Tell Your Members of Congress to Support the Rail Safety Act Now
On the night of February 3, 2023, East Palestine, Ohio experienced a catastrophic train derailment. At least twenty of those railcars contained hazardous materials, a number of which caught fire and burned for days in the very backyards of some East Palestine residents. Some of the railcars spilled their loads of hazardous materials into a ditch next to the train tracks, which empties into the Ohio River.
Since the derailment, East Palestine residents have continued to report medical issues and they rightfully fear that their air and water are contaminated. Chemicals released at the site, such as vinyl chloride, have been known to cause eye and throat irritation, with chronic exposure leading to conditions as serious as neurological issues and liver cancer. Vinyl chloride exposure might also cause fertility problems and can be particularly dangerous for pregnant women. Our elected officials must ensure that no town in America has to experience the devastation of a train derailment like East Palestine.
Fortunately, there is pending legislation in Congress that would go a long way towards addressing the safety failures that caused the preventable East Palestine disaster. The Railway Safety Act of 2023 is bipartisan legislation and would require that railroads implement defect detectors, observe speed limits when transporting hazardous materials (such as vinyl chloride), and that the Department of Transportation improve its hazardous materials response plans. All of these common sense policies would help protect us from a repeat of the East Palestine derailment.