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NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy speaks during a community meeting with residents on Monday at East Palestine Auditorium. The NTSB will hold a public board meeting today in the village to vote on its final findings of its investigation into the probable cause of last year’s Norfolk Southern train derailment. (Photo by Stephanie Elverd)
EAST PALESTINE — On the eve of today’s meeting in the East Palestine Auditorium the National Travel Safety Board board members will vote on the final findings on a year-long investigation into Norfolk Southern train derailment, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy met with residents during a community meeting on Monday. Homendy expressed hope that today’s public board meeting will help those impacted by the derailment better understand what caused it and what can be done to prevent it from happening again. She also said that the NTSB is committed to seeing the community through.
“We’ve seen a lot of derailments since the NTSB has existed since 1967. It’s hard to compare derailments, but this derailment in particular, we were here on the scene and we’ve been here since day 1,” Homendy said. “And we don’t forget the community. If you need us to help work with you on rail safety, we are going to work with you and advocate for you. We’re not leaving. You have questions and we want to answer those questions.”
Homendy apologized for the rail disaster that left lives turned upside down in its wake.
“This derailment and hazardous material release had a significant impact on the community, not just East Palestine, but on Darlington (Pa.) and the surrounding communities and for so many, and we are so sorry for that,” Homendy said.
Monday’s community meeting was to allow the public a chance to ask questions about the agency’s investigative process. Questions were limited to the process only. A second community meeting will be held today at 6 p.m following the board meeting. At that meeting, residents will be able to ask more specific questions related to the investigations and the findings that were presented by the NTSB.
The purpose of today’s board meeting – which begins at 9:30 a.m. and can also be viewed at NTSB.gov/eastpalestine — is to vote on the investigation’s final findings, probable cause of the derailment, preventative recommendations and any changes to the draft final report. Homendy said that the draft is already “significant” at over 200 pages.
“One of core values is transparency, so we want to make sure you know who we are and what we do. Tomorrow after our final findings and probable cause are made public, you are free to ask any questions about our investigation,” Homendy said. “We will make sure you have the time to ask the questions you want to ask and we have the time to answer them.”
Today’s agenda includes an opening statement from Homendy, staff presentations, discussion rounds, a board member vote and adoption of the final report (expected to be released within the coming weeks). The discussion rounds will cover wheel bearing failures and detections, initial emergency response, hazardous materials and tank-car performance during the derailment, the vent-and-burn and other topics.
The controversial decision to vent-and-burn five tank cars of vinyl chloride will likely be a key part of the NTSB’s discussion rounds as Homendy already called the vent-and burn “unnecessary” in Senate testimony earlier this year. Norfolk Southern, which has stood by the decision, said this week it will examine making similar decisions in the future.
The public meeting comes almost a year to the day of the NTSB’s in-field investigative hearing. That two-day hearing was held last June in the high school gymnasium.
“We have to get out of D.C. but we have to go to communities and sit with communities and be with communities,” Homendy said. “Not everybody can go to D.C. but we can come to you. That was very important to us to come here.”
selverd@mojonews.com
