Lines of Transportation Committee will come to order. For the purposes of a hearing. We are here this morning at the full for improving a rail safety and response to the bailment. The witness table. [background noises] [background noises] good morning everyone. They hearing will come to order. On february 3, the town of East Palestine, ohio experience a Hazardous Material event that no community should have to suffer from a Norfolk Southern train carrying Hazardous Materials crash just outside the town 38 cars, more than a quarter of the train was derailed. Plastic pellets for monday drilled cars caught fire engulfed other railcars including five carrying vinyl chloride. After burning for two days, authorities became concerned the vinyl chloride was undergoing a Chemical Reaction that made it bigger and more dangerous. They then initiate a controlled burn of the chloride and five tanks to create greater catastrophe pre2000 residents were forced to evacuate and a eight community was forever changed. We look forward to hearing the witnesses and especially appreciate the East Palestine moms for their leadership and look forward to hearing from mst me be clear this hearing is not only about East Palestine derailment. Less than a week ago a Burlington Northern santa fe train derailed and my state of washington. In the reservations billing 500r padilla bay waterfront a very sensitive aquatic ecosystem. These are important issues of a. And we look forward to working in a bipartisan basis on this problem. Chief comstock i know will be testifying and he knows better that a Fire Department needs to deal the Hazardous Materials and we w■2ill be asking you what congress can do to better equip the firefighters who have to respond. These jarell months have occurred doing a concerning trend. That is we you have railroads adopt operating models both as just cutting costs to achieve higher profits. And then have higher accident rates. Learning to invest in that modernization of equipment that will provide the safety that we need. From 2017 2021 railroads cut their workforce by 22 and reduced investment and the network by 24 . And at the same time accident rate increase by 14 . We will dive into these details today to better understand what is that about . Tonight will hear from senators brown and vance about their bipartisan legislation. Ohio Governor Mike Dewine about his experience in responding to the derailment. We will hear from as i mentioned earlier East Palestine resident misty allison how it impacted her community. That would contributed to the derailment and what steps are necessary to protect communities and employees in the environment. Ntsb chair will be here. And i look forward to asking her about their agencys recommendation to improve rail safety and about what investment in detection devices are necessary. I bet safety will hear from you about why you believe these concerns have gone unaddressed it. Will hear from Norfolk Southern ceo on these trends what hes going to do to ensure safety is the top priority. A month ago i sent letters to seven class one freight railroads asking for information about their Hazardous Materials safety practices. Nearly all of them failed to provide■ the committee with the specific information that was requested. I have to say bs and alpha did provide us with information about past inspections. But we need clear information from organizations, where we are today with safety inspections . Let me be clear we need to know exactly what organizations are doing today to make sure inspections are helping us to detect problems. I introduce legislation 2015 has some of the same provisions that we now see in the brown vance bill. I wish some of those had been implemented sooner. Our two colleagues are working very diligently to make this a top priority here in congress. And working hard to represent these communities. I believe our committee can work at a bipartisan fashion to improve rail safety that it should not go unnoticed its the same issues are plaguing us and other areas of transportation. Do you want to have the safest system you have to have the most modernize equipment. The most minimal of workforce standards. You have to continue to improve safety. With that ill turn over to the Ranking Member senator cruz for his opening comments. Thank you madame child to thank the witnesses are being here today. Welcome senator brown. Like so many other americans i watched with dismay the horror that unfolded in East Palestine, ohio. On television we saw a fiery train wreck were nearby residents were understandably fearful that their water was poisoned and the air was pellucid. The distress of East Palestines residence was real then and it is real now and ms. Allison thank you for being here and testifying today. That is why its important that we are holding this hearing. This hearing will address two critical topics. First, what can be done to prevent derailments like the one that occurred in East Palestine. Second, what can be done more broadly to improve the safety of trains transporting Hazardous Materials. While these topics are related and each topic merits its own hearing, it appears this morning may be our only opportunity is a full committee to examine the East Palestine derailment and the broader questions about Railroad Safety policy. To be clear, i agree senators brown and vance that railroad railroadsafety should be on our. And that it is an opportunity for real and meaningful bipartisan cooperation. My team and i will continue engaging with their staff and the chairwoman staff and i am optimistic that we can achieve broad agreement on policies that improve safety that protect our communities. Without at the same time damaging our supply chain or imposing unreasonable cost that ultimately harm american families. We need to do both. Today we need to hear what led to the derailment in East Palestine. Ntsb is investigation and i appreciate chairwoman appearance here today. This committee is also looking very closely at this derailment. For as much as we know about the derailment, key questions remain unanswered. For example who specifically made the decision to events and burn the vinyl chloride from all five derailed 10 cars . And why . Were alternatives considered . Were the right people consulted . I also want to know what can be done to prevent or mitigate similar derailments in the future. This committee should hear more about wayside detectors and advanced technologies that could use algorithms and trending analysis to identify safety issues earlier. We should hear more about the Information Available to First Responders and about the coordination with shippers of Hazardous Materials. Understandably americans across the country sure the concerns of the residents of East Palestine and wonder are essential Hazardous Materials being transported safely . Will residents be protected if the spill occurs . Unfortunately delayed and disjointed response by the bite administration has not alleviated these concerns. Notably we heard calls from residents of East Palestine in the local school asking where is people to judge . The response was quote i dont know. Ed took secretary 10 days to even acknowledge the derailment. After is called out he did a 180 try to sell a sloop of Big Government regulatory proposal desperate to describe the failure of the example as propod re instated a break role that was not supported by costbenefit analysis. Shortly thereafter the chairwoman of the ntsb tweeted about this rule she said quote some are saying ecp electronically controlled pneumatic break rule if implemented would have prevented this derailment. False. She proceeded to explain the proposed break rule would not have applied to the East Palestine train and not prevented the derailment. Undeterred secretary buttigieg release a laundry list of regulatory proposals. Many had little to no connection to the East Palestine derailment. Further distract from his unfilled response, secretary buttigieg suggested President Trump was responsible for the derailment in East Palestine. That is a frequent playbook of this administration blaming every problem on President Trump. Not even the Washington Post fact checker usually goes out of his way to fact check claims about this claimant. The fact checker concluded in a quote from our analysis, none of the regular tory changes made during the Trump Administration at this point can be cited as contributing to the accident. That advance has kept his focus where it should be on the people affected by the derailment. I applaud him and senator brown for focusing on their constituents and i look forward to continue to work close with both of you and with the chairwoman on a bipartisan series package. Thank you, senator cruz. The first panel will provide Committee Testimony about rail safety legislation being supported by brown and vance. We will hear how the derailment has impacted the community. First will hear from senator brown and then send it vance whs on the committee about. Next will hear from governor mike duhon will be joining us remotely. Pavement governor of ohio since 2019. Former Senate Colleague and we ■÷welcome him back to the senate floor for the purposes of his experience on this derailment. We look forward to hearing from you governor at the wine. Last we will hear from misty allison who is of east palatino ohio. Thank you all for being here and senator brown you can lead off it. Thank you madam chair senator cruz thank you. Especially from senator vance i want to thank governor dewine for the work he has done in responding to this. Ms. Allison for her activism she is here today for this is her second trip on behalf of the committee she is here soon after the loss of her mother. Misty, thank you for speaking up through this difficult five andd for your leadership. Our thoughts and prayers are with you of course and your family. I appreciate the work center vance is done on this legislation. Its been a bipartisan effort from the beginning. Appreciate the comments of senator cruz and chair cantwell. I was just in East Palestine again yesterday prone to thank ohio witnesses and the second panel of the western reserve that represents some 3000 rail. I appreciate were you speak clearly about the challenges First Responders and communities assize of East Palestine have face. Mr. Ricker is an advocate for safe working conditions for his members and for all people working and railroads for the nation knows East Palestine is a tight knit community in ohio. The year i was born on a couple of decades after that that made 80 of the table where in this country. The dishes and glasses because of bad trade policy those jobs moved to south, the night moved to mexico, then moved to china. There is no pottery in the county anymore. This committee and neighboring g communities a couple miles away are too often forgotten or exploited by american now these ohioans are worried whether their water is safe to drink. Whether the air is safe to breathe. Whether their kids will get sick headed visually to the chair what happens to the value of their homes. Norfolk southern will make it right quote unquote in East Palestine and do right, his words, by the community. Center vance and i make sure East Palestine is not for god. He and i make regular visits there. Not next week, next month, not next year, not ever. Doing right by this Community Must include making sure more accidents do not happen. It only takes clear common sense steps to make our railways safer. Norfolk southern followed the wall street Business Model. Booster profits and stock price by eliminating 38 of its workforce. These profits were spent on stock buybacks that benefit executive instead of investing workers and safety they cut costed that railroads have lobbied to undermine safety rules they are still added even now after what theyve done to this ohio town for even with the eyes of the country on them madam chair. It would hear arguments from north folk southard in the Rail Industrys lobbying armed they support the intent of the bill. They do not need stronger rules. Weve heard that before this committee and elsewhere for the roads are committed to safety they say theyre making changes they claim. Mr. Jeffries prepared testimony goes to Great Lengths to say hi to safety problems in his statistics. Heres a statistic you will not hear taking crossings the accident rate for Class One Railroads not included in the short ones, class went railroads is higher each of the past four years that any year since 2008. Executive progress has been wiped out. Trains are growing longer, heavier, more dangerous the train that went off the tracks in East Palestine was 149 cars. The train that went off the tracks in springfield, ohio west of their 150 miles only two weeks later was over 200 cars there longer there heavier than more dangerous. When you hear about the fully improve safety. Weve heard over the past month 99. 9 of railroad have met net shipments have reached destination without releasing toxic waste. I would urge him to talk to miss allison and others got into known about how it feels to beae that. 1 . I ask her if she thanks that record or something to brag about but railroads refused to support new rules for train security dangerous Hazardous Material like the vinyl chloride that burned in ohio that cut the amount of time theyre given to inspect each railcar to less than a minute railroads will often argue against increasing fines for safety violations of course they have it. In most recent fiscal year available Norfolk Southern had 579 violations in the cases that have been closed for they paid an average fine of less than 3300 but he heard that right not 30 million, not 3 million, just over 3000. The largest fine Norfolk Southern paid that year over 25000 the company keep in my plan to spend 3. 4 billion on stock buybacks they already did that an even more right before they are about to do it again when the train derailed. S on a cost of doing business it really is a rounding error. Theyre fighting the most basic of all requirements, having two crewmembers in the train. If you ask 50 people outside of anywhere how many people do you think work on the trains that are 200 cars long or two or 3 miles long you would hear people say five, 10, 20. Railroads want only one person working on a train thats two or 3 miles long. Thats frankly crazy brit earlier this month Norfolk Southern issued a sixpoint plan of modest Safety Improvements we do not need a voluntary plan we need the bill we need safety rules we need the Railway Safety act. Our bill is that common sense Bipartisan Plan Center vance and i are both here today to urge this committee to embrace the obvious need for safety reform hen should not take a Train Derailment or elected officials were partisanship aside and Work Together for the people whom we serve not corporations like Norfolk Southern. Thank you. Quick thinking center brown in accenture and this one point that its a trend change i dont think people fully digested. Is the length of train has significantly changed. I think it proposes definitely new challenges. Senator vance, thank you. I look forward to your comments and appreciate your work on this legislation. Correct thank you med and chair. Thank you Ranking Member cruised, for both of your engagement with this issue. Thank you center brown for partnership on this issue. Appreciate it and appreciate being here. For the Commerce Committee i want to thank all of our guests here both during this pedal and the next panel but it would to thank allison for being here. I read your testimony this morning i will not reveal what is in it i do not want to give anything away. Let me just say im sorry this happened. And as a father of three kids under the age of six i was particularly affected by some of the ways it affects your children feel thing out ask youve already done so much with the activism and i appreciate that it is always treat our office as an open door if there is more we could be■] doing i would like to be doing it. I am a new senator normally see every thing thats happening the think i would ask is if you think we could be doing more just come and tell us because