Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, delivered the below opening statement during the hearing on rail safety and the aftermath of the Norfolk Southern February 3^rd hazardous East Palestine train derailment.  The Committee heard opening remarks from Ohio Senators Sherrod Brown and J.D. Vance, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and East Palestine resident Misti Allison. The Committee heard testimony and questioned several witnesses, including Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy, Ohio Western Reserve Joint Fire District Chief David Comstock, Ohio State SMART-TD Legislative Director Clyde Whitaker and Association of American Railroads CEO Ian Jefferies.

“The town of East Palestine, Ohio, experienced a hazardous materials event that no community should have to suffer from,” said Sen. Cantwell. “These derailments have occurred during a concerning trend. We can't have railroads adopt operating models focused on just cutting cost to achieve higher profits and then have higher accident rates. We need to invest in the modernization of equipment that will provide the safety we need.”

During her opening remarks, Sen. Cantwell also addressed the recent BNSF train derailment in her home state of Washington and emphasized the urgent need for bipartisan rail safety legislation.

“Let me be clear. This hearing is not only about the East Palestine derailment. Less than a week ago, a Burlington Northern Santa Fe train derailed in my State of Washington, on the Swinomish Reservation in Skagit County, spilling 5,000 gallons of diesel near the Padilla Bay waterfront, a very sensitive aquatic ecosystem, said Sen. Cantwell. “These are important issues for all of America. And we look forward to working in a bipartisan basis on this problem.”

Watch Sen. Cantwell Opening Remarks

Senator Cantwell’s Remarks as Delivered

The Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee will come to order for the purposes of a hearing. We are here this morning, at the full committee, for improving rail safety in response to the East Palestine derailment.

On February 3rd, the town of East Palestine, Ohio, experienced a hazardous materials event that no community should have to suffer from. A Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous materials crashed just outside the town and 38 cars – more than a quarter of the train – derailed.

Plastic pellets from one of the derailed cars caught fire which engulfed other rail cars including five carrying vinyl chloride. After burning for two days, authorities became concerned the vinyl chloride in one of the tank cars was undergoing a chemical reaction that made it a bigger and more dangerous. The authorities then initiated a controlled burn of the remaining vinyl chloride in five tanks to prevent a greater catastrophe.

Two thousand residents were forced to evacuate, and a community was forever changed. We look forward to hearing the witnesses and especially appreciate the Palestine Moms for their leadership and we look forward to hearing from Ms. Allison this morning.

Let me be clear. This hearing is not only about the East Palestine derailment. Less than a week ago, a Burlington Northern Santa Fe train derailed in my State of Washington, on the Swinomish Reservation in Skagit County, spilling 5,000 gallons of diesel near the Padilla Bay waterfront, a very sensitive aquatic ecosystem.

These are important issues for all of America. And we look forward to working in a bipartisan basis on this problem.

Fire Chief Comstock, I know will be testifying, and he knows better that a fire department needs to deal with the hazardous materials. And we will be asking you what Congress can do to better equip the firefighters who have to respond.

These derailments have occurred during a concerning trend. That is, we can't have railroads adopt operating models focused on just cutting cost to achieve higher profits and then have higher accident rates. We need to invest in the modernization of equipment that will provide the safety we need.

From 2017 to 2021, railroads cut their workforce by 22% and reduced investment in the network by 24%. And at the same time, accident rates increased by 14%. We will dive into these details today to better understand what that is about.

Today we will hear from senators Brown and Vance about their bipartisan legislation, the Railway Safety Act of 2023, and from Ohio Governor Mike DeWine about his experience in responding to the derailment. We will hear from as I mentioned earlier East Palestine resident Misti Allison, who will give a firsthand account of how the derailment impacted her community.

We will also hear from a second panel of witnesses who will speak to rail and hazardous materials safety policy failures that contributed to the derailment and what steps are necessary to protect communities, employees and the environment.

NTSB chair Homendy will be here and I look forward to asking her about their agency's recommendations to improve rail safety, and about what investments in detection devices are necessary. Mr. Whitaker, you and your coworkers who have raised questions about safety, we'll hear from you about why you believe these concerns have gone unaddressed. And we will hear from Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw, about these trends and what he is going to do to ensure that 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 we requested.

I have to say BNSF 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 introduced legislation in 2015 that has some of the same provisions that we now see in the Brown-Vance bill. I wish some of those would have been implemented sooner. Our two colleagues, though, are working very diligently to make this a top priority here in Congress and working hard to represent these communities.

I believe that our committee can work in a bipartisan fashion to improve rail safety, but it shouldn't go unnoticed that the same issues are plaguing us in other areas of transportation. If you want to have the safest system, you have to have the most modernized equipment, workforce standards, and you have to continue to improve safety.