East Palestine: Latest news on the train derailment and cleanup

The Biden administration says it could soon launch a formal evaluation of risks posed by vinyl chloride, the cancer-causing chemical that burned in a towering plume of toxic black smoke following the fiery train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration is fining Norfolk Southern nearly $50,000 for workplace safety violations during the chemical cleanup at the site of its East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment.

During an online symposium discussing the incident, organizations and activists discussed the community's response, public officials' promises about health and safety and environmental implications.

Environmental and community groups are calling on the EPA to ban vinyl chloride, a chemical used to make PVC pipes and many other consumer products. It’s also the chemical vented from five derailed train cars in East Palestine, Ohio, earlier this year.

A minor coal train derailment in Virginia in early July prompted Norfolk Southern to rethink the way it responds to problems with overheating bearings. But it's not clear why the railroad didn't make similar changes five months earlier after an overheating bearing caused the fiery Ohio derailment that prompted nationwide concerns about rail safety.

The costs associated with Norfolk Southern's fiery February derailment in East Palestine have more than doubled to $803 million as the railroad works to clean up the mess and moves forward with all the related lawsuits.

The railroad industry has sued to block a new minimum crew-size requirement that Ohio imposed after a fiery train derailment in East Palestine in February. Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed the new rule in March as part of the state's nearly $13.5 billion state transportation budget. It mandated a two-person crew for freight trains.

Norfolk Southern has completed soil remediation under both tracks in East Palestine. The area was impacted by the train derailment in February.

During a Friday NTSB hearing on the East Palestine derailment, a union official testified inspections are happening less often and are not as thorough as in years past due to staff cuts, time constraints and regulatory loopholes.

Officials say firefighters who responded to February’s fiery train derailment in Ohio struggled to immediately identify the hazardous chemicals the train was hauling due to poor communication from the railroad. The National Transportation Safety Board is holding a rare field hearing in East Palestine on the Norfolk Southern derailment.