{"id":3214,"date":"2023-02-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www-prod.greenpeace.org\/usa\/campaign-updates\/3214\/ohio-train-wreck-could-be-bidens-chance-to-champion-chemical-safety\/"},"modified":"2025-07-02T07:42:51","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T07:42:51","slug":"ohio-train-wreck-could-be-bidens-chance-to-champion-chemical-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/usa\/ohio-train-wreck-could-be-bidens-chance-to-champion-chemical-safety\/","title":{"rendered":"Ohio Train Wreck Could Be Biden\u2019s Chance to Champion Chemical Safety"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class='p4descriptive_paragraph'>&#8220;Of all the various remaining civilian vulnerabilities in America today, one stands alone as uniquely deadly, pervasive and susceptible to terrorist attack: toxic-inhalation-hazard industrial chemicals.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<figure class='wp-block-image size-large p4featured_image'><img src='https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/planet4-usa-stateless\/2024\/11\/76875a05-gettyimages-1246796207-scaled.jpg' alt='US-TRANSPORT-ACCIDENT-FIRE' \/><figcaption class='wp-element-caption'>Smoke rises from a derailed cargo train in East Palestine, Ohio, on February 4, 2023. &#8211; The train accident sparked a massive fire and evacuation orders, officials and reports said Saturday. No injuries or fatalities were reported after the 50-car train came off the tracks late February 3 near the Ohio-Pennsylvania state border. The train was shipping cargo from Madison, Illinois, to Conway, Pennsylvania, when it derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. (Photo by DUSTIN FRANZ \/ AFP) (Photo by DUSTIN FRANZ\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Last week\u2019s 50-car chemical train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio came very close to causing a major disaster.\u00a0 Residents had to be evacuated for 5 days while the resulting fire burned down and officials slowly released tons of vinyl chloride to prevent an explosion that would have blown shrapnel at least mile away.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The danger of chemical accidents extend far beyond the risk of explosions. Another threat is the release of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/planet4-usa-stateless\/2024\/12\/7cb28f70-chlorine-bleach-report-2016.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">lethal chemicals like chlorine gas<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, which are described as \u201ctoxic-by-inhalation\u201d (TIH) because they will choke anyone who breathes them in. In fact, chlorine gas was banned as a weapon under the Geneva Convention after World War I, largely because it cannot be controlled once released. And when it does, it can travel for many miles.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Another literal fallout from chemical disasters can be the lingering impacts of persistent toxic chemicals that are released. The thick plume of black smoke from last week\u2019s accident likely carried contamination into homes, gardens and schoolyards for miles around.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">All of these and other consequences of disasters like the train wreck in East Palestine are largely preventable. In fact, the Biden administration currently has an opportunity to make a major difference without having to deal with a dysfunctional Congress<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Certainly measures like electronic braking and larger crews would reduce the risk. But \u201cbomb trains\u201d that average 1.5 miles long will never be inherently safe if they continue to drag chemicals like vinyl chloride through communities across the country.\u00a0 They will always present fire and explosion hazards \u2013 in some cases with more devastating consequences than what happened in Ohio. The 2013 disaster in Lac-Megantic Canada \u2013 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/07\/16\/world\/canada\/lac-megantic-quebec-train-explosion.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">which killed 47 people<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u2013 is just one example of a track record that speaks for itself.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">With all of the threats they pose, it may surprise you that chemical carriers including railroads and trucks are exempt from EPA&#8217;s accident prevention Risk Management Program (RMP), which was created to prevent major disasters from chlorine and other chemicals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_91454\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-91454 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-usa-stateless\/2024\/11\/a6ef511b-gp0stooae_web_size_with_credit_line.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"283\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-91454\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Greenpeace and coalition partners in the Coalition to Prevent Chemical Disasters pose outside the Environmental Protection Agency. More than 100,000 people signed a petition calling upon the EPA to issue new rules that will ensure that high risk chemical plants switch to safer chemicals or processes that can actually eliminate the possibility of a disaster.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The good news is the EPA plans to issue new RMP safety standards this fall. If they prioritize hazard reduction at the plant level, that will also reduce the amount of hazardous rail cargo\u2026but will the EPA ?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The 1990 Clean Air Act gave EPA broad authority to prevent chemical plant disasters at their source, such as the 1984 Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal, India, which killed 20,000 people. Yet we continue to average about 150 chemical disasters a year, which is why the EPA needs to, for the first time, use the authority that was enacted in 1990.\u00a0 If the EPA takes a common sense approach, requiring all chemical producers and users to adopt safer processes and chemicals, it will also result in a reduction in the amount of hazardous cargo shipped daily through our communities. Most <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.americanprogress.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/04\/chem_survey.pdf?_ga=2.232922398.1215874721.1613679810-1099156516.1613679810\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">chemical facilities have readily-available options<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> ranging from safer chemical substitutes to &#8220;just-in-time\u201d production processes that use the same chemicals but eliminate the need for storage and transport of bulk quantities of deadly chemicals.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The urgent need for taking these steps is not solely a question of transportation and industrial safety. It\u2019s also a national security concern as well.\u00a0 There are about 100,000 miles of largely unguarded railroad tracks in the U.S.\u00a0 Trains carrying hazardous bulk cargo are like rolling chemical plants without fencing or security.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the wake of 9\/11, the production, use and shipping of lethal chemicals was widely recognized as a major national security threat. Richard Falkenrath, Deputy Homeland Security Advisor to President George W. Bush put it succinctly when he testified before the Senate in early 2005: &#8220;Of all the various remaining civilian vulnerabilities in America today, one stands alone as uniquely deadly, pervasive and susceptible to terrorist attack: toxic-inhalation-hazard industrial chemicals.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yet in the two decades since 9\/11 Congress and EPA have repeatedly come close \u2013 yet failed \u2013 to enact the kind of strong chemical safety standards we need.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In 2002, shortly after 9\/11, Republican EPA Administrator <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.republicreport.org\/2021\/gov-whitman-retired-generals-call-on-epa-to-protect-against-chemical-plant-disasters\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Christine Todd Whitman<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and Department of Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge backed an EPA proposal to require RMP facilities to reduce hazards where feasible by using safer alternatives. Although the Bush White House scuttled that proposal, it came up again in 2006 when strong chemical safety\/security legislation was introduced in Congress, with broad support, even from the <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/pubsapp.acs.org\/cen\/news\/86\/i10\/8610notw10.html?\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Association of American Railroads (AAR)<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, which called for \u201cefforts aimed at finding and utilizing &#8216;inherently safer technologies&#8217; as substitutes.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Finally in 2009 a strong bill \u2013 supported by <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=k6dA-t5PPXk\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">President Obama<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, Vice President Biden, EPA, and DHS \u2013 passed the House, but died in the Senate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">As is true with so many worthwhile reforms, it can take decades of persistent pressure to get Congress or federal agencies to take\u00a0 significant action.\u00a0 Yet there\u2019s no reason to back off, when so much is at stake. Today a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/preventchemicaldisasters.org\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">coalition<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.regulations.gov\/comment\/EPA-HQ-OLEM-2021-0312-0057\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">labor<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/comingcleaninc.org\/assets\/media\/images\/Reports\/Who's%20in%20Danger%20Report%20FINAL.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">environmental justice<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/cpr-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/documents\/preventing-double-disasters-final.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">green groups<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ucsusa.org\/about\/news\/health-experts-and-healthcare-workers-call-strong-chemical-safety-safeguards\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">health professionals<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/comingcleaninc.org\/latest-news\/in-the-news\/faith-leaders-call-on-epa-to-strengthen-chemical-disaster-rule\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">faith leaders<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.republicreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Security-Ltr-to-EPA-Re-Proposed-RMP-Rule-9-28-22.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">security experts<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.booker.senate.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/bicameral_epa_letter_on_chemical_disaster_proposed_rule_jan_2023.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">members of Congress<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> continue to<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/preventchemicaldisasters.org\/2022\/10\/31\/100-members-and-allies-of-the-coalition-to-prevent-chemical-disasters-submit-comments-on-draft-rmp-rule\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> call on EPA<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to use its authority.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The good news is that one of Congress\u2019 greatest champions of chemical security and safety is now in the White House: When he was a senator, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=zQO-uavBgsc\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Joe Biden made his position clear<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">: \u201cI believe that requiring chemical facilities to transition to safer technologies whenever it is practical should be a priority that we establish. Doing this would completely and permanently eliminate the threat to millions of Americans&#8230;It\u2019s time we stop talking about setting priorities and actually set some.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">President Biden, please direct your EPA to follow your lead.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last week\u2019s 50-car chemical train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio came very close to causing a major disaster.\u00a0 Residents had to be evacuated for 5 days while the resulting fire&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":8258,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[219],"tags":[275],"p4-page-type":[31],"class_list":["post-3214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-toxics-campaign","tag-chemicals","p4-page-type-campaign-updates"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.9 (Yoast SEO v23.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ohio Train Wreck Could Be Biden\u2019s Chance to Champion Chemical Safety - Greenpeace<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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