Tag: Norfolk Southern

PSC Hid Terms Of Contract With Consultant. Then, Cost Doubled

The PSC contracted with Critical Technologies last year to review the fuel management practices of Appalachian Power at its three West Virginia power plants.

The price of a contract between the West Virginia Public Service Commission and an Arizona consulting firm nearly doubled, but the reasons are not clear.

On July 19, the PSC and Critical Technologies Consulting, of Mesa, Arizona, agreed to a change order that increased the cost of their contract from $288,000 to $522,000.

The PSC contracted with Critical Technologies last year to review the fuel management practices of Appalachian Power at its three West Virginia power plants.

Critical Technologies was the winning bidder among four firms that submitted proposals.

WVPB obtained the change order through a Freedom of Information Act request.

The document did not explain why the change was made or what additional services were provided. 

The consultant’s report could influence the PSC’s decision on whether to approve the utility’s application to recover $641.7 million from electricity users in West Virginia – a potential $20 a month increase on their bills.

The PSC held an evidentiary hearing on the matter this week.

PSC filings concealed information about payments and services involving Critical Technologies and its three rival firms. The agency cited “trade secrets” as justification for shielding those details from public view.

In a June filing, the PSC warned that disclosing pricing information risked increasing the cost of contracts to the agency.

Patrick McGinley, a professor at the West Virginia University College of Law, said government agencies should be transparent about how they spend public funds.

“Contracts should be public,” he said.

For example, McGinley, said, WVU President Gordon Gee’s contract is publicly available, with no redactions, or information concealed from public view.

So is a contract the PSC agreed to just this week. The agency will pay Van Reen Accounting LLC $122,000 to perform an audit to determine whether Mon Power electricity customers in West Virginia should be reimbursed for company lobbying expenses related to the HB 6 scandal in Ohio.

A decade ago, the railroad companies Norfolk Southern and CSX sued a Maryland agency to prevent the public disclosure of information about flammable crude oil shipments by rail. A judge ruled against the railroads and in favor of the news organizations requesting the data through open records law. The railroads lost a similar effort in Pennsylvania.

Invoking exemptions to open records law is not always justified, McGinley said.

“They hope people go away,” he said. “And they usually do.”

A spokeswoman for the PSC could not explain why the price of the Critical Technologies contract nearly doubled, nor what additional services the consulting firm provided.

Appalachian Power is an underwriter of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

Months After East Palestine Derailment, Rail Safety Bill On Track For Vote

On Thursday, Capito said changes are being made to the bill, and she expects the full Senate will vote on it by the end of the year.

It’s been seven months since the Norfolk Southern train derailment and chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio. U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito says a rail safety bill is still in the works.

Capito voted no on the Railway Safety Act when it passed the Senate Commerce Committee in May.

On Thursday, Capito said changes are being made to the bill, and she expects the full Senate will vote on it by the end of the year.

“Those issues are being negotiated right now,” she said. “I do believe there’s been commitments by, probably, Leader Schumer and others to put that bill up on to the floor.” 

No one was killed or seriously injured in the February derailment in East Palestine. But the incident raised a variety of public health and safety issues the legislation could address.

Those include notification of hazardous rail shipments to first responders, improved train defect inspection and detection, and more robust tank cars for transporting flammable liquids.

Railroads Slow Down Push To Reduce Train Crew Sizes, But It May Not Last

Two of the nation’s biggest railroads have paused their push to change train crew size in their contract negotiations with workers. Still, railroad labor leaders don’t think the companies will give up.

In the wake of recent train derailments, including the one in February in East Palestine, Ohio, members of Congress have introduced bills to set a minimum train crew size of two.

The Federal Railroad Administration has also proposed a rule requiring two people on each train.

The railroads have fought such efforts. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, asked Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw in a recent Senate Commerce Committee hearing where he stood on the issue.

“Will you commit to a two person crew on all trains?” Markey asked.

“Senator, we’re a data driven organization, and I’m not aware of any data that links crew size with safety,” Shaw said.

Since then, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific, two of the nation’s biggest railroads, have paused their push to change train crew size in their contract negotiations with workers.

Still, railroad labor leaders don’t think the companies will give up.

Jared Cassity, alternate national legislative director for the SMART Transportation Division, said having a conductor on the train that derailed in East Palestine prevented a worse situation. 

“I’ve been a conductor, I’ve been a locomotive engineer. You cannot do that job alone or you cannot do it safely,” he said. “And so that is the most fundamental thing that we have threatening safety in the industry right now.”

He also said it made a difference in a derailment earlier this month at Sandstone, West Virginia. A CSX train struck some fallen rock on the track. The engineer broke both his legs. But he wasn’t by himself in the cab. There was a conductor and an engineer trainee who could help.

“Thankfully, there was a trainee there, an engineer trainee, but they had to lift him up out of that locomotive,” Cassity said. “Had he been alone? I don’t know what would have happened. I mean, that locomotive was on fire.”

Railroads have spent billions of dollars on a safety system called positive train control. They say that makes it possible to run a train safely with just one person. Cassity disagrees.

“You know, they try to justify the argument with technology,” he said. “And, you know, the unfortunate reality is, is technology cannot do what a human being can do.”

Such as the long list of things the Norfolk Southern conductor did in East Palestine.

“As soon as the accident occurred, conductor got down, started an inspection, identified the fire, identified the presence of hazardous materials, relayed that to the engineer, so the emergency services could get put en route, they tied down the brakes on the equipment, so there would be no unintentional movement. And then they separated the locomotive so they themselves could get to safety. A single person cannot do that.”

East Palestine First Responders Faced Communications Gap With Railroad

Not one of the first responders on the scene had access to an app that was created by the rail industry precisely for that kind of situation.

Fire departments from Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia responded to the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. At first, they didn’t have a lot of information to work with.

Jennifer Homendy, chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, told the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee that none of the first responders on the scene had access to an app that was created by the rail industry precisely for that kind of situation.

The AskRail app was created in 2014 to help first responders amid a series of derailments and fires involving trains carrying crude oil and ethanol.

Ian Jeffries, CEO of the Association of American Railroads, the industry’s principal lobbying group, said the app needs to be in more hands.

“There are a lot of first responders in this country,” he said, “and having 35,000 with the app is absolutely not sufficient, not where we need to be.”

U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, a member of the Commerce Committee, said the railroad also needed to improve its communication.

“They were pledging safety and funds to help train, and things of this nature,” she said, “but they still have missed the ball in terms of communications.”

The NTSB is investigating the East Palestine derailment and separately probing Norfolk Southern’s safety culture. Since the Feb. 3 derailment, other crashes have occurred in Michigan, Ohio and Alabama. 

Homendy said advance notification of hazardous materials moving through communities is key.

“Because they need to be prepared,” she said. “They need to be adequately trained, they need the right gear, and they need to have emergency response planning done in coordination with the railroads.”

Capito said a bipartisan bill to improve rail safety was likely coming in the next several months. 

Meanwhile, East Palestine first responders were among the first to enroll in a hazardous materials training class in Bellevue, Ohio, paid for by Norfolk Southern.

The training class is available to first responders in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The first class began this week.

Capito Asks Why East Palestine Train Was Not Considered High Hazard

Officials at the scene made the decision to vent and burn five tank cars of vinyl chloride, creating a column of black smoke that darkened the sky over the community.

U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito asked witnesses in a hearing Wednesday about what kind of rail safety improvements are needed after last month’s fiery derailment in Ohio.

Capito, R-West Virginia, a member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, asked why the Norfolk Southern train that derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, was not considered by federal definition to be of a higher level of hazard than other trains.

Officials at the scene made the decision to vent and burn five tank cars of vinyl chloride, creating a column of black smoke that darkened the sky over the community.

Capito asked Jennifer Homendy, the chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, whether the definition of a high-hazard flammable train should be changed.

“Is that something you would consider that should be looked at as a safety improvement?” Capito asked.

“Yes, senator,” Homendy said.

The NTSB is investigating the derailment but has no regulatory authority. That kind of change would have to come from the U.S. Department of Transportation or Congress.

The definition was set by a Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration rule issued in May 2015 following multiple derailments of trains carrying crude oil and ethanol, including one in Mount Carbon, West Virginia, in February 2015.

Confusion Reigned After Ohio Derailment, Hazmat Chief Testifies

Eric Brewer, director of emergency services for Beaver County, Pennsylvania, said the decision to detonate five tank cars full of flammable vinyl chloride was poorly communicated.

A Pennsylvania first responder told a U.S. Senate committee there was a lot of confusion in the aftermath of a train derailment last month in Ohio.

Eric Brewer, director of emergency services for Beaver County, Pennsylvania, said the decision to detonate five tank cars full of flammable vinyl chloride was poorly communicated.

Brewer testified to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Thursday about the Feb. 3 derailment of a Norfolk Southern freight train in East Palestine, Ohio, 1,000 feet from the state line.

Initially, he said he understood that only one car would be detonated. But the plan changed, with little communication.

“The decision to go from the one tank car to the five was jaw-dropping,” he said, “just because of the impact it had.”

Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw testified that the decision was made by the incident commander, the East Palestine fire chief.

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