Can you ‘make it right’ after a toxic train disaster?

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Mar 09, 2023 View in browser   By Charlie Mahtesian Norfolk Southern President and CEO Alan Shaw testifies before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. | Francis Chung/POLITICO HARD SELL — It’s been over a month since a toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, sparked a massive fireball, an evacuation of local residents and concerns about a budding ecological disaster. The train wreck led to intense criticism over Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s response to the crisis, but also focused scrutiny on Norfolk Southern — which operated the chemical-carrying,150-car train — and past Republican actions that rolled back Obama administration rail safety regulations. Amid ongoing investigations, today marked the first congressional hearing on the catastrophe in northeastern Ohio. Nightly spoke to POLITICO Transportation editor Kathryn A. Wolfe to get some perspective on prospects for a bipartisan rail safety bill — and the politics standing in the way. What did we learn from today’s congressional hearing on the derailment? That, like in so many parts of life and politics, agreement frays the closer you look. Everybody agrees that trains should be safe, and that the communities that live near tracks should be safe. I live close to the CSX track that runs out of Washington, D.C.’s Union Station, so I pay extra attention to this topic myself. But rifts form when you start asking questions about how the government should ensure that safety — or who is responsible when something goes wrong. You saw those cracks at the hearing today. And while there was plenty of blame to go around, where each party primarily focused its finger-pointing was clear. Democrats went after Norfolk Southern. And Republicans went after the Environmental Protection Agency. Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw was one of the witnesses today. What kind of reception — or grilling — did he get from committee members? Shaw didn’t have any defenders on the committee today, but he started out with what lawmakers most wanted to hear: contrition for what happened and a promise to “make it right.” He talked a lot — and, with conviction — about how much time he had spent in East Palestine, and how he’s sat in the living rooms of families who were worried and angry. But again, the devil’s in the details. What does it mean to “make it right?” Democrats asked repeatedly for specific promises — about reimbursing the community for tanked home values, about whether Norfolk Southern will commit to paying for peoples’ long-term health care costs. His response was typically that his company would do “what’s right.” “All of us are committed to doing what’s right,” Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) shot back at one point. In the early days after the East Palestine crash, it appeared as if there was bipartisan support for new rail safety measures. Is that still the case or are partisan fault lines forming? I think this bill, with the mandates that it includes, was always going to be a hard sell especially in a divided Congress. From the start, Republicans in the House, including those responsible for rail oversight, have been saying they want to wait until crash probes that could take up to a year-and-a-half are done before trying to change the law. And it’s not just the House — just this week the second most senior Republican senator, John Thune of South Dakota, also said he wanted to take it slow. There wasn’t anything in the hearing to dissuade me from that view. It’s not impossible, especially with the White House backing the bill. But it seems like long odds to me. The rail lobby is among the more muscular interests in Washington and has been able to beat back rail safety and other regulatory efforts in the past. Is there any evidence suggesting this time will be any different? We’re still in early days, but not that I’ve seen. Norfolk Southern and the freight rail trade group, the Association of American Railroads, have pledged to shore up safety in a narrowly-tailored way — focused on what appears to be the preliminary cause of the derailment, which was an overheating wheel that wasn’t detected soon enough. I’ve seen nothing that would suggest to me that railroads have any intention of dropping opposition to broader safety changes that advocates have been calling for, for decades at this point — like more advanced braking systems, and crew size minimums. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com. Or contact tonight’s author at cmahtesian@politico.com or on Twitter at @PoliticoCharlie.   STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today.     What'd I Miss? — George Santos masterminded 2017 ATM fraud, former roommate tells feds: Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) orchestrated a 2017 credit card skimming operation in Seattle, the man who was convicted of the fraud and deported to Brazil said in a sworn declaration submitted to federal authorities Wednesday. “I am coming forward today to declare that the person in charge of the crime of credit card fraud when I was arrested was George Santos / Anthony Devolder,” Gustavo Ribeiro Trelha wrote in the declaration. — McConnell hospitalized for concussion: Mitch McConnell is being treated for a concussion and will remain in the hospital for several days after a fall, according to a statement from his office. David Popp, a McConnell spokesperson, said today that “Leader McConnell tripped at a dinner event Wednesday evening and has been admitted to the hospital and is being treated for a concussion,” before adding “he is expected to remain in the hospital for a few days of observation and treatment.” — ‘Spill’ of classified info derails Proud Boys trial: Federal prosecutors inadvertently disclosed likely classified material to Proud Boys defense attorneys, Justice Department officials indicated today, a snafu that has derailed — for at least a full day — the most important trial to emerge from the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The admission in court by a top DOJ official came in connection with testimony from FBI Special Agent Nicole Miller, one of the lead investigators in the Proud Boys case. — Vallas dissed Biden and Obama in Chicago: One of two Democrats left standing in the race for Chicago mayor, Paul Vallas, went on a conservative radio show last year and mocked the last two Democratic presidents. In the nation’s third-largest city, where Barack Obama remains a revered figure, it could end up tipping the balance. Nightly Road to 2024 THE IOWA BOOK TOUR — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will be in Des Moines, Iowa, meeting with Republican lawmakers on Friday, according to Bloomberg. His trip falls in the midst of a national tour promoting his new book “The Courage to Be Free,” but the stop in Iowa, still the first in the nation caucus state for Republicans, further advances speculation that DeSantis will soon announce he is running for president. WHY NOT HER? — After announcing her longshot candidacy for president on March 4, Marianne Williamson sat down for an interview with The Nation’s John Nichols. They discussed her vision for the country, her frustrations with the Democratic Party, and if she could actually, somehow, pull off a victory on her second try. “Anything is possible,” she argued. CARTEL CONSENSUS — The entire GOP presidential field is rallying around a new idea: designating drug cartels as terrorist organizations. Every declared Republican presidential candidate told RealClearPolitics that they support this idea, as more fentanyl coming across the U.S.-Mexico border has led to an increase in drug-related violence. The White House doesn’t believe the designation will help with the problem; “Designating these cartels as [foreign terrorist organizations] would not grant us any additional authorities that we don’t really have at this time,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Wednesday.   DOWNLOAD THE POLITICO MOBILE APP: Stay up to speed with the newly updated POLITICO mobile app, featuring timely political news, insights and analysis from the best journalists in the business. The sleek and navigable design offers a convenient way to access POLITICO's scoops and groundbreaking reporting. Don’t miss out on the app you can rely on for the news you need, reimagined. DOWNLOAD FOR iOS– DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID.     AROUND THE WORLD Gas emanating from a leak on the Nord Stream gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea. | Swedish Coast Guard via Getty Images WHODUNIT? Nearly six months after the subsea gas pipeline explosions which sent geopolitical shockwaves around the world, there is still no conclusive answer to the question of who blew up Nord Stream, writes Charlie Cooper. Since the day of the attack, four states — Russia, the U.S., Ukraine and the U.K. — have been publicly blamed for the explosions, with varying degrees of evidence. In the information vacuum since, various theories have surfaced as to the culprit and their motive. Theory 1: Putin, the energy bully — In the days immediately after the attack, the working assumption of many analysts in the West was that this was a brazen act of intimidation on the part of Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin. Blowing up Nord Stream, in this reading of the situation, was a final declaration of Russia’s willingness to cut off Europe’s gas supply indefinitely. Theory 2: The Brits did it — From the beginning, Russian leaders have insinuated that either Ukraine or its Western allies were behind the attack. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said two days after the explosions that accusations of Russian culpability were “quite predictable and predictably stupid.” Theory 3: U.S. black ops — In February, with formal investigations in Germany, Sweden and Denmark still yet to report, an article by the U.S. investigative journalist Seymour Hersh triggered a new wave of speculation. Hersh’s allegation: U.S. forces blew up Nord Stream on direct orders from President Joe Biden. Theory 4: The mystery boatmen — The latest clues — following reports on Tuesday from the New York Times and German media — center on a boat, six people with forged passports and the tiny Danish island of Christiansø. According to these reports, a boat that set sail from the German port of Rostock, later stopping at Christiansø, is at the center of the Nord Stream investigations. Nightly Number $6.9 trillion The cost of Biden’s proposed budget, released today. The plan, which has no chance of passing Congress, is nevertheless an opening salvo in negotiations and a potential campaign blueprint for 2024 — it proposes tax hikes on the wealthiest Americans and corporations, the most funding ever for the military and $3 trillion in deficit-slashing policies over a decade. Radar Sweep UNUSUAL MORTALITY EVENTS — Between December 2016 and February 2017, 10 whales washed up along a 200-mile stretch spanning Virginia and North Carolina. The spate of deaths marked the beginning of what is called an “unusual mortality event.” And after a slight decline, deaths appear to be spiking again; between December 2022 and March 2023, 16 more whales were found stranded or near shorelines from North Carolina to New York. The causes of these whale deaths are still somewhat of a mystery, but some politicians and activists are advancing a theory — that they relate at least in part to the development of offshore wind turbines. Andrew S. Lewis reports for Yale Environment 360. Parting Image On this day in 1981: Hundreds of United Mine Workers union members gather outside UMW headquarters in Washington to begin a day-long protest against the Reagan administration’s proposed cuts in black lung benefits. | AP Photo Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter Charlie Mahtesian @PoliticoCharlie Calder McHugh @calder_mchugh Katherine Long @katherinealong Ari Hawkins @_AriHawkins   Follow us

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