On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) said that the state and federal governments should be doing more in response to the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
Co-host Joe Scarborough asked, “We learned after 9/11, at Ground Zero, we learned — well, and I also learned as a lawyer looking at toxic spills, that the impacts, they’re usually felt for years. So, should the government be doing more? Should the state government be doing more? Should the federal government be doing more here?”
Brown responded, “Well, yes, yes, and yes. One of the things that the EPA administrator said, when he did say — as the Ohio — as the DeWine Administrator in Columbus, Anne Vogel, said, and the mayor said, that the water is safe in the city drinking water system — individual wells, not necessarily so much. They all need to be tested — but the administrator was very careful to say, when you go back into your home, before you do, you need to get another test to make sure the water, the soil, and the air are clean. And these tests are paid for by Norfolk Southern, who caused all of this. So, it’s especially important that we continue — that people don’t trust Norfolk Southern. They don’t always trust the government either, but we’re making progress. This could go on for a long time. The cleanup is going to take months, I’m sure, visiting, seeing those gnarled train cars and cut-up train cars and turned-over train cars. And we know that Norfolk Southern, they do big stock buybacks, they had big dividends, they don’t invest nearly as much in rail and train safety as they should. They laid off thousands of workers. So, this company is going to be held responsible, and we’re going to make sure of that.”
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