East Palestine: From Deregulation to Derailment with The Lever’s Rebecca Burns

In this episode, I speak with The Lever’s Rebecca Burns about the explosive Norfolk Southern train derailment that produced a toxic mushroom cloud over East Palestine, Ohio. We talk through the events that unfolded on February 3rd when train cars carrying over a million pounds of hazardous chemicals went off the tracks, explaining how this nightmare was a product of corporate greed. 

Rebecca outlines the regulatory failures that led to this disaster. We discuss the role that the chemical and rail lobbies have played in creating the unsafe conditions for this catastrophic derailment. Rather than investing in maintenance, their workforce, or upgrades to Civil War-era breaking systems, railroad companies like Norfolk Southern have been sinking their growing profits into executive pay and stock buybacks.

The 7 largest freight railroad companies in the US (including Norfolk Southern) spent $191 billion on stock buybacks and shareholder dividends from 2011-2021. At the very same time, these companies were firing workers like crazy, slashing their workforces by 30%. In so many ways, this preventable corporate disaster was directly connected to the labor movement and the crushing of the rail worker strike by the Biden administration. While these workers had been asking for paid time off, the railroad industry has refused to offer reasonable schedules, forcing workers to abide by their draconian model of “precision scheduled railroading.”

We also discuss the human side of this corporate catastrophe, including the health impacts on the people of East Palestine and the noble efforts of locals like the folks at River Valley Organizing to stand up for the wellbeing of those in the affected area. 

The Lever Cocktail 

45 ml Gin

15 ml Suze bitter aperitif 

15 ml honey 

22 ml lemon juice 

30 ml turmeric tea blend 

Brew turmeric tea using 2 tea bags to make a strong brew. Let tea cool and then add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker. Shake with ice. Strain into a rocks glass with cubed ice and garnish with a lemon slice and a sprinkle of Cayenne pepper.


RESOURCES:

The Lever levernews.com

Rebecca Burns in The Lever & on Twitter

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