{"id":2171773,"date":"2024-02-08T20:20:01","date_gmt":"2024-02-09T01:20:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/one-year-after-east-palestine-railroads-almost-ridiculously-profitable-buttigieg-complains\/"},"modified":"2024-02-08T20:31:23","modified_gmt":"2024-02-09T01:31:23","slug":"one-year-after-east-palestine-railroads-almost-ridiculously-profitable-buttigieg-complains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/one-year-after-east-palestine-railroads-almost-ridiculously-profitable-buttigieg-complains\/","title":{"rendered":"Buttigieg laments railroads&#8217; excessive profitability, one year after East Palestine incident"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fone-year-after-east-palestine-railroads-almost-ridiculously-profitable-buttigieg-complains%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2171773&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>President Biden&#8217;s Long-Awaited Visit to East\u200d Palestine<\/h2>\n<p>As\u2062 the one-year mark of the infamous Norfolk Southern 38-car\u2063 train derailment,\u2064 subsequent toxic fire, and \u2063temporary evacuation of East \u2062Palestine,\u200c Ohio, rolled\u200c around,\u200d President Joe Biden still hadn\u2019t visited the small town. But he was coming down the tracks.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThere is no\u200b date yet, but obviously, we\u2019re working with community leaders. We\u2019re working\u200b with the mayor, elected officials, to find \u200dthe \u200bexact time \u200dand day to \u200bgo in February,\u201d White House press secretary Karine \u200bJean-Pierre said \u2063in a late January press conference.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Norfolk Southern \u200dhas reported the total bill\u200b thus far\u200c for the \u200cFeb. 3, 2023, derailment at \u2062about $1.1\u200b billion. It has shed\u2064 some of its workforce to help afford the continuing environmental and\u200d legal costs. Other freight railroads have faced\u200b increased technology costs \u2062to avoid \u200dfuture East Palestine-like disasters, though their profits appeared healthy.<\/p>\n<p>Norfolk was \u2063the \u200bonly one of five North American railroads tracked by the trade publication <em>Railroad Weekly<\/em> with a slight decrease in stock price year-over-year in early February, and even it\u2063 was down \u200cby only .4%.\u2063 Other railroads\u2019 stock performance ran from a 5.2% increase for Canadian\u2062 Pacific Kansas City \u2062at the low end to an 18.1% increase for Union \u200dPacific shares.<\/p>\n<p>One reason \u200dfor the \u2063overall good performance of railroads is that the legislation\u2064 they fear most, the Railway Safety Act of 2023, was still stalled in the Democratic-controlled Senate and \u200dconsidered a dead letter in the \u2064Republican-majority House.<\/p>\n<h3>Transportation \u200cSecretary Pete Buttigieg<\/h3>\n<p>Many Republicans see the bill \u2064not primarily as a safety bill but instead as a sop to railroad unions. Crew size \u200chad nothing to \u200bdo with the East Palestine accident,\u200c but the \u2062bill would lock in a two-man crew requirement, for instance.<\/p>\n<p>The proposal would also give immense\u200b power to Transportation\u200c Secretary\u200c Pete Buttigieg. Perhaps not\u200d coincidentally, he has been lobbying for\u200c the bill\u2019s passage.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Amtrak\u200b Joe no more<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>However, the business forecast\u200b does not necessarily\u200d call for clear locomoting \u200dbecause the politics of\u200c rail are tricky, \u200cand this\u200b is\u200c an election year.<\/p>\n<p>Just after the \u2063anniversary of the derailment, the Association of American Railroads issued a warning to the Biden administration. This shot across the bow was in the form of a letter by AAR President Ian Jefferies to Buttigieg.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The\u2064 railroads\u2019\u200d letter to the head of the Department of Transportation called it \u201cdisheartening to hear those \u200bwho know better misrepresent \u2062the\u200c industry\u2019s safety record \u2014 and its continuing efforts to become even safer \u2014\u2062 in furtherance of their own agendas.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Though he was not called\u200d out by name, it was crystal clear Buttigieg \u2062was one of \u201cthose who know better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To wit: \u201cThere was a\u200b time when this \u2062country tolerated multiple thousands of derailments \u2064per year,\u201d Buttigieg said in\u2062 an NPR interview that ran Feb. 3. \u201cNow, even after all the reforms that \u2063have happened over the years, we\u2019re still standing at roughly a thousand a year.\u200c That means every single\u2064 day, on average, more than one derailment takes place. \u2026\u2062 And yet [the railroads] are incredibly profitable, almost ridiculously profitable, which means that the only pressure they\u2019re going to get from shareholders is to keep it up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jefferies shot back: \u201cSome like to cite figures such as \u20181,000 derailments \u200dper year\u2019 because it \u2063sounds\u200c alarming. But the reality, which you well know, is that more than three-quarters of \u200bthose derailments are in rail \u2064yards\u200c or other \u200dlow-speed tracks, akin to fender benders,\u200c not on\u2062 the\u2064 main rail lines that \u2062carry freight around\u200b the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He added, \u201cIt is\u200b hard to see how the public interest \u2063is\u200d served by allowing\u2062 the false \u200cnotion that there are 1,000 East Palestine-type \u200dderailments \u2063a year to pervade public understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The railroads were optimistic about the Biden administration at the outset \u2014 \u2062with some reason. The president was\u2063 known \u200cas Amtrak Joe due to his frequent trips to and from Delaware by rail when he was a senator for 36 years. He supported the Staggers Rail \u2062Act\u2062 of 1980, which \u2063made \u200cmodern, highly competitive freight rail possible, and\u2062 had been \u200bgenerally supportive of\u200b rail.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPresident\u2062 Biden\u2019s made it clear he\u2019s a big rail \u200bfan, front and\u200b center,\u201d Jefferies told the Washington \u200cExaminer \u200cin a \u200bMarch\u200c 2021 interview. \u200b\u201cHe\u2019s\u200b an Amtrak fan, but\u2064 he\u2019s also said very\u2063 supportive things of freight rail in general. \u2026\u200b When we look \u2064at \u200bthe kind of the macrolevel goals of the administration, whether it\u2019s infrastructure investment, environmental performance,\u200b good-paying jobs, safe transportation,\u2064 rail\u2019s right there at\u2064 the\u2064 front and center of all\u200c those priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As for Buttigieg, the AAR president said at\u2062 the time, \u201cWe\u2019ve had the\u200c opportunity to sit down\u2062 with him in an introductory fashion, and I think we have a lot \u200dof similar shared goals.\u201d He believed that Buttigieg was likely to \u201coperate \u200cin that same vein [as the president].\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Conflict coming down the tracks?<\/h2>\n<p>It wasn\u2019t only the East Palestine disaster that seemingly \u200dsoured the president on rail and the \u2063railroads \u2062on the Biden administration, though that didn\u2019t help matters. Various players \u200dappointed by the president have been \u2063making things extremely difficult \u200cfor the railroads.<\/p>\n<p>Most famously, two Biden appointees to the \u200dNational Mediation Board worked to declare an \u201cimpasse\u201d at an \u2062early point in negotiations between the railroads and the railroad unions in June 2022 that was, historically, unprecedented. This led to the serious threat of\u200c a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mcconnell-rips-dems-for-blocking-gop-railroad-bill-that-would-avoid-nationwide-strike\/\" title=\"McConnell Rips Dems For Blocking GOP Railroad Bill That Would Avoid Nationwide Strike\">national rail strike<\/a>, an eleventh-hour deal with record-high pay for workers that \u2064several unions rejected anyway, and \u200cfurther threats of a strike \u200bthat had to be \u200bput down by \u2062an act of Congress.<\/p>\n<p>There have been\u2063 many more conflicts between various agencies of the \u2063Biden administration and the railroads. A draft paper with the ungainly \u200ctitle \u201cThe Ascertainable Standards That Guide and \u200bLimit the Surface Transportation Board\u2019s Authority Over the Railroads\u201d looks at several of these conflicts \u2062and argues they could spell trouble \u2026 for the \u200bregulators.<\/p>\n<p>Authored by Bernard Sharfman, a research fellow at George Mason University\u2019s law school, the paper looks\u200c at four complex \u200cmatters taken \u200cup by the Surface Transportation Board. Those matters are a proposed\u2062 rule\u200b on \u201cmandatory reciprocal switching,\u201d added \u201crevenue adequacy constraints\u201d for \u2063rate setting, a recent decision on \u201ccommon carrier\u201d \u200dobligations, and \u2063regulatory meddling \u2063in stock buybacks.<\/p>\n<p>The paper finds in the National Transportation Safety Board\u2019s actions \u201ca \u2062tendency by the current Board to prefer regulation over private contracting,\u201d which could be \u201cin direct conflict with the [Staggers] Act\u2019s primary\u200c objective of minimizing regulation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Biden appointees ignoring this objective of the main law governing railroads could\u2064 incline a \u201creviewing court\u201d to determine that the\u200c NTSB \u201chas acted in an \u2018arbitrary and capricious\u2019 manner or has crossed the boundaries of \u2064its\u200d statutory \u200cauthority \u200bunder the Administrative Procedures \u2064Act,\u201d Sharfman warns.<\/p>\n<p>Normally, one legal researcher\u2019s opinion would be\u2063 just that. But these are highly polarized\u2062 times for \u2063business as well as politics. The study could be a \u200dcudgel if the railroads decide to litigate.<\/p>\n<p>To\u200c counter Biden administration regulators\u2019\u200d tendency to push\u2064 the envelope, \u2064some firms have started \u200bpushing back in court. Rulings by the National Labor Relations\u200c Board, for instance, have prompted\u200d some \u200dbusinesses \u2063to challenge the \u2062basic constitutional \u200cstructure \u2064of their regulator. The railroads could follow that same track.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2> What is the \u2063current state of the relationship between the railroads and the Biden administration, and how\u2064 might it affect the future of the railway industry<\/h2>\n<p><span>  The \u2063<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fox-news-eviscerate-joe-biden-for-what-he-did-while-in-maui-totally-inappropriate\/\" title=\"Fox News slams Joe Biden's actions in Maui as 'completely inappropriate'.\">long-awaited visit<\/a> of \u2063President Joe\u2062 Biden to East Palestine, \u200bOhio, is finally approaching. It has been almost a year since the Norfolk Southern 38-car train derailment, toxic fire, and temporary evacuation that plagued the small town.\u2062 The president&#8217;s visit comes \u2064as the community is still recovering from the incident \u2063and seeking answers and support.<\/p>\n<p>White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced in late January that the visit would\u200c take place in February, although an\u200d exact date has \u200byet to be determined. The president&#8217;s arrival is eagerly anticipated by community leaders, \u2064elected officials, and residents \u200cwho have been waiting for this \u2064moment.<\/p>\n<p>The Norfolk Southern derailment on February \u200b3, 2023, incurred significant financial costs. The total bill for the incident has reached approximately $1.1 billion. To \u200bmanage the ongoing environmental\u200b and legal expenses, Norfolk Southern has implemented layoffs, impacting their\u200c workforce. Other \u2062freight railroads have also faced increased technology\u200d costs to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/aircraft-crash-that-killed-five-marines-occurred-due-to-catastrophic-mechanical-failure\/\" title=\"Five Marines died in an aircraft crash caused by a severe mechanical failure.\">prevent similar accidents<\/a> in the future. Despite these \u2062challenges, the\u200d profits of most railroads have remained healthy, with only Norfolk Southern\u200c experiencing a\u2064 slight decrease in stock\u2064 price compared to previous years.<\/p>\n<p>One reason for the overall good performance of \u200brailroads is the stalled legislation known as the Railway Safety Act of\u200d 2023. This bill, which railroads \u200dfear, \u200chas yet to make progress in the Democratic-controlled Senate and is considered unlikely\u200c to pass through the Republican-majority\u200c House. The bill&#8217;s requirements, such as crew size \u2062regulations, are viewed by \u2063many Republicans as favors to\u2063 railroad unions \u2062rather \u200bthan genuine\u200b safety measures.<\/p>\n<p>One prominent figure involved in pushing for the bill&#8217;s \u2063passage is Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. However, the politics surrounding the railway industry are complex,\u2063 especially\u200d in an \u2064election year. The Association of American Railroads (AAR), in a letter to Buttigieg, expressed disappointment in the misrepresentation of the \u200bindustry&#8217;s \u200dsafety record and the bill&#8217;s potential consequences.<\/p>\n<p>Buttigieg&#8217;s previous statements about the frequency of derailments sparked\u200d a back-and-forth between him \u2064and AAR President \u200dIan Jefferies. Buttigieg&#8217;s\u200b assertion that over a \u200bthousand derailments \u200coccur annually was met with \u200ba counterargument from Jefferies, who\u2064 clarified that the majority of these incidents \u200care minor and mostly happen in rail yards or low-speed tracks.<\/p>\n<p>The railroads initially had high hopes \u200bfor the Biden\u2063 administration due to the president&#8217;s long-standing\u200d support for rail transportation. President \u2064Biden, known as &#8220;Amtrak Joe&#8221; due to his\u200c frequent use\u2064 of trains during his time as a senator, had been\u2062 vocal about his \u200bsupport for \u200drail-related initiatives. The rail industry believed that the administration shared their goals of \u200dinvesting in infrastructure, \u200dpromoting \u2062environmental performance, and creating\u200b well-paying jobs.<\/p>\n<p>However, recent actions by some Biden appointees have strained the relationship\u2062 between the \u200bindustry and\u2064 the administration. Two appointees to the National Mediation Board\u200c declared an impasse in \u200bnegotiations between the \u2064railroads and unions, leading to the possibility of\u200b a national \u2063rail strike. \u2064Despite reaching a last-minute\u2063 agreement with \u200brecord-high pay for workers, several\u200c unions rejected the deal, further complicating the situation.<\/p>\n<p>As President Biden&#8217;s \u200dvisit to East Palestine \u2062approaches, tensions between the railroads and the\u2063 administration continue to simmer. The outcome of this conflict could have significant implications for the future\u2063 of \u200bthe railway industry and its relationship with\u2064 the government. The small town\u2064 of\u200b East Palestine anxiously awaits the president&#8217;s arrival and hopes that his visit will\u200d provide the support and attention the community \u2062needs to recover from the devastating derailment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Joe Biden is set to visit East Palestine, Ohio, where a train derailment and toxic fire occurred a year ago. Although no specific date has been announced, the president is collaborating with community leaders to plan the visit<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2692,"featured_media":2171774,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Biz.Cover_.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2171773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Biz.Cover_.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2171773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2692"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2171773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2171773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2171774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2171773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2171773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2171773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}