Submitted by pra_com001 t3_115m6ju in massachusetts
Comments
JoshSidekick t1_j94fdej wrote
And so soon after the anniversary of the aqua teen hunger force terrorism event.
Chadsonite t1_j95s00c wrote
Wasn't that because of the Clean Harbors fire in Quincy, not the derailment in Ohio? Not to downplay the latter, I just didn't think it was actually related to the dirty car phenomenon.
End3rWi99in t1_j93ekcc wrote
The dust caused by something not even related to the train derailment in Ohio, which is not directly the responsibility of the current CEO of Northfolk Southern, a company literally everyone in this community likely relies upon in more ways than they can count. This community is becoming embarrassing.
snerdaferda t1_j93jtir wrote
Oh please, let’s not use some dust from Oklahoma as an excuse to worship the sketchy business practices of Norfolk Southern. Those folks at nestle sure provide a lot of water, I guess they’re absolved from sin too.
snerdaferda t1_j93iue9 wrote
Oh please, let’s not use some dust from Oklahoma as an excuse to worship the sketchy business practices of Norfolk Southern. Those folks at nestle sure provide a lot of water, I guess they’re absolved from sin too.
ProdigiousNewt07 t1_j93p1ex wrote
Are you his lawyer or pr team or something? What's embarrassing is you trying to deflect on behalf of this ghoul. None of what you said detracts from the fact that an environmental disaster occurred under his leadership, partially because of shoddy labor practices and cuts to regulations by the railroad lobby. The fact that we rely on companies like this is even more cause for concern.
Pyroechidna1 t1_j94t57r wrote
Only partially. There was nothing very special or egregious about this derailment; it could have happened anywhere, anytime over the last several decades. The Lac Megantic disaster was much worse in terms of lives lost, community damage and railroad negligence.
Bunzilla t1_j934tt9 wrote
Maybe I’m a bit jaded but I sometimes feel like these people laugh at efforts like this. Nothing ever ends up happening and they stay just as rich as ever. And socially they won’t be hurt either because they run in circles with people who prioritize money and power as well.
RevengencerAlf t1_j9578mc wrote
They definitely give negative fucks about it.
There's a remote chance he's too radioactive after this to become CEO at another corp but he likely still would and even if he doesn't he's still filthy rich and got rich by doing all the shit that people are rightfully mad at him for.
[deleted] t1_j96mz74 wrote
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BovaDesnuts t1_j98egnj wrote
The CEO of ExxonMobil cared quite a bit in 1994
halfnelson73 t1_j93gj2f wrote
Too bad congress voted to side with this pos and forbid the rail workers from going on strike.
milkfiend t1_j94d2bv wrote
Too bad Republicans in Congress voted against the Democratic plan to give the workers what they wanted, you mean.
NowakFoxie t1_j94pewo wrote
Democrats, including Biden, the "most pro-union president in history", are just as complicit with the Ohio disaster as Republicans are. Only 8 Democrats voted against the Railway Labor Act, which forced rail unions to accept a contract that benefitted railway companies instead of the workers and stripped them of their bargaining power.
Ignitemare t1_j95q4cq wrote
Our boy Jim McGovern voted to impose that bullshit contract and was complicit in allowing them to get away with the trickery of splitting the contract and the sick days into two separate things so they can cherry pick what they get to give the workers.
New-Vegetable-1274 t1_j98g3yg wrote
There is no difference between Republican and Democrat, two sides of the same coin. Once you embrace that you'll come to understand that the division isn't about anything but division. It's not R or D anymore, that's all smoke, it's all of us against all of them. We fight about some things that have merit but mostly split hairs over stupid shit. In the mean time America is disappearing, it's being carved up and confiscated by them. "You'll own nothing and be happy with that."
milkfiend t1_j95c454 wrote
And if the Republicans hadn't blocked the other bill no strike would have been necessary.
You're acting like a strike should have been allowed to happen, which is debatable given the massive damage it would have caused to the broader economy. Hundreds of thousands of other people would have lost their jobs, is that relevant for you?
Ignitemare t1_j95qcaw wrote
That's the fuckin point of a strike like this. Organized labor disrupts capital. They have the money, but we've got the bodies that do the work.
We stop working they stop making money. It's pretty damn clear the bottom line is the only thing that matters to them.
Organized labor has ALL the power unless the government comes in like it did and kneecaps them.
AbidanYre t1_j93ordo wrote
$11m seems low for a railroad CEO.
commentsOnPizza t1_j93rw0e wrote
Yea, I was just thinking that has to be wrong. He made $4M in compensation in 2021 alone. Maybe he spends all his money instead of saving it, but $11M just seems really low for the CEO of a $52B company.
If he only has $11M in net worth, he's worse at managing money than he is at managing trains.
pfmiller0 t1_j94kj5s wrote
It says his net worth is at least $11 million, way higher is not ruled out.
RevengencerAlf t1_j957ee7 wrote
He his most likely "worth" many times that in non-liquid assets that can't be traced back to him with publicly available information.
No Guarantees, no way to prove short of some forensic accounting that would never happen unless he was investigated for a financial crime, but it would not be abnormal for someone in his position at all.
bleepbloopbluupp t1_j92j2tx wrote
If you are going to put him on blast, don't forget Black Rock, JP Morgan, Vanguard, State Street, etc.
imanze t1_j92lhv7 wrote
because you cant mention one person who did something bad without mentioning the entire collection of human histories douchers? stfu
BannedMyName t1_j92r6ld wrote
Put my neighbor on the list too, he hit my car and didn't say anything to me
bleepbloopbluupp t1_j93eprl wrote
They own the company you douchecanoe
anubus72 t1_j93xt63 wrote
How does vanguard end up in that list?
End3rWi99in t1_j93endq wrote
They'll be mad at someone else next week once everyone forgets about this, rather than actually doing anything about it.
MeEvilBob t1_j92yfn9 wrote
He's the CEO of a railroad that doesn't run through Massachusetts
Pyroechidna1 t1_j94tfce wrote
NS de facto runs through Massachusetts via their joint venture Pan Am Southern, which sees NS trains with NS locomotives running from North Adams to Ayer using Pan Am crews.
Now that CSX has acquired Pan Am, some of those NS trains will run over the B&A to Worcester and then up to Ayer so they can avoid the lower clearance of the Hoosac Tunnel.
Ignitemare t1_j95qkiz wrote
So what you're saying is that it's only a matter of time until my town Worcester gets hit with one of these derailments.
Pyroechidna1 t1_j95qukp wrote
It’s just as possible in Worcester as anywhere else. The Millers River watershed through Erving and Athol has more to worry about with Pan Am’s abysmal maintenance and all of the propane they are moving to New Hampshire and Maine.
NativeSon508 t1_j95r56f wrote
Yes but it’s because people hate on pipelines so much that we have to do this by rail and often by truck instead. Make it make sense
Ignitemare t1_j95yiw2 wrote
I wish I could, friend.
In theory that's what regulatory bodies are supposed to do? Mitigate risk and make sure that if rail is one of our few options to transport such things, it's done safely.
People on both sides of the aisle have had a hand in gutting those agencies and policies because the lobbies have a fuck load of cash to throw around.
The simplest answers are unfortunately the hardest to accomplish. Nationalize the rails and airlines so that it's under the direct purview of the DoT and will be less motivated by profit (hopefully)
Or get the lobbyists to GTFO. Which... I mean. I'm not holding my breath for that one.
CLS4L t1_j95wpl4 wrote
They have engins in Ayer now today
MeEvilBob t1_j960db1 wrote
That's "through power", all freight trains through Ayer are CSX, but sometimes CSX will rent the locomotives from NS when they pick up the train to haul it to the yard it's going to, then those locomotives will go back west on another train. This way they don't have to run as much "light power" (locomotive(s) with no train).
Daily_the_Project21 t1_j93oyoi wrote
He didn’t "poison a small town for profit."
dgroach27 t1_j93we3v wrote
While there are many factors and people to blame, he played an integral role in what happened and his motivation was profit
Pyroechidna1 t1_j94t8e5 wrote
Railroads are common carriers. They don’t have the option to not haul vinyl chloride if customers need it moved.
NativeSon508 t1_j95r0jm wrote
We could move it through pipe lines but we all know how evil pipelines are!
dgroach27 t1_j94uvof wrote
They have the option to ensure that the rails and the trains are operating as safely as possible which they did not do. There were many people who have been saying for years that an accident like this was inevitable because of actions rail companies were taking.
Pyroechidna1 t1_j94vclf wrote
Hotboxes have always been a thing. People jumped on this incident as a chance to grab the media spotlight and complain about PSR. It wasn’t a direct act of negligence like Lac Megantic was.
dgroach27 t1_j95vwxj wrote
Didn’t Norfolk Southern cut their workforce and not update their brakes? Accidents happen but just explaining away this situation with that completely ignores the explicit decisions made by Norfolk Southern that increased the chance of this happening.
Hot_Ice836 t1_j9i1409 wrote
Hey Alan, are you on here downvoting stuff like this that’s true? 😂 guess he does GAF ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Scary_Habit974 t1_j92x9qh wrote
Norfolk Southern built and moved into a brand new HQ in Atlanta during the pandemic. Expected to receive millions from BBB and was spending money like a drunken sailor. When the act didn’t pass, they started to make some cuts and this is what happens.
Linux-Is-Best t1_j92puh5 wrote
We'll allow it on the "good neighbor" policy.
Normally, we do want the post here to be specific to only Massachusetts, but the health and safety effects concerning this issue (currently, primarily in Ohio) may be far-reaching, especially for those who travel, and may indeed impact the ecosystem and general well-being, locally. But more importantly, Massachusetts has several railway yards, and only a few days ago, there was an incident locally in Massachusetts. https://www.reddit.com/r/massachusetts/comments/114ag3l/fire_at_clean_harbors_by_the_quincy_shipyard_in/
BossCrabMeat t1_j94978m wrote
Nice tweet, but at this point what we need is a Mug Shot, not a tweet.
[deleted] t1_j94nhnq wrote
To be honest, I would have expected their CEO to be worth billions, not millions
superbbuffalo t1_j967lz3 wrote
PHOTO500 t1_j93gvf6 wrote
Perfect candidate for r/INTERNETFAMOUSFOREVER
fenceman2022 t1_j95veat wrote
You can’t hold him responsible. He is making his way to the accident scene. I believe he will try to do the right thing only to be overruled by the board of directors or whoever is the committee over him. Time will tell.
[deleted] t1_j94itwh wrote
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92prod t1_j93czig wrote
S c a b
Icy-Neck-2422 t1_j92lr41 wrote
His company also brought you your toilet paper and underpants.
Scary_Habit974 t1_j92xr71 wrote
I guess you’re okay with E. Palestine being collateral damage as long as you get to wipe your ass with Charmin?! Disgusting.
End3rWi99in t1_j93f9m8 wrote
Unfortunately train derailments, like any other hazard/disaster cannot be reduced to 0%. The difference we can make is to implement the policies at a national level proposed during the Obama administration which standardizes EBS in freight rail, and invests in continuous improvements to aging rail lines. States themselves do also bear responsibility in ensuring rail infrastructure is held to at least minimal standards of safety, and parts of the line near East Palestine were well below standards. Screaming on the internet about one rich CEO is not how you fix this stuff though. It's how you get laughed at.
Scary_Habit974 t1_j95zhcy wrote
What is laughable is making excuses for irresponsible railroad operators. These companies could make all the necessary operating and infrastructure improvements without a policy change if they wanted to. They won't because they are greedy and would rather spend $ with the lobbyists. Blaming the states without considering that it is the operators doing the MoW work just shows your ignorance.
You can't possibly think setting a fire to hazardous material and let it burn for days is the ONLY way to start cleaning up the mess from the derailment??!
[deleted] t1_j9rf8r0 wrote
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Icy-Neck-2422 t1_j92y4ef wrote
Charmin is too fancy and doesn't offer the grittiness my tender bits required.
It's Aldi TP for me.
Cersad t1_j92w4xa wrote
Which could have just as easily been done if they had actually used appropriate safety measures and were not trying to cut costs by shipping vinyl chloride without hazardous materials documentation.
Pyroechidna1 t1_j94tlq1 wrote
What documentation was missing?
Cersad t1_j978jbc wrote
All of it.
The shipment was not shipped under any sort of hazardous cargo protocol, as I understand it.
Industrial disasters are invariably a result of human choice. We know enough about natural conditions to plan around them.
Pyroechidna1 t1_j979o70 wrote
You’re going to have to be more specific. Hazardous materials are mixed into general manifest trains every day. Information about the materials is included with the train orders. If there is a special “hazardous cargo protocol” that should have applied here, then tell us what that is.
Cersad t1_j97b6om wrote
Your second sentence describes the exact problem. In a lab, every damned chemical you use is documented. Apparently none of that was available from this train: First responders reportedly didn't know what substance was on the train, and that was coupled with the wheels and brakes overheating causing a clear risk of ignition.
The entire shit sandwich seems to have come about from negligence, both of maintenance of the rail cars and from how they loaded these substances slapdash in the train.
I'd argue this clearly shows a need for tighter regulatory requirements on the trains, but I'm also interested to see the reports from the final investigation when the facts become more verifiable.
Pyroechidna1 t1_j97mwye wrote
Hot boxes (the term of art for failed wheel bearings) have been a hazard on the railroad since forever, which is why there are hot box detectors spaced in intervals along the line.
There was nothing “slapdash” about how these materials were included in the makeup of the train, it was a manifest train like any other that runs around the country every day. Watch your local manifests and see which UN placards you can spot. Hazardous tank cars have a placard, a stencil, and an emergency phone number on them.
Cersad t1_j97vniu wrote
You argue it's not slapdash and happens every day, but we wouldn't be discussing it if it weren't a problem.
I think you're dodging the point: current rail standards and practices are evidently insufficient to ensure the safety of the surrounding people and environment.
JaesopPop t1_j930qb0 wrote
We all know you can’t do that without the occasional ecological crisis, right?
[deleted] t1_j9379z6 wrote
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End3rWi99in t1_j93fktx wrote
We have more than enough money to do both. The US was sending resources to Ukraine without even affecting its 2022 military budget. The US spends like 3% of its GDP on military infrastructure. Freight railroads are often a PPP between state/federal/private entities, but legislation needs to exist (and are up to date) to ensure minimal standards are maintained. We've been rolling these standards back since 2016, so this was bound to happen.
[deleted] t1_j93le4d wrote
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halfnelson73 t1_j93hcti wrote
Not to mention Congress just voted to forbid the rail workers to go on strike and sided with the railroad. Smdh.
snerdaferda t1_j92jyam wrote
Never forget the Great Massachusetts There Might Be Dust on My Car Event 2/17/23