all angles with an increasing Factitous Disorder lurching from 1 disaster to UFO PSYOP, to Revelation of Biden intentionally destroyed Nordstream 2, to the spectre of WWIII. We cannot lose touch with the fact that This train disaster derailment was intentional. The train was on fire & told by dispatch to continue on when all safety protocols dictated an immediate stop to put out the fire. There is surveillance video here in Kanekoa the Great's Twitter postings. Regulations must be as punitive as possible to protect the future. For better or worse, the only Constant in the universe is change & the side that wins is the side that is fed. It feels like we are living in the modern day fall of Rome.
Lord thank you for all our blessings. Please help those who can change and repair this nation focus on what you want them to do and give them every support whether imagined or not blessing our nation & bring us to our knees to repent, restore, reimagine & repair our great nation for the better. We have been given much and our responsibility is huge. Please break it down into do-able chunks so we can help as many as we can throughout this process defeating our enemies. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Love the great information you provide. Your research is spot on! I hope JD Vance starts an investigation. Time to put his money where his mouth is and serve Ohioans. Lord knows we are stuck with DeWine, but I have high hopes with JD Vance!
If that town is mostly modest to low income, that company will definitely take advantage. If they are offering compensation for residents to sign so they won't be able to bring a class action lawsuits, it's sad. I can understand if people are in dyer need, they need help, cash.
Mr. Great -- that release of liability in the agreement you included only relates to the work of monitoring the water; it doesn't address actual crash or toxic cloud or related harms. It is a rather standard agreement that allows those testing entities to enter the landowner's land to test and monitor - not suggesting the landowner shouldn't also get her own lawyer to review and edit their form, but it's not as broad as you suggest because it's not addressing the bigger problem.
All signers of their bulls#*! waiver need to do is file an immediate suit for retraction of same at their own county courthouse, on the basis of their own claim to have done so while under duress and obfuscation of what will be easily provable, ACTUAL facts. Iow - they got screwed.
That document relieves the testing company from liability while collecting samples only on the date of the testing. I am not a lawyer but plain english states that it is for the date of testing only. Pretty standard procedure when a company comes on to your private property to provide services. If you don't want the service, don't sign and they will not force their way on to your property.
Fox guarding the henhouse, indeed. Cause, then cover-up is always the same thing for those inside these crimes. It smells of intent, especially now when using contracts (again) to prevent lawsuits. I wouldn’t trust he EPA, either. The bureaucracies are all corrupt. Ohio appear to be a massive crime against humanity and nature.
Thank you so much for digging on this abomination. My co worker's husband used to work for Norfolk and says that there is soooooo much corruption. We live in Cincinnati. This matter touches us personally.
Not shocked but still it angers me deeply.
I've a dear friend Richard, (changed name to protect him) USED to work for the RailRoad as a yardmaster. He said the RR's are the worst managed industries in the Nation. They are essentially run by Wallstreet. They spent 161 Billion ($161,000,000,000.00) on stock buybacks recently while implementing "Precision Scheduled Railroading" a fancy term that means: barebones crews, no paid time off, hostile work environments, rule by fear, overwork, overbearing pressure, longer more dangerous trains, few places to fix them, no time to fix them, & few mechanics nearby, prosecution & blaming those who bring up safety issues - to the point that you keep your head down - just go along to get along. 90 second per car inspections are what you do instead of industry standard 3 mins per car to catch safety issues & if you point out thats not enough time to do it, you're fired. It is in a state of decay than cannot be fixed until the Wall Street mindset ruling policy is destroyed. This disaster is the fruit of such policies of decay.
ECP Brakes or Electronically Controlled Pneumatic Brakes are available which could have prevented the disaster. Those brakes stop all the cars simultaneously as 1 unit without pileup. Current brakes, brake 1 car at a time from the front while the rest of the train piles up from behind still going at speed mounting pressure, building up from heavy cars & sheer train length behind pushing, crowding & crushing cars in the middle (in this case vinyl chloride tankers) until a derailment ensues. (Those derailed, pierced, leaking tankers could have been pumped out into tanker trucks - but that would take longer) Vynil chloride boils as a poisonous gas at 8 degrees F, not to mention the other tanker cars of other toxic chemicals & vapors & how the leaking ones would interact on the ground, in the air or in the nearby waterways.
What is the lesser of 2 evils?
•Leave it on the ground while waiting for EPA hazmat teams to arrive while further contaminating precious ground & water seriously contaminating the local area intensely like Chernobyl?
•Burn it up in the atmosphere setting it ablaze creating hydrogen Chloride gas (a.k.a. Phosgene - a banned WWI chemical) +other unknown chemical reactions creating a toxic poison soup of chemicals falling down as acid rain on farmlands in WV, KY, TN, PA, OH & all nearby waterways, not to mention those waterways flow to the Mississippi Delta.
Why would any overworked railway worker and/or bought off environmental expert working for the RR risk their lives with a possible explosion or death by poison gases?
Enter: FAST - good - CHEAP Pick 2! Was there another choice?
I don't know. Do you? Please comment.
Trains run on 18th century technology in our 21st century because the corporations bought their regulators as regulators roll onto their backs allowing industry to still run on ball bearing brakes that fail due to friction heat where ball bearings wear out, stall, & then inevitably burst into flame, then the train catches FIRE. When ECP Brakes are available and could be implemented for a very paltry $500,000,000 - 1/2 billion dollars which to the RR industry, is chump change. Compare to their $161 Billion $161,000,000,000 recent stock buyback. 1/2 a billion is less than a 1/2 a 1% of that. .5% would be $805,000,000 cheap bastards could easily afford it.
Greedy Railroad Executives treat their employees like perpetually punished slaves in a hellish communist regime. It is like working for an Abusive Alcoholic husband - that pays decently. Start with a world class Quality team deeply invested in the public welfare they destroyed & caring for their employees by giving them time, training & tools free from Wall St harassment so this never happens again. Finally Relegating "Precision Scheduled Railroading" to the dustbin of history as it is the recipe for Hell on Earth!
I've another set of friends that bought 5 acres of farmland 4 miles from the disaster in OH that closed escrow last Fall to plant crops this Spring. They think everything is OK because the news told them the wind didn't blow on their property, and officials say its all OK. It is mindboggling to think nothing of the initial railcar pileup, vinyl chloride and other toxic chemical tankers being breeched with the deadly contents spilling onto the ground after the first week of February's cold snap, snow, rain and muddy slush everywhere. That toxic brew leeching into nearby creeks killing fish, frogs & fauna before the profoundly idiotic idea of burning everything. I can wrap my head around how profoundly BAD this all is but for locals to believe the Corporate prognostications of "its all OK, you can come back home now, nothing to see here everything is alright." How can you not look at video footage of hazmat teams chemical soaking booms in the creeks soaking up a rainbowish film of oily residue on top of the water with dead fish, frogs and insects everywhere? I just can't fathom how we are even living on the same planet.
Why did all this burn before a soberly reasoned idea could present itself on how best to handle things in the long run for everyone involved, instead of only serving the needs of Norfolk Southern Railroad?
Where is Norfolk Southern Railroad's Safety Manual how to handle the worst possible fiasco?
They wanted this rail line to open up ASAP to keep abundant money flowing - to hell with the townspeople. This is summed up best by Hazardous Materials expert Sil Caggiano:
"We nuked a town just to get a rail line open".
Does this serve We, the People?
Who was weighing out the cost the people of East Palestine OH, and a dozen other states were going to have to pay in health, wealth property? Does Northrup Southern even care?
My friends who bought the land are in their 60's, refugees from Communist CA. Looking to grow their own food back where they grew up. Now what? Get a pittance for their land or worse be driven into bankruptcy fighting a lawsuit with Norfolk Southern while they farm their contaminated land and water suffering from untold cancers while they struggle to survive? While RR & Wallstreet Fat Cats lay blameless with more than $200+ Billion dollars?
At the same time our country falls further into Endless Distraction Narratives and the Decay of perpetual Disaster one after the other? Till the point where Americans can no longer care, are overwhelmed with where to start to salvage our not so long ago great nation....Our hearts burn for Justice - for Criminals Big & small to be held to account. For our Ethics to be restored & Liberty secured?
My friend Richard got out of the RR industry 5 years ago but is close with friends still in & is not surprised by any of this - just heartsick like the rest of us are. All those people, animals, land & waterways, that suffer at the hands of greedy Wall Street. While those in charge of protecting We, the people sold us out for a few shekels. The greedy should all suffer the fate of having to drink water only from the worst affected areas of the disaster for the rest of their lives. This is a tale of PROFITS BEFORE PEOPLE for sure.
I pray all the severity of it makes marked and lasting change. But that would take the cooperation of 24/7 news on this subject on a National/International level for a month of more to fully shame these profoundly evil and greedy wall street driven Railroad executives into lasting positive change for the long haul. Like we used to have on the Gulf Oil or Exxon Valdez Oil Spills - even then I am not sure we can measure any lasting change there.
There are too many distractions now. News of Biden being responsible for Nordstream 2's destruction being sidelined by UFO stories with basically no photographic proof is beyond stunning in & of itself. (Invisible virus, invisible UFOs? Come On Sheeple! Biden blew up Nordstream 2 & is on record threatening it a few months before.)
However, we must stay focused on worst railway disaster in US history in OH and it's future consequences for America. We must resolve the will to hold Norfolk Southern Railway & Wall streets feet to the fire (while not being distracted) It has to hurt the RR & WallStreet hard enough for them to change. Otherwise with deepest regret this will continue on.
Assaulted from all angles with an increasing Factitous Disorder lurching from 1 disaster to UFO PSYOP, to Revelation of Biden intentionally destroyed Nordstream 2, to the spectre of WWIII. We cannot lose touch with the fact that This train disaster derailment was intentional. The train was on fire & told by dispatch to continue on when all safety protocols dictated an immediate stop to put out the fire. There is surveillance video here in Kanekoa the Great's Twitter postings. Regulations must be as punitive as possible to protect the future. For better or worse, the only Constant in the universe is change & the side that wins is the side that is fed. It feels like we are living in the modern day fall of Rome.
Lord thank you for all our blessings. Please help those who can change and repair this nation focus on what you want them to do and give them every support whether imagined or not blessing our nation & bring us to our knees to repent, restore, reimagine & repair our great nation for the better. We have been given much and our responsibility is huge. Please break it down into do-able chunks so we can help as many as we can throughout this process defeating our enemies. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Fantastic reporting! Will cover on The Jonathan Kogan Show...
Love the great information you provide. Your research is spot on! I hope JD Vance starts an investigation. Time to put his money where his mouth is and serve Ohioans. Lord knows we are stuck with DeWine, but I have high hopes with JD Vance!
Why do we have an EPA?
If that town is mostly modest to low income, that company will definitely take advantage. If they are offering compensation for residents to sign so they won't be able to bring a class action lawsuits, it's sad. I can understand if people are in dyer need, they need help, cash.
Mr. Great -- that release of liability in the agreement you included only relates to the work of monitoring the water; it doesn't address actual crash or toxic cloud or related harms. It is a rather standard agreement that allows those testing entities to enter the landowner's land to test and monitor - not suggesting the landowner shouldn't also get her own lawyer to review and edit their form, but it's not as broad as you suggest because it's not addressing the bigger problem.
All signers of their bulls#*! waiver need to do is file an immediate suit for retraction of same at their own county courthouse, on the basis of their own claim to have done so while under duress and obfuscation of what will be easily provable, ACTUAL facts. Iow - they got screwed.
So not shocked.
Thanks, I read this on my podcast.
Why is this firm CTEH with an obvious horrendous track record still in existence?
SUE the piss & shyte of them out of existence and hold execs ALL LIABLE and imprison them one and all
....and same for Norfolk Southern
,,, and EPA
,,, and each and every town, county and state official who were complicit into prison!
Come on you shy and lazy ambulance chasing lawyers, this should be an easy one for all of you !
John Grisham 2.0
That document relieves the testing company from liability while collecting samples only on the date of the testing. I am not a lawyer but plain english states that it is for the date of testing only. Pretty standard procedure when a company comes on to your private property to provide services. If you don't want the service, don't sign and they will not force their way on to your property.
Scary as hell. The same company bidding on the railroad line going thru Cincinnati.
Fox guarding the henhouse, indeed. Cause, then cover-up is always the same thing for those inside these crimes. It smells of intent, especially now when using contracts (again) to prevent lawsuits. I wouldn’t trust he EPA, either. The bureaucracies are all corrupt. Ohio appear to be a massive crime against humanity and nature.