Norfolk Southern President and CEO Alan Shaw apologized for the train derailment and chemical spill impacting East Palestine, Ohio, but shied away from giving specific commitments on safety and worker sick leave at Thursday's Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works hearing.
The CEO testified before the Senate panel following the February derailment that released hazardous materials, while earlier another Norfolk Southern train derailed on Thursday morning in Alabama, marking the railroad company's third derailment since last month. Approximately 30 Norfolk Southern cars were involved, but they did not contain hazardous materials. No injuries were reported.
"I am deeply sorry for the impact this derailment has had on the people of East Palestine and surrounding communities, and I am determined to make it right," Shaw said in his opening statement.
Shaw told the panel that Norfolk Southern submitted a long-term removal plan that will guide their testing program for the community's water, air, and soil in an effort to clean the site safely and with urgency.
Additionally, he shared that Norfolk Southern has committed to reimbursements and investments of more than $20 million and said the company will be learning from the accident and working with public officials and the industry to improve railroad safety.
"We have already launched a series of immediate steps to enhance safety" based on the National Transportation Safety Board's preliminary report, Shaw testified.
The National Transportation Safety Board had found that an overheating bearing was likely the mechanical failure that led to the East Palestine derailment.
Still, throughout the hearing, several senators expressed frustration over Shaw's vague answers to their questions about specifics regarding safety protocols, compensating the local community, and ongoing railworker health issues.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), for instance, asked Shaw if he would commit to guarantee paid sick days to all Norfolk Southern workers.
"I will commit to continuing to discuss with them important quality of life issues," Shaw responded.
Sanders replied, "With all due respect, you sound like a politician here."
"Paid sick days is not a radical concept in the year 2023," he continued. "I'm not hearing you make that commitment to guarantee that to all of your workers."
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
William Falcon, CEO and Founder of Lightning AI, discusses the ongoing feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman, and how everyday people can use AI in their lives.
U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum “will not go unanswered,” European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen vowed on Tuesday, adding that they will trigger toug
The Trump administration has ordered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to stop nearly all its work, effectively shutting down the agency that was created to protect consumers after the 2008 financial crisis and subprime mortgage-lending scandal. Russell Vought is the newly installed director of the Office of Management and Budget. Vought directed the CFPB in a Saturday night email to stop work on proposed rules, to suspend the effective dates on any rules that were finalized but not yet effective, and to stop investigative work and not begin any new investigations. The agency has been a target of conservatives since President Barack Obama created it following the 2007-2008 financial crisis.