Black Belt Eagle Scout’s latest record inspired by return home to Swinomish tribe’s ancestral lands


 Black Belt Eagle Scout performs during the Pitchfork Music Festival at Union Park in Chicago, Saturday, July 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Michael Casey, File)

Black Belt Eagle Scout, second right, performs during the Pitchfork Music Festival at Union Park in Chicago on Saturday, July 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Michael Casey)

Black Belt Eagle Scout performs during the Pitchfork Music Festival at Union Park in Chicago on Saturday, July 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Michael Casey)

BY MICHAEL CASEY
July 29, 2023Share

CHICAGO (AP) — The beginning of the pandemic was devasting for the leader of the indie rock band Black Belt Eagle Scout, Katherine Paul. All her tours, including one headlining across North America, were canceled and she feared her ascending music career might be over.

She got a day job at a nonprofit and returned to the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community’s homelands in Western Washington. But as Paul, or KP to her friends, spent time in the cedar forests and walked along the Skagit River, she turned to her guitar to deal with the isolation and stress. Those snippets, recorded on her phone, provided the foundation for what would become songs on her powerful, grunge-soaked new record “The Land, The Water, The Sky.”

“I feel like if the pandemic hadn’t happened, I probably wouldn’t have made this record,” said KP, who writes the songs, sings and plays guitar in the band that was the only Native American artist at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago this month.

“I spent a lot of time outside. I spent a lot more time than normal going on hikes, being part of the land,” she continued. “It’s not like I never do that stuff but it brought me back to a place where this is who I am.”

The new record, which came out in February, helped launch what has probably been the most successful year so far for Black Belt Eagle Scout. The band toured Europe and will go to Australia later this year. Two of her songs, “Soft Stud” from an earlier record and “Salmon Stinta” from her latest, appear this season on the television series “Reservation Dogs.”

Reservation Dogs Music Supervisor Tiffany Anders said she was introduced to the band’s music by the show’s creator, Sterlin Harjo, when they started working on the second season.

“It’s always been important for us on this show to include Native American artists, but beyond representation, Black Belt Eagle Scout’s music is beautiful and emotional, and fits these characters, their world and landscape — and the vibe of the show,’” she said in a statement.

Then there was Pitchfork, a three-day festival that is a significant milestone for indie musicians. The festival is held every year in Chicago’s Union Park and this year’s headliners included Bon Iver, Big Thief and The Smile, which has members of Radiohead.

She admitted stepping on that stage last weekend was nerve-wracking given her high hopes for the show, a feeling compounded by concerns that storms could scuttle their performance. But as she launched into the blistering set of mostly new songs in front of thousands of eager fans, KP found solace in her guitar. She launched several long jams that were punctuated by her twirling her jet-black hair around to the point it obscured her face.

“It was totally a moment,” she said with a laugh.

“I kind of cried after we played because it felt so meaningful,” she added. “Like, I’ve always wanted to play this music festival. I remember trying to play one of the years before the pandemic when I was touring and it didn’t happen. This year, I was just so stoked to play.”

Reaching Pitchfork has been a long journey for the 34-year-old artist, who is a member of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community and left her home on the reservation in LaConner, Washington, when she was 17 to attend Lewis & Clark College in Oregon and play rock music.

Growing up on the reservation off the Washington coast on islands in the Salish Sea, she drummed and sang cultural songs. As a teenager, she discovered local Pacific Northwest bands like Mount Eerie and the sounds of the Riot Grrrl movement and played one of her first gigs at a small bar called Department of Safety. She moved to Portland, Oregon, due to its outsized role in the indie scene that featured bands like Sleater-Kinney and quickly immersed herself in the music scene playing drums and guitar.

She joined an all-female outfit whom she met at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls in Portland. She went on to play a lot of small, basement shows with bands like Genders — whose wolf tattoo she still has on her left arm.

But she wanted to write her own songs and formed Black Belt Eagle Scout in 2013. Her early music was defined by her ethereal singing about love, friendship and healing — often only accompanied by minimal guitar strumming. But she did rock out on songs like “Soft Stud,” which featured searing solos.

“She is a really an authentic musician and she carries a lot of power on stage with her presence and sound,” Claire Glass, who plays guitar in the band and first saw KP seven years ago.

KP has said her Native American identify has always been present on her records. But her latest music paints a more vivid picture of life on the Swinomish reservation. There are references to chinook salmon, which are traditionally fished, and a powwow dance.

“I started thinking of feeling grateful for the life that I have been given; this place that I’m from; how much the land, the water, the sky means to me — being surrounded by it,” KP said of writing the song ”Don’t Give Up.” “It has so much more meaning because the land, that’s where my people are from.”

Her songs aren’t meant to directly confront issues like the crisis of missing and murdered Native American women or tribes’ forced relocation. It’s not the way she writes songs. Instead, she envisions them connecting with people, drawing more Native Americans to indie rock shows in places like Minneapolis, which has a vibrant Native American community, and inspiring young Native Americans to connect with her after shows.

“Isn’t me like being here existing with my music good enough? Can’t I just be who I am?” she asked, adding she doesn’t need to speak out from stage about these issues because being Native often means she is already wrestling with them. A judge, for example, ruled in March that BNSF Railway intentionally violated the terms of an easement agreement with the tribe by running 100-car trains carrying crude oil over the reservation.

“As a Native person, you know someone who is missing. Your tribe is trying to get your land back. Those are topics that are part of your every day life,” she said. ”I care about those things deeply but there are certain ways in which my music is, maybe not as direct, but it can be healing.”

KP also doesn’t want to be seen just as a rock musician or as a Native artist. “I am a musician who happens to be Native, but I am also a Native musician ... I think I am always both,” she said.

Her latest record aims to show that.

“I kind of had in the back of mind, just kept thinking what would Built to Spill do,” KP said of the guitar-heavy, indie-rock band from the Pacific Northwest. “I’ve gone on tour with them and seen their three guitars at one point playing together and how they overlap and all these other things.”

It’s also a more collaborative effort with more musicians playing on the record— a departure for KP, who is accustomed to doing everything herself. A cellist who played with Nirvana, Lori Goldston, is featured on several songs, as are two violinists, as well as a saxophone and mellotron player.

Takiaya Reed, a first-time producer who is also in a doom metal band, described the experience of working on the record as “beautiful and amazing” and said the two bonded over their love of punk. Reid also brought her classical training and love of “heavier sounds” to the studio.

“We approached it fearlessly. It was wonderful to be expansive in terms of sonic possibilities,” she said.

KP also wanted to find a place for her parents, whom she had grown especially close to during the pandemic, to play on the record. She chose the song “Spaces,” which she described as having a “healing vibe.” Her dad, who is one of the main singers at the tribe’s cultural events, embraced the idea of lending his powerful powwow chant to the song. Her mom sang harmonies.

KP said: “It meant the world to me to have my parents sing because it felt like it was full circle in who I am.”

Thousands of port workers in Canada's British Columbia go on strike

Story by Reuters • 

Longshoremen with the ILWU on strike at Canada's busiest port in Vancouver© Thomson Reuters

(Reuters) - Several thousand unionized port workers in Canada's western province of British Columbia went on strike after failing to reach a deal to renew an industry-wide contract that expired in March, a waterfront employers group said on Saturday.


Longshoremen with the ILWU on strike at Canada's busiest port in Vancouver© Thomson Reuters

The British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) said it and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada (ILWU Canada) had met Thursday and Friday in talks supported by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.

"Unfortunately, a tentative agreement could not be reached," the BCMEA said in a statement.

ILWU Canada members were on strike at sites across British Columbia, the BCMEA said. Asked for comment, the union said it would issue a statement once there is a resolution to the dispute over the collective bargaining agreement, which covers about 7,500 employees at 30 terminals in the province.


Longshoremen with the ILWU on strike at Canada's busiest port in Vancouver© Thomson Reuters

The walkout could have serious consequences for Canada's economy and small businesses, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) said in a statement. The group urged the government to ensure port operations are maintained.

On Wednesday, the longshore workers union said it had issued a 72-hour strike notice.


Longshoremen with the ILWU on strike at Canada's busiest port in Vancouver© Thomson Reuters

In a Twitter post on Saturday, Canada's Minister of Labour Seamus O'Regan Jr., said the BCMEA and ILWU Canada remain at the bargaining table working toward a deal, adding that the federal mediators continue to support the parties in their negotiations.

($1 = 1.3236 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama in Bengaluru; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

7,400 B.C. port workers begin strike that could impact global shipping

CBC News

5 hours ago

Port workers across B.C. went on strike Saturday morning, in a wide-ranging job action that could impact global shipping. The strike affects about 7,400 terminal cargo loaders and 49 of the province's waterfront employers at more than 30 B.C. ports including Canada's busiest, Vancouver.

 

West Coast port workers in Canada officially begin strike

Story by Alex Harring • CNBC


A union representing port workers in Western Canada officially began striking, an action that could have ripple effects reaching beyond the U.S.'s northern neighbor.

More than 99% of members of the union, who support West Coast ports such as Vancouver and Prince Rupert, voted to approve the strike last month.

Notice of the strike came Wednesday.


A gantry crane stands in the DP World Ltd. terminal at Port Metro Vancouver in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada 

© Provided by CNBC

A union representing port workers in Western Canada officially began striking, an action that could have ripple effects reaching beyond the U.S.'s northern neighbor.

The International Longshore & Warehouse Union Canada's Longshore Division announced its labor strike began in a Saturday Facebook post signed by union president Rob Ashton. More than 99% of members of the union, who support West Coast ports such as Vancouver and Prince Rupert, voted to approve the strike last month. Notice of the strike came Wednesday.

"The ILWU Canada Longshore Division has not taken this decision lightly, but for the future of our workforce we had to take this step," Ashton said in the post. "We are still hopeful a settlement will be reached through FREE Collective Bargaining!"

The union has been open to bargaining since February with the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association, which represents port owners, and remains ready to continue working on a contract, Ashton added.

The employers association, known as the BCMEA, said in a statement it has worked to "advance proposals and positions in good faith, with the objective of achieving a fair deal at the table." It noted the role of federal mediators and said it was open to "any" solution that can get the parties to a balanced agreement, including a mediated arbitration process.

Cruises remain able to sail and bulk grain is moving, but containerized grain is not. Canadian labor minister Seamus O'Regan Jr. tweeted seemingly in support of continued negotiations between the two groups, noting that "the best deals for both parties are reached at the table."

The two parties are at odds over issues including automation, the use of contract work and the cost of living for workers. Two mediators appointed by the Canadian government oversaw discussions that ran through the end of May. Those discussions were followed by a so-called cooling-off period between the two groups.

A strike in the western ports occurring around holidays in both the U.S. and Canada could result in impacts on the American economy, industry followers say. The Port of Vancouver and Port of Prince Rupert are popular destinations for U.S. trade because these ports are among the major ports of call for goods arriving from Asia. Some logistics managers have told CNBC that rail service out of those ports is a lot faster than going through the port of Seattle or Tacoma.

The International Longshoremen's Association said it won't take diverted cargo from ports with striking workers, while the head of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents West Coast port workers in the U.S., made a statement of solidarity with the Canadian union but did not mention any specific action.

The strike could lead to congestion in these ports with longshoremen unable to unload vessels. Congestion can turn into backlogs and lead to delayed pickups from terminals, which can then lead to late fees that are often passed on to consumers — a situation similar to what occurred during the pandemic.

"With the Canadian holiday and July Fourth holidays, the volume of containers moving are lighter than normal but now vessels are not being worked because of the strike," said Paul Brashire, vice president of drayage and intermodal at ITS Logistics. "If this strike continues into the middle of next week, it will impact congestion in the coming weeks at Chicago and Detroit rail terminals because of the amount of containers that would have built up and eventually moved to those rail terminals."

The Canadian ports handle nearly $225 billion in cargo each year, according to estimates, with items spanning industries such as home goods, electronics and apparel transported by rail. Approximately 15% of consumer trade going through the Port of Vancouver is headed to or coming from the U.S., according to port authority data. Around two-thirds of containerized import volume going to the Port of Prince Rupert are headed to the U.S., port data shows.

Three Class 1 railways operate at these ports: CN, Canadian Pacific and BNSF, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway. In an email to CNBC, BNSF said it had no comment on a strike impact. CN could not be immediately reached for comment.

In a CPKC customer advisory issued Wednesday, the railway said: "The work stoppage related to this notice could impact port operations in British Columbia. At this time, we do not anticipate any significant service interruptions to result from this work stoppage and, as such, CPKC has not initiated embargoes related to a potential service interruption but we are closely monitoring developments to evaluate any impact to shipments on CPKC's network. We will provide updates as necessary."

Steve Lamar, CEO of the American Apparel and Footwear Association, told CNBC that the "fragile and recovering supply chains cannot tolerate a strike," while urging the Canadian government to help keep parties at the table.

Federal board sides with Navajo coal company, says BNSF Railway must ship to Canadian port


Tue, June 27, 2023 
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A federal board has sided with one of the largest coal producers in the United States in a contract dispute with a major freight railroad, ordering BNSF Railway to transport at least 4.2 million tons of coal this year for overseas use.

The U.S. Surface Transportation Board’s 3-2 order last week said BNSF has the ability to fulfill the contract and still meet the needs of other shippers.

The Navajo Transitional Energy Co. sought the order in April. The company had filed a lawsuit late last year saying that major shortcomings in BNSF service cost it $150 million in lost revenue this year and another $15 million in charges when coal wasn’t loaded in a timely manner onto ships destined for Japan and Korea.

The transportation board said NTEC was highly likely to succeed on the merits of its claim.

“The common carrier obligation is a core tenet of the Board’s regulation of the freight railroad industry and is a pillar of the railroads’ responsibility to our country’s economy,” Chairman Martin Oberman said in a statement Friday.

The Navajo Nation-owned energy company runs three coal mines in the Powder River Basin of Montana and Wyoming and another near Farmington, New Mexico — making it the third-largest coal company in the country.

The board also said NTEC was likely to suffer damage to its reputation as a dependable coal supplier, and that the order meets the public good because NTEC plays a critical role in the Navajo Nation’s economy.

BNSF Railway and NTEC did not immediately respond to emails Tuesday seeking comment about the board's decision or the status of the coal company's lawsuit.

The board says BNSF must move 23 trains of coal per month for NTEC beginning immediately, and another six trains per month when additional trains and crew become available. The additional capacity would total 1 million tons, the board said.

Like other freight railroads, BNSF struggled to deliver products on time and handle all the shipments that companies want to move because of worker shortages coming out of the coronavirus pandemic.

One of the dissenting board members, Patrick Fuchs, said NTEC didn’t meet its contracted tonnage requirements with BNSF in 2020 and that the company then sought a contract with BNSF without tonnage requirements.

The coal company's lawsuit, filed in December in federal court in Montana, alleged the railroad breached its 2022 contract to transport 5.5 million tons of coal. According to the lawsuit, BNSF said in the spring of last year that it could commit to delivering only 3.1 million tons of coal.

BNSF has said the 2022 contract called for transporting up to 5.5 million tons but did not set a minimum guarantee, Fuchs said in his dissent.

The lawsuit also alleged BNSF favored other coal companies that ship on the railroad.

The Associated Press

Work begins to clean up train derailment in Montana’s Yellowstone River

By Associated Press
June 27, 2023

Work is underway to clean up rail cars carrying hazardous materials that fell into the Yellowstone River in southern Montana after a bridge collapsed over the weekend, officials said Monday.

Montana Rail Link is developing a cleanup plan and is working with its unions and BNSF Railway to reroute freight trains in the area to limit disruption of the supply chain, Beth Archer, a spokesperson for the US Environmental Protection Agency, said in a joint statement issued with the Montana Department of Environmental Quality and Montana Rail Link.

Contractors and a large crane were on site to stabilize and remove cars from the river once a plan is set, officials said.

Some rail cars that did not go off the tracks were removed from the area, and two cars carrying sodium hydrosulfide had their contents transferred to other cars and moved to safety, Archer said.

Montana Rail Link will be responsible for all cleanup costs, CEO Joe Racicot told a news conference.

The train derailment spilled over into Yellowstone River near Reed Point.

AP

Sixteen cars derailed, and 10 of them ended up in the river downstream from Yellowstone National Park Saturday morning.

Six mangled cars that carried hot asphalt, three holding molten sulfur and one with scrap metal remained in the rushing water on Monday in an area surrounded by farmland near the town of Columbus, about 40 miles (about 64 kilometers) west of Billings.

Two of the cars were submerged, and a dive team was deployed to gather more information, Archer said in a statement.

Portions of a freight train are seen in the Yellowstone River after an overnight railroad bridge collapse, near Columbus, Mont., on June 24, 2023.

AP

Joni Sandoval, the EPA on-scene coordinator, told a news conference her agency had invited experts from federal and state fish and wildlife agencies to come to the site to assess how the derailment has affected wildlife.

The asphalt and sulfur solidified and sank in the cold water, officials said. Some asphalt globules were found downriver, but they are not water-soluble and are not expected to impact water quality, the statement said.

Water samples taken Saturday showed the materials from the derailment had not affected water quality, Shasta Steinweden of the state Department of Environmental Quality said. The tests showed no presence of petroleum and sulfur levels were consistent with upstream water samples, she said.

Crews work the site of a railroad bridge that collapsed the day before on the Yellowstone River.

AP

Results from samples taken Sunday and Monday were still pending.

The cause of the collapse was under investigation. Part of the train had crossed the bridge before it failed, and some cars at the back remained on stable ground at the other end. No injuries were reported.

The collapse also cut two major fiber-optic lines. Global Net said late Sunday that it had developed a temporary workaround. Company officials did not return a call Monday seeking further information.

Several train cars are immersed in the Yellowstone River after a bridge collapse near Columbus, Mont., on June 24, 2023.

AP

The White House was monitoring the situation and was prepared to offer any federal help that might be needed, spokesperson Karin Jean-Pierre said Monday.

The derailment comes just over four months after a freight train derailed near East Palestine, Ohio, sparking a fire that led to evacuations and the eventual burning of hazardous materials to prevent an uncontrolled explosion.

Freight railcar inspections are happening less often, union officials testified last week during a congressional hearing about the Ohio derailment.

Jean-Pierre said the US Department of Transportation is looking into ways to prevent derailments.

The government has been “all hands on deck,” she said.

California passes 1st-in-nation emission rules for trains

By SOPHIE AUSTIN

yesterday

1 of 8
Los Angeles skyline is seen above the Union Pacific LATC Intermodal Terminal is seen on Tuesday, April 25, 2023 in Los Angeles. California's Air Resources Board is set to vote on a rule to cut greenhouse gas and smog-forming emissions from diesel-powered locomotives used to pull rail cars through ports and railyards.

 (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)


SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California approved Thursday a first-in-the-nation, ambitious rule limiting rail pollution to aggressively cut greenhouse gas emissions in the state’s latest move to establish itself as a global leader in the fight against climate change.

The rule will ban locomotive engines more than 23 years old by 2030 and increase the use of zero-emissions technology to transport freight from ports and throughout railyards. It would also ban locomotives in the state from idling longer than 30 minutes if they are equipped with an automatic shutoff.

“It is time to kickstart the next step of transformation, with trains,” said Davina Hurt, a California Air Resources Board member.

The standards would also reduce chemicals that contribute to smog. They could improve air quality near railyards and ports.

But some say it’s too soon for the locomotive standards. Wayne Winegarden, a Pacific Research Institute senior fellow, said the rule would be expensive for rail companies, and increased costs will mean higher prices for many goods that move by rail.

The Association of American Railroads said in a statement “there is no clear path to zero emissions locomotives.”

“Mandating that result ignores the complexity and interconnected nature of railroad operations and the reality of where zero emission locomotive technology and the supporting infrastructure stand,” the group wrote.

Freight railways are an efficient means to transport the roughly 1.6 billion tons of goods nationwide across nearly 140,000 miles (225,308 kilometers), much cleaner than if those goods were trucked, it said.

The transportation sector contributed the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions nationwide in 2020, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. But rail only accounts for about 2% of those emissions.

Kristen South, a Union Pacific spokesperson, said in a statement the rail company is “deeply disappointed” by the vote, adding that the rule is too ambitious for the current technology and infrastructure.

Union Pacific is working to cut greenhouse gas emissions in part by spending $1 billion to modernize locomotives and testing out engines powered by electric batteries, South wrote.

California passes rules to reduce train emissions

The California Air Resources Board has approved new rules to cut emissions and air pollution from diesel-powered trains. The railroad industry opposes the rules and questions whether California's authorities to regulate trains. (April 27) (AP Video/Terry Chea)

Cecilia Garibay, a project coordinator with the 50-member Moving Forward Network based at Occidental College, said California needs “the strongest, most protective in-use locomotive regulation” that sets an example for the nation.

The standards would need approval from the Biden administration to move forward. They follow rules approved by the EPA to cut emissions from heavy trucks.

Locomotives pull rail cars filled with food, lumber, oil and other products through railyards near neighborhoods in Oakland, Commerce, San Bernardino and other California cities.

They run on diesel, a more powerful fuel than gasoline, producing greenhouse gases and pollution that is harmful for nearby residents.

Other states can sign on to try to adopt the California rule if it gets the OK from the Biden administration.

The rule is the most ambitious of its kind in the country.

“The locomotive rule has the power to change the course of history for Californians who have suffered from train pollution for far too long, and it is my hope that our federal regulators follow California’s lead,” said Yasmine Agelidis, a lawyer with environmental nonprofit Earthjustice, in a statement.

Diesel exhaust is a health hazard. According to California regulators, diesel emissions are responsible for some 70% of Californians’ cancer risk from toxic air pollution. The rule would curb emissions on a class of engines that annually release more than 640 tons of tiny pollutants that can enter deep into a person’s lungs and worsen asthma, and release nearly 30,000 tons of smog-forming emissions known as nitrogen oxides. The rule would also drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions from locomotives, by an amount akin to removing all heavy-duty trucks from the state by 2030.

It’s important to tackle emissions from a sector that often burdens low-income residents and communities of color, and that has plans to expand passenger rail, said Air Resources Board Chair Liane M. Randolph.

Rail companies can participate in incentive programs run by the state to ease the cost of transitioning to zero-emissions locomotives, the agency said.

California has already set out to make big emissions cuts in other areas. The state approved a transition to zero-emissions cars and a roadmap to achieve carbon neutrality, meaning it would remove as many carbon emissions as it releases, by 2045. The board is also considering a rule to electrify a group of heavy trucks that transports goods through ports.

For activists and residents who’ve lived in areas affected by heavy rail pollution, the fight for cleaner trains is decades in the making.

Jan Victor Andasan, an activist with East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice, grew up in West Long Beach and now organizes residents there. It’s a neighborhood near the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach that is “surrounded by pollution” from trains, trucks and industry.

“We support rail, but we support rail if they’re doing all their best to mitigate their emissions,” Andasan said.

Residents shared stories Thursday of children who live near railways having to share inhalers to ease asthma symptoms and families taking extreme measures to rid their homes of diesel fumes.

Some activists would like California to go further, for example, to limit locomotive idling to 15 minutes. They are also concerned that increased demand from online shopping is causing more rail traffic that burdens communities.

The EPA recently approved California rules requiring zero-emission trucks, depending on the type, to make up between 40% and 75% of sales by 2035.

Heidi Swillinger lives in a mobile home park in San Pablo, a small city in the San Francisco Bay Area, along the BNSF Railway. She estimates that her home is just 20 feet (6 meters) from the tracks. She said it’s not uncommon for diesel fumes to fill her house, resulting in a “thick, acrid, dirty smell.”

“Nobody wants to live next to a railroad track,” Swillinger said. “You move next to a railroad track because you don’t have other options.”

___

Sophie Austin is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Austin on Twitter: @sophieadanna

Train derails in Wisconsin, sending cars into Mississippi River

April 27 (UPI) -- A freight train derailed in southwest Wisconsin on Thursday, sending several cars into the Mississippi River.

One person was treated for injuries, and officials said there was no need for local evacuations.

State officials said the derailment occurred around 12:15 p.m., 30 miles south of La Crosse. The railroad company, BNSF Railway, said that it was carrying all different kinds of freight, according to The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

CNN reported that Caitlin Nolan saw the derailment happen.

"I didn't see a fire or smell anything but witnessed multiple cars in the water on both sides of the tracks," she told CNN. "There hadn't been any emergency help until after I had passed by."

A bridge in the area had been down recently because of severe flooding.

U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, whose district covers the area of the derailment, said he was working to get answers on what happened.

"My staff is traveling to the site, and Congressman Troy Nehls (TX-22), who Chairs the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Rail, has also made staff available to assist our team," Van Orden said according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "We will continue to monitor the situation and determine next steps."

Railroads warned about the problems long trains can cause

By JOSH FUNK

yesterday



 Multiple cars of a Norfolk Southern train lie toppled on one another after derailing at a train crossing near Springfield, Ohio, on March 4, 2023. Federal regulators are warning railroads Thursday, April 27, that the long trains they favor can cause all kinds of problems and contribute to derailments, so they want the railroads to ensure their training and operating procedures account for that. 

(Bill Lackey/Springfield-News Sun via AP, File)

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Federal regulators are warning railroads that the long trains they favor can cause all kinds of problems and contribute to derailments, so they want the railroads to ensure their training and operating procedures account for that.

The Federal Railroad Administration stopped short of recommending in its latest safety advisory issued Thursday that railroads limit the size of their trains, which can routinely stretch more than 2 miles long. However, they did suggest a number of precautions including making sure engineers know how to handle them and that locomotives don’t lose communication with devices at the end of trains that can help trigger the brakes in an emergency.

Currently, there aren’t any restrictions on train length but members of Congress and state lawmakers in at least six states have proposed establishing limits particularly in the wake of the fiery Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern derailment in Ohio. The major freight railroads have pushed back against that idea because they have increasingly come to rely on longer trains to help them move cargo with fewer crews and mechanics as they overhauled their operations over the past six years. Union Pacific CEO Lance Fritz said recently that he doesn’t think accident data shows that long trains are riskier.

But the Federal Railroad Administration cited three derailments involving trains longer than 12,250 feet (3,734 meters) where train length was a factor in its advisory. That agency and the National Academies of Sciences are both in the middle of studying the impact of long trains, and they expect to issue reports next year on whether they are a problem.

“FRA believes these incidents demonstrate the need for railroads and railroad employees to be particularly mindful of the complexities of operating longer trains,” the agency said.

The derailments mentioned as examples of the problems that can accompany long trains were in Springfield, Ohio, in March; in Ravenna, Ohio, last November; and in Rockwell, Iowa, in March 2022. In each of those cases, the way cars in different parts of the train pulled and pushed against each other contributed to the derailments.

The fiery February derailment that prompted evacuations in East Palestine, Ohio, and sparked a nationwide focus on rail safety wasn’t mentioned as an example. The National Transportation Safety Board has said that an overheated bearing that caused an axle to fail on one of the railcars likely caused that derailment.

This latest advisory follows one earlier this month that directed railroads to re-examine the way they assemble their trains to minimize those kind of forces that often come into play as a train goes over hills and around corners. Parts of a train can be pulling forward going up a hill while the middle or back of the train pushes against the rest of the cars while going down a hill.

Those forces make it challenging for engineers to control a train, so regulators said railroads need to adjust their training to make sure their engineers are prepared to handle the monster trains they are operating. The common practice of putting locomotives in the middle of long trains as well as in the front can help manage a long train, but having to control those additional locomotives also complicates the engineer’s job.

“A locomotive engineer cannot be expected to safely operate in a more demanding service without proper additional training that covers the unique challenges and complexities those trains present,” regulators said in the advisory.

A spokeswoman for the Association of American Railroads trade group said railroads are already working to manage the challenges associated with long trains and looking for ways to improve safety.

“All stakeholders – the FRA, railroads, and elected officials – share the same goal of continuously enhancing rail safety, minimizing adverse impacts to surrounding communities and keeping the goods that power our economy flowing,” AAR spokeswoman Jessica Kahanek said. “The recommendations within this advisory align closely with the prudent steps railroads already take to do just that.”

The Federal Railroad Administration said that in addition to the concerns about derailments, long trains can block crossings for extended periods of time. When crossings are blocked, firefighters, police and ambulance drivers may be delayed in getting someone the help that they need, and pedestrians may risk their lives by crawling under or across stopped trains that could start moving without warning.

The states proposing limits on train size this year include Arizona, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Nevada and Washington.

Norfolk Southern’s Push for Profits Compromised Safety, Workers Say

Peter Eavis, Mark Walker and Niraj Chokshi
Sun, April 2, 2023

Alan Shaw, president and CEO, Norfolk Southern Corporation, center, testifies during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing in Washington, March 22, 2023. (Pete Marovich/The New York Times)

Norfolk Southern once had so few accidents and injuries that it won the rail industry’s prestigious E.H. Harriman safety award for 23 years in a row until it was retired in 2012. But in the past decade, the company has gone from an industry leader to a laggard.

The rate at which its trains are involved in accidents and its workers are injured on the job has soared, putting it at or near the bottom on those safety measures among the country’s four largest freight railroads. Employees, former workers and some rail experts blame decisions by executives to cut thousands of jobs and put pressure on employees to speed up deliveries in a drive to bolster profits.

Lance Johnston is among the critics. Johnston was a Norfolk Southern engineer, or train driver, in the St. Louis area for more than 25 years until he was fired after a dispute in 2021 with his manager about problems with a train’s brakes.

That July, he said, he started a shift at the A.O. Smith rail yard in Granite City, Illinois, just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, and found that his locomotive had defective brakes. After notifying a supervisor of the problem, Johnston said, he was told to use the locomotive, even though the defect was in violation of Norfolk Southern regulations and could, he said, make it hard to control the train and even lead to a derailment.

“When the equipment’s defective, the equipment’s defective,” he said in an interview last week. “You stop what you’re doing, and you fix it.”

Norfolk Southern’s operations have been under federal scrutiny since one of its trains carrying hazardous substances derailed in February in East Palestine, Ohio. Johnston said he believed that the operations had really begun deteriorating about four years ago, around the time the company said it would adopt efficiency measures known in the industry as precision scheduled railroading. He said the cutbacks meant there were not enough people to repair and maintain trains.

Since 2012, the size of Norfolk Southern’s workforce has dropped 39%, a bigger decline than at any of the other three large U.S. freight rail companies — BNSF, CSX and Union Pacific. Meanwhile, Norfolk Southern’s accident rate, which measures the number of accidents against the miles a company’s trains have traveled, soared 80%, the largest increase by far among the four railroads, though Union Pacific’s rate has been consistently higher. Rail accidents include derailments, collisions and fires.

Norfolk Southern’s injury rate for employees on duty has also risen, and over the past 10 years it has been, on average, significantly worse than those recorded by the other three large U.S. railroads. The injury rate did improve last year, and is better than the rates at other railroads, including Canadian companies that operate trains in the United States.

“It’s my goal to work with our new operations leadership team, union leadership and our front-line employees to further strengthen Norfolk Southern’s safety culture and make it the best in the industry,” CEO Alan H. Shaw said in a statement.

He added that Norfolk Southern’s derailments last year were its fewest in 20 years and that its injury rate was the lowest in 10 years. A representative for the railroad said its accident rate had gone up in part because its trains now traveled fewer miles.

Johnston said the safety concern he had raised was particularly important because the trains he had typically worked on traveled through residential areas in the St. Louis area. (The train that derailed in East Palestine started at a neighboring rail yard in Illinois.)

Johnston was fired soon after the dispute and has filed a whistleblower complaint with the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration claiming that he was fired for raising a safety issue.

Norfolk Southern declined to comment on Johnston’s OSHA case and his account of being fired. In a letter to OSHA, a lawyer representing the company said it had fired Johnston for “unbecoming” conduct based on an “insubordinate, threatening and profane outburst toward his supervisor.”

Since 2018, Norfolk Southern workers and former employees have filed 267 whistleblower complaints with OSHA, the most of any of the large freight railroads. The agency, which enforces whistleblower protection laws, including those in the rail industry, opened an investigation into 239 of the complaints.

In the same period, CSX had 204 complaints, followed by 198 from workers at Union Pacific and 138 at BNSF.

Norfolk Southern’s safety practices and culture are the subject of a special investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. In opening the review, the board cited the East Palestine derailment and other recent incidents in which three workers were killed. The board is aiming to determine if “there’s something more systemic going on” at the company that caused those and other accidents, said Jennifer Homendy, the board’s chair.

The Federal Railroad Administration, the top rail regulator, is also investigating the company. Congress has held hearings, and lawmakers have introduced bipartisan bills that would impose tougher safety standards on all railroads, especially those that carry hazardous substances. And the Justice Department said Friday that it had sued the railroad, asking it to pay cleanup costs and additional penalties for the East Palestine derailment.

Rail experts said Norfolk Southern’s turn toward demanding more of fewer workers and pushing them to work faster was part of an industry trend. Under pressure from hedge funds and other investors, the largest freight railroads have aggressively sought to run their operations more efficiently over the past decade.

Precision scheduled railroading generally involves sticking to a strict operating schedule; cutting staff and assets like train cars, locomotives and rail yards; and running fewer but longer trains. Canadian National pioneered it in the late 1990s under its CEO, E. Hunter Harrison, who later took his hyper-efficient approach to Canadian Pacific and CSX.

In 2018 and 2019, Kansas City Southern, Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern announced plans to incorporate at least some of the principles advanced by Harrison, who died in 2017.

Those changes have been a boon to railroad investors and executives. Norfolk Southern’s profits have soared, and over the past five years it has paid shareholders nearly $18 billion through stock buybacks and dividends. On Friday, Norfolk Southern said Shaw’s pay more than doubled last year to $9.8 million. In his statement, he said his pay and that of other executives would now be based partly on safety metrics.

But the industry’s efficiency drive has so angered railroad workers that they nearly walked off the job last fall, threatening to imperil the U.S. economy. That strike was averted after Congress and President Joe Biden imposed a contract that many workers found sorely lacking because it did not guarantee them paid time off for illness or medical appointments.

“It’s profit over everything, not just safety,” Mark Wallace, a top official with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, said in reference to the entire rail industry. “It’s profit over customer service. It’s profit over employee satisfaction.”

Bill Tucker, a lawyer in Birmingham, Alabama, has been representing freight workers in cases against employers for 45 years. Norfolk Southern is the worst offender among the large railroads, he said.

One suit that Tucker filed in federal court in 2021 on behalf of two Norfolk Southern workers, Shane Fowler and Kelvin Taylor, asserts that a manager threatened to discipline the men after they reported safety issues that violated the Federal Railroad Administration’s defect and safety rules.

In the lawsuit, the two men said their manager had demanded that they remove the “bad order” tags, which are used to flag defective cars, from two cars. The complaint states that Fowler and Taylor reported their manager to the Norfolk Southern Ethics and Compliance hotline for safety violations. Soon after, the workers were themselves charged with safety violations, which they said they hadn’t committed.

Fowler and Taylor, who still work at the company, said through Tucker that they had no comment. “Morale on the railroads in general, and at Norfolk Southern in particular, is abysmal,” the lawyer said. “It’s just awful.”

Laws that govern the railways push employees with grievances to use internal company hearings, limiting their ability to take disputes to court. As a result, critics of the industry say, railroad companies find it easier than other businesses to dismiss employees and their complaints.

Some workers said that despite such problems they liked rail work. Johnston, the fired train engineer, wants to reclaim his job.

On the day of the dispute in 2021, he operated the locomotive with defective brakes until a federal regulator, doing inspections in the yard, noticed the problem and said the engine had to be taken out of service until repairs were done.

Later that day, having been told that the brakes were fixed, Johnston discovered that one was still defective, he said. He got into an argument with his supervisor and used his cellphone to take a photograph of the defect, which can be a violation of Norfolk Southern rules.

“I expected to be punished,” Johnston said, “but I didn’t expect to be terminated.”

c.2023 The New York Times Company

Cleanup begins after fiery Minnesota ethanol derailment


Train Derailment MinnesotaA BNSF train carrying ethanol and corn syrup derailed and caught fire in Raymond, Minn., Thursday, March 30, 2023. BNSF officials said 22 cars derailed, including about 10 carrying ethanol, and the track remains blocked, but that no injuries were reported due to the accident. The cause of the derailment hasn't been determined. (Mark Vancleave /Star Tribune via AP)

JOSH FUNK
Fri, March 31, 2023 

Crews have started removing contaminated soil and damaged railcars left behind by Thursday's fiery derailment in southwest Minnesota.

Authorities said Friday afternoon the ethanol fire that burned for hours had been extinguished and that local firefighters were allowed to leave after remaining on site overnight. But large water tanks and railroad firefighting equipment remained at the site to handle any flare-ups as damaged tank cars are removed.

The entire town of Raymond, which is about 100 miles (161 kilometers) west of Minneapolis, had to be evacuated after 22 cars, including 10 carrying ethanol, left the tracks. Four of the tank cars ruptured and caught fire. But the several hundred residents were allowed to return home by midday Thursday, and no injuries were reported.

This latest derailment only adds to concerns nationally about railroad safety. Lawmakers and regulators want freight railroads to make changes after last month's derailment near East Palestine, Ohio, that forced half that town to evacuate. Even though officials say the area is safe, many residents have lingering health concerns.

The Kandiyohi County Sheriff's office said BNSF railroad crews began removing some of the contaminated soil under and around the tracks early Friday morning. And once investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board gave the OK, workers started to remove the damaged railcars.

It’s not clear how long the cleanup will take, and no cause of the derailment has been determined yet.

The head of the Fort Worth, Texas-based railroad promised a thorough cleanup and said BNSF works hard to prevent derailments like this from happening.

NTSB spokesman Keith Holloway said the BNSF train had three crew members — an engineer, conductor and brakeman — aboard when it derailed around 1 a.m. Thursday. The train had a total of 14 ethanol cars along with corn syrup it was delivering.

Holloway said investigators will work to determine what caused the derailment.

The Environmental Protection Agency continued monitoring the air around the derailment Friday, but officials said the agency hasn’t found any worrisome levels of contaminants or particulate matter.

CDC team falls sick probing Ohio train derailment

Bernd Debusmann Jr - BBC News, Washington
Fri, March 31, 2023 

The train that derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, on 3 February was carrying vinyl chloride and other potentially hazardous substances

Authorities say seven US health investigators fell ill while probing the impact of the 3 February train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the investigator's symptoms included nausea and headaches.

Locals in East Palestine have reported similar illnesses.

The train was carrying vinyl chloride and other potentially hazardous substances.

The CDC investigators formed part of a team that was conducting house-to-house interviews in the area of the derailment last month, according to authorities. They immediately reported their symptoms to federal authorities after they fell ill.

"Symptoms resolved for most team members later the same afternoon," the CDC said in a statement. "Everyone resumed work on survey data collection within 24 hours. Impacted team members have not reported ongoing health effects."

In the wake of the derailment, state and federal officials repeatedly sought to reassure East Palestine residents that local air and water supplies were safe. Residents, however, reported headaches, nausea, burning eyes and sore throats, sparking fears that their long-term health could be impacted.

Environmental officials have said that nearly 45,000 animals died as a result of the toxic train crash, although all were aquatic species.

One of the chemicals that the train was carrying, vinyl chloride, is a colourless, hazardous gas that is primarily used to make PVC plastic. It is also a known carcinogen and acute exposure is linked to dizziness, drowsiness and headaches. Prolonged exposure can cause liver damage and a rare form of liver cancer.

On Thursday, the US Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the company that operated the train - Norfolk Southern - over environmental damage caused by the derailment.

The justice department said it plans to hold the company responsible for "unlawfully polluting the nation's waterways and to ensure it pays the full cost of the environmental cleanup," the lawsuit states.

Additionally, the lawsuit is seeking fines and a judgement that will hold the firm accountable for future costs associated with the environmental response to the derailment.

A separate lawsuit, filed by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost last month, is seeking to recoup the state's costs and ensure that Norfolk Southern carries out long-term environmental monitoring.

Norfolk Southern has repeatedly apologised for the crash and has so far pledged $27.9m (£22.6m) to the community.

"I am deeply sorry for the impact this derailment has had on the people of East Palestine and surrounding communities," CEO Alan Shaw told a Senate committee earlier this month. "I am determined to make this right."