EAST AURORA, N.Y. (WKBW) — Environmental experts call it a 'near miss' after a train derailed in May of 2020 in the East Aurora. What happened in East Palestine Ohio, some 160 miles away, is giving residents the feeling of deja vu.
"Immediately I thought of what happened in East Aurora, I think we were far luckier," said Judy Weidemann, who lived near the tracks at the time.
She's since moved to Orchard Park, but still has concerns about trains with hazardous materials traveling through her neighborhood of 21 years.
"The possibilities of something really terrible happening are real. Look at what happened in Ohio and could happen here or anywhere again," said Weidemann.
Police told 7 News the damage was minimal, but could've been much worse. What we didn't know was the number of tank cars or their contents, information never provided by the Buffalo and Pittsburgh Railroad Company, a local partner for Norfolk Southern, to police.
"The freight company was literally saying will not tell you what is on this train even after it derailed," said David Masur, Executive Director of PennEnvironment who's been researching the risk of these trains for years.
So to learn more information, Weidemann and other concerned community members started train-spotting with help from the WNY Peace Center.
"So we sat on the truck bed in the back and waited for trains to come by. We wrote down the numbers that were on each train. The numbers indicate, whatever that train car is carrying," said Weidemann.
WNY Peace Center conducted their research over several months in 2021 and according to their data, just over 100 of the cars they spotted contained hazardous material.
It's a small percentage, but Masur says the risk remains high.
"This is sort of an accident waiting to happen if we don't put the proper protections into place," said Masur.
What are the solutions?
Masur suggests four solutions:
- Require train companies to report the chemicals they're carrying to local officials
- Make sure the train companies are properly insured
- Recategorize trains so they have to report as "highly hazardous" if they're carrying dangerous chemicals
- Require train companies to have emergency plans
Who's responsible for holding these companies accountable?
Masur says it's the Biden Administration's job right now, between the EPA and the DOT, he's calling on them to act.
As of February 17, the White House says they're working on it. Here's how:
- Managing over $4 billion in grant money to improve rail safety
- DOT is also working on rulemakings to improve rail safety including proposing a rule that would require a minimum of a two-person train crew size for safety reasons
- Developing a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that will require railroads to provide real-time information on the contents of tank cars to authorized emergency response officials responding to or investigating an incident involving the transportation of hazardous materials by rail.
