So far, the rollback of Trump’s regulations is not to blame for the Ohio train wreck

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“I had nothing to do with that.”

— Former president Donald Trump, asked about criticism of his rollback of rail regulations, in East Palestine, Ohio, Feb.

Trump’s comment during his tour of East Palestine was widely interpreted as saying he had nothing to do with regulatory rollbacks during his presidency – an odd statement since he often celebrates how many regs he has removed. (He often exaggerates the impact of his record, but that’s another story.)

Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, said Trump was speaking more generally about regulatory changes that were wrongly blamed for the derailment of 38 train cars, including 11 carrying hazardous materials, in East Palestine on Feb. It has been suggested that the Trump administration has caved under pressure from rail industry lobbyists, laying the groundwork for an accident.

We decided to review every possible regulatory change made under Trump that might be related to the accident and examine whether it might have an impact. A preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the incident, said Norfolk Southern crews received an alert about an overheated wheel bearing and were trying to slow the train before it left the tracks.

From our analysis, none of the regulatory changes made during the Trump administration at this point can be cited as contributing to the accident.

Electronically controlled pneumatic brakes

On long trains, these “ECP” brakes, which use electronic signals along the length of a train, are considered superior to an older braking system that uses compressed air to one stop each vehicle. The Trump administration in 2017 repealed an Obama-era rule that would have required ECP brakes on “high hazard” trains carrying flammable hazardous materials. The Government Accountability Office report cast doubt on the Department of Transportation’s estimates of the benefits from the requirement.

The GAO study was a requirement included, at the behest of industry, in a 2015 law signed by Obama, the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, after dozens of trains carrying oil and ethanol. The accidents include one in 2013 in Quebec that killed 47 people and destroyed the town of Lac-Megantic. The Trump DOT concluded that the revised estimates found that the costs outweighed the benefits. The Associated Press later discovered that the DOT estimate had miscalculated the potential benefits — what officials claimed at the time was an “inadvertent error.” Even with the correction, the department still says the costs outweigh the benefits.

The Biden administration has not moved to restore the rule, which would have gone into effect starting in 2021 had Trump not suspended it.

Derailment relevance: Minimal. The train is not equipped with ECP brakes; instead its air brakes used dynamic braking — electric traction motors acting as generators, slowing the train and dissipating mechanical energy as heat. When the crew received the alert about the overheated wheel bearing and turned on the dynamic brakes, an automatic emergency brake application began to stop the train, the NTSB said. That’s a full application of the train’s main air brakes that occurs when the train senses that the air-brake hoses between the rail cars are disconnected — indicating that the train has derailed.

NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said on Twitter that the lifted rule was unrelated to the accident. “The ECP braking rule will ONLY apply to HIGH HAZARD FLAMMABLE TRAIN. The train that derailed in East Palestine was a MIXED FREIGHT TRAIN containing only 3 placarded Class 3 flammable liquid cars,” he wrote. “This means that even if the rule had been in effect, the train that it won’t have ECP brakes.”

But Cynthia Quarterman, who helped write the rule as administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration during the Obama administration, told The Fact Checker that if the rule had not been delayed and then stopped, she believes the brakes would have of ECP may have been widely adopted by the industry and may have gone on this train.

The Trump administration in 2020 issued a rule that extended how long a freight rail train could be parked with its air brake system depressurized before requiring a new brake inspection. The rule allowed US trains to be off air for 24 hours, similar to a rule in place in Canada since 2008; before the rule change, the limit was four hours. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) estimated that the change would result in 110,000 fewer brake inspections, saving the industry $500 million over 10 years.

Relation to derailment: Unclear. It has not yet been determined that the braking system played a role in the accident.

Two person crew required

After the Lac-Megantic crash, with only one crew on the train, the Obama administration in 2016 proposed a rule to require two-person crews on all trains. The Trump administration withdrew the proposal in 2019, saying “no direct conclusions can be drawn about the impact on the safety of train crews” in the Lac-Megantic or other accidents. The Biden administration has said it will seek to revive the rule.

Relation to derailment: None. The 149-car train that derailed had two crew members including a trainee on board.

Minimum train safety requirements

The Trump administration in 2020 revised the minimum safety requirements for the railroad, which among other measures allowed for faster inspections.

Relation to derailment: None. The NTSB inspected the tracks, and the preliminary report did not mention any problems.

The FRA regulates the safety of railroads, and railroad companies are responsible for maintaining and inspecting the tracks. Under the Obama administration, the FRA in 2015 began audits known as the Crude Oil Route Track Examination (CORTEx) program, sending dozens of additional inspectors to specific regions to conduct track inspections of crude oil route. The last audit was in 2018, and the program was not renewed for the rest of the Trump administration.

In 2021, the Biden administration launched a different audit program focused on railroad companies, starting with the Union Pacific Railroad.

Relation to derailment: None. In 2022, the FRA conducted an audit of Norfolk Southern, the company involved in the Ohio incident, and made several recommendations for improvement. “FRA noted inconsistencies in NS’s operational testing and inspection program, from the access and accuracy of records, to the methods and processes used to prioritize testing rules that prevent accidents,” the audit said. “Failure to properly manage and implement an operational testing program can reduce the capacity to correct accident/incident and injury trends.”

Deregulation of ethylene oxide

The Trump administration, bowing to industry pressure, has ignored federal scientists and adopted weaker standards for regulating emissions of ethylene oxide, a dangerous air pollutant that can cause lymphoid damage. and breast cancer. The Biden administration has said it will reconsider the rule.

Ethylene oxide is used in the production of ethylene glycol, a toxic chemical used in hydraulic brake fluids, antifreeze, inks and paints. Ethylene glycol, generally a clear, syrupy liquid, was found near the derailment site.

Relation to derailment: None. The rule concerns the emissions of chemical plants, not the synthetic chemical released in the accident.

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