Fremont protesters call for rail safety improvements after East Palestine disaster
FREMONT - Protesters gathered at the corner of West State and North Front streets on Wednesday afternoon as trains ran through the city, one even passing the demonstrators, calling for better rail safety regulations following the Feb. 3 derailment and environmental disaster in East Palestine.
“Railroads are a great way to move goods but you have to do it safely,” said Tom Younker, a member of People for Peace and Justice Sandusky County, organizers of the protest. “Do it with not just profit involved but make it safe for the environment, and it can’t just be for the shareholders.”
“If we had the same thing happen here it'd be a disaster," Younker said, referring to the East Palestine train derailment.
“How do we know that this won’t happen here?” said Josie Setzler, another member of People for Peace and Justice who helped organize the downtown protest on Wednesday.
“How are we going to prevent this from happening in any other place?” she asked.
About 20 people came out to protest Wednesday near the railway tracks that cross State Street. More people kept coming after the protest began. Passing cars continued to beep and drivers shouted to show their support of the rail safety rally.
“The railroad workers wanted to go on strike, and I believe they saw the dangers of things like this happening," protester Denny Gamerstfelver said. "If the workers had more control this wouldn’t have happened.”
The protesters said they do not want a disaster in Fremont like the one which occurred in East Palestine, near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border. A Norfolk Southern Railway train that derailed in that Ohio city of 5,000 was carrying hazardous materials, which resulted in the community being evacuated.
Norfolk Southern then set the cars and contents on fire in a controlled burn, which resulted in a monster smoke plume over the community. The Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies are continuing to look into contamination of soil and water in that region.
About 94,000 gallons of contaminated liquid has been hauled from the derailment site to Vickery Environmental, a toxic was storage facility in Sandusky County.
Fremont protestors said they believe that the government is not listening or taking the correct action to prevent future train derailments. One concern they voiced was about cutting back on the number of workers on the trains, with some being are operated by one person and the possibility that future trains could be unmanned.
“The problem is that Congress is allowing hazardous chemicals not to be regulated as strongly as oil on these trains,” Setzler said Wednesday. “They need to monitor the hot boxes, and because they're cutting staff to the bone, they are not as careful as they need to be and we are saying we need more safety regulations in place.”
People for Peace and Justice noted that the train that derailed in East Palestine might have passed through Fremont on its way east.
The group is calling for Congress to pass new rail safety laws and for Norfolk Southern to be held accountable to fully clean up the derailment site and to pay damages to area residents impacted by the toxic contamination of air, water and soil.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Feb. 14 called on Congress to reexamine some of the federal railroad regulations after the derailment in East Palestine.
This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Fremont protesters call for train safety after E. Palestine derailment
