{"id":1005478,"date":"2023-02-25T16:27:37","date_gmt":"2023-02-25T16:27:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jacobin.com\/2023\/02\/mike-dewine-ohio-east-palestine-train-cleanup-industry-ties\/"},"modified":"2023-02-25T16:30:29","modified_gmt":"2023-02-25T16:30:29","slug":"ohio-governor-mike-dewine-is-refusing-to-call-the-derailment-in-east-palestine-a-disaster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/02\/25\/ohio-governor-mike-dewine-is-refusing-to-call-the-derailment-in-east-palestine-a-disaster\/","title":{"rendered":"Ohio Governor Mike DeWine is Refusing to Call the Derailment in East Palestine a Disaster"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n\n\n\n

Ohio governor Mike DeWine is bungling the cleanup after the recent train derailment in East Palestine, which released harmful pollutants. His refusal to announce a disaster declaration is grounds for scrutiny of his connections to the railroad industry.<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n \n
\n Mike DeWine, governor of Ohio, speaks during a news conference in East Palestine, Ohio, on February 21, 2023. (Matthew Hatcher \/ Bloomberg via Getty Images)\n <\/figcaption> \n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n \n

Republican Ohio governor Mike DeWine has pledged that Norfolk Southern will be held accountable for the February 3 train derailment disaster<\/a> in East Palestine, Ohio, to ensure the community is properly protected from the toxic chemicals released into the air and water.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re the ones who created the problem,\u201d said DeWine on February 7, four days after the accident. \u201cIt\u2019s their liability. They\u2019re the ones who ought to pay for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

But DeWine has refused to issue a disaster declaration that would send much-needed federal resources to East Palestine and draw attention to the Norfolk Southern accident. He has also failed to ensure that the railroad giant paid the price for two other derailments in his state earlier this year.<\/p>\n

The governor\u2019s failure to act raises questions about his management of the crisis \u2014 and the influence of his close ties to Norfolk Southern\u2019s Ohio lobbying firm, which just so happens to be at the center of what federal prosecutors have called \u201clikely the largest bribery, money laundering scheme ever perpetrated against the people of the state of Ohio.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeWine\u2019s office did not answer questions in response to our inquiries.<\/em><\/p>\n\n \n\n \n \n \n

\u201cRed Flags\u201d<\/h2>\n \n

Norfolk Southern and its political action committee (PAC) have donated more than $20,000 directly to DeWine\u2019s gubernatorial campaigns as well as his 2019 inauguration. The company has also delivered $165,000 to political committees supporting DeWine\u2019s political career, including the Republican Governors Association and the Republican Attorneys General Association.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, DeWine has a very close relationship with Norfolk Southern\u2019s lobbyists in Columbus.<\/p>\n

Dan McCarthy, DeWine\u2019s legislative director from January 2019 to September 2021, previously served as president of Norfolk Southern\u2019s Ohio lobbying firm, the Success Group, from 1994 until 2020. The rail company has had the Success Group on retainer since at least 2009, according to Ohio lobbying records.<\/p>\n

The Success Group has been exceptionally successful in blocking state legislation under DeWine\u2019s watch that would have increased safety on the railroads, state records show<\/a>. The firm\u2019s lobbyists reported lobbying last year on a bill to mandate<\/a> a minimum of two-person train crews on all trains. The legislation died at the end of the year when the previous legislative session came to a close.<\/p>\n

The lobbyists have also been successful in greasing<\/a> the wheels for a proposed $1.6 billion<\/a> sale of the city of Cincinnati\u2019s publicly owned railroad to Norfolk Southern. So far, DeWine has not raised concerns about the proposed privatization effort, which critics say could lead the city to lose out on perpetual lease payments.<\/p>\n

Ohio state senator Bill Blessing, a Republican from Cincinnati, wrote in a recent<\/a> op-ed, \u201cLong-term, I believe that owning and leasing the railroad will provide better value for the city than the sale and what its proceeds may generate.\u201d<\/p>\n

During his time at the Success Group, McCarthy founded a dark money group, Partners for Progress, that ended up at the center of a bribery scandal involving Ohio\u2019s main nuclear power operator, FirstEnergy.<\/p>\n

FirstEnergy was criminally charged<\/a> in 2020 for funneling tens of millions of dollars into dark money groups, including<\/a> one called Partners for Progress. Some of these funds, federal prosecutors alleged, were bribes to get legislators to bail out FirstEnergy\u2019s struggling nuclear power plants.<\/p>\n

Partners for Progress funneled<\/a> $300,000 to a dark money group backing DeWine\u2019s 2018 campaign, and also put $100,000 into a failed effort to elect DeWine\u2019s daughter Alice to a local prosecutor position in 2019.<\/p>\n

When McCarthy stepped down from Partners for Progress to work for DeWine in 2019, his spot on the nonprofit\u2019s board was filled<\/a> by his Success Group colleague, McKenzie Davis.<\/p>\n

The FirstEnergy case illustrates the close ties Norfolk Southern\u2019s lobbyists enjoy with the governor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

The FirstEnergy scandal, said Craig Holman, an ethics lobbyist at Public Citizen,<\/em> \u201craises red flags around the entire exchange between the company, the lobbying firm, and DeWine. DeWine should make certain that Norfolk Southern pays for the derailment, make the transaction transparent so the public can understand what is going on \u2014 and DeWine should also be held accountable for his lackluster administration of the scandal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n \n \n \n

\u201cSeek the Full Support of the Federal Government\u201d<\/h2>\n \n

DeWine recently highlighted the lack of federal aid going to the East Palestine disaster, tweeting<\/a> last week that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) \u201ccontinues to advise that Ohio is not eligible for assistance at this time. I will continue working with FEMA to determine what assistance can be provided.\u201d<\/p>\n

He did not mention that the reason why East Palestine has so far received only limited support from the federal government is due to his failure to declare a disaster in the area.<\/p>\n

Under federal law<\/a>, there are two forms of disaster declarations: an \u201cemergency declaration,\u201d which authorizes up to $5 million in federal aid to the affected community, or a \u201cmajor disaster declaration,\u201d which \u201cprovides a wide range of federal assistance programs for individuals and public infrastructure, including funds for both emergency and permanent work,\u201d according<\/a> to FEMA\u2019s website. The president makes the decision to declare an emergency after receiving notice from a state\u2019s governor.<\/p>\n

Federal law states, \u201cAll requests for a declaration by the President that a major disaster exists shall be made by the governor of the affected state.\u201d DeWine must submit a request to the Biden administration by March 5 for the area to be eligible.<\/p>\n

A disaster declaration would allow the federal government to provide additional resources to East Palestine \u2014 but it would also draw further attention and federal resources to aid the toxic chemical-stricken community, adding pressure on Norfolk Southern to both pay for the costs of the cleanup and to reimburse the government.<\/p>\n

As of now, the railroad, which is worth $50 billion, has committed just $6.5 million<\/a> in aid to the community, some of which may be tied<\/a> to dropping legal claims against the railroad.<\/p>\n

Last week, Democratic Ohio senator Sherrod Brown sent a letter to DeWine urging him to \u201cofficially declare a disaster and seek the full support of the federal government to bolster the state of Ohio\u2019s ongoing clean-up efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeWine has also refused to take other actions to hold Norfolk Southern accountable for the derailment. For example, he could immediately endorse railroad safety legislation<\/a> that has been languishing in the GOP-controlled state legislature that would mandate minimum two-person train crews and require better lighting in rail yards.<\/p>\n

But DeWine has a history of going easy on Norfolk Southern. His administration has so far done nothing to compel the company to complete cleanups from two smaller Ohio derailments last fall, one in Sandusky in October and another between Steubenville and Toronto in November. The governor has sidestepped<\/a> questions on the matter.<\/p>\n

On February 14, DeWine called on Congress to expand the definition of a \u201chigh-hazard flammable train\u201d (HHFT train), after our reporting<\/a> revealed the derailed train in East Palestine was not covered by the current definition \u2014 even though the large amount of vinyl chloride on board necessitated local evacuations and was ultimately released and burned by crews.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis train was not considered a high-hazardous material train. . . . Therefore the railroad was not required to notify anyone here in Ohio what was in the rail cars coming to our state,\u201d DeWine said in a press conference. \u201cThis is absurd.\u201d<\/p>\n\n \n \n \n\n \n \n

You can subscribe to David Sirota\u2019s investigative journalism project, the\u00a0Lever<\/i>,\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This post was originally published on Jacobin<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Republican Ohio governor Mike DeWine has pledged that Norfolk Southern will be held accountable for the February 3 train derailment disaster in East Palestine, Ohio, to ensure the community is properly protected from the toxic chemicals released into the air and water. \u201cThey\u2019re the ones who created the problem,\u201d said DeWine on February 7, four [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":138,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1005478"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/138"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1005478"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1005478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1005479,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1005478\/revisions\/1005479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1005478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1005478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1005478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}