Ohio toxic train derailment to face congressional scrutiny – live

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Republican congressman Mike Gallagher, chair of the newly created House select committee on China, says he hopes the panel’s first primetime hearing on Tuesday will be to impress that the Chinese Communist Party’s influence is “not just an over-there problem” but a matter of “American sovereignty.”

“We have a responsibility to communicate not only to our colleagues but also the American people why any of this matters,” Gallagher told reporters on Monday, previewing tomorrow night’s hearing.

He said that panel’s work was designed to expose how the CCP’s “Orwellian model of totalitarian control is designed not just for the roughly 12 million Uighur Muslims living in an open air prison, or even the nearly one and a half billion Chinese citizens but increasingly, for all of us.”

Gallagher added that his expectations were realistic – accepting that the panel’s hearings likely wouldn’t pull in “Netflix viewership,”. But he hopes that by embracing methods that are a “little bit outside the box,” the panel can lay out a compelling case for why Americans should care about the CCP.

As an example, the members intend to hold events and showcases, possibly including audiovisual “wargaming,” in addition to hearings. On Saturday, Gallagher held an event in New York with Democratic congressman Ritchie Torres at the site of a former CCP-run police station used to monitor and harass Chinese citizens living in exile.

On Tuesday, the panel will hear from four witnesses, including former National Security Adviser HR McMaster and former Deputy National Security Adviser and journalist Matt Pottinger.

The panel’s first hearing will be an intentionally broad preview of the work it plans to do over the next two years. The Wisconsin lawmaker said he anticipates future hearings on land purchases by Chinese citizens, Taiwan, Tik Tok and the way China exerts control over American companies that operate there.

Gallagher said he was hopeful that much of the work would be conducted in a bipartisan fashion, commending the makeup of the committee. He also emphasized that the committee’s mission was focused on the Chinese government, not its people, whom he called the “primary victims of CCP repression.”

The committee was established on an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote. But several House progressives objected to the panel’s creation, worrying that it would exacerbate anti-Asian American hate, which has increased sharply since the start of the pandemic.

Gallagher said the committee formally defines the relationship between China and the US as one of “strategic competition.” But, he said: “The reality is, it isn’t a tennis match. It’s about what kind of world we want to live in.”

Representatives of federal agencies went door-to-door in East Palestine, Ohio, this weekend, checking on families affected by the disaster, according to the White House.

The teams composed of Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Emergency Management Agency and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staff spoke with 350 households by the end of the weekend, and expected to hit their target of 400 families later today, a White House official said.

Here’s an interview from Fox News with the leader of the CDC’s response to the derailment:

If you pay attention to rightwing media, you’ll hear certain terms thrown around about the East Palestine disaster. The Guardian’s Ed Pilkington and Nina Lakhani report on how conservatives are attempting to make the environmental catastrophe about race:

Until 2 February it was business as usual in the small rural community of East Palestine, Ohio. The local paper carried obituaries and sporting results, interspersed with stories of a homecoming queen, an abusive puppy mill and the driver in the Toughest Monster Truck Tour who was arrested for human trafficking.

The next day it all went up in flames.

“Train derailment sparks massive fire, prompts evacuations.” “Videos show major fire raging after tanker train derails.”

The derailment of a 50-car freight train carrying toxic materials on 3 February shattered daily life in East Palestine and sent a pall of black smoke over the region. Potentially lethal chemicals spewed into the air, ground and water.

Three weeks into the disaster, a new set of headlines has started to billow up from right-wing outlets and commentators. Now the tragedy of East Palestine has morphed into a racialized lament for the “forgotten” people abandoned by the uncaring “woke” Biden administration.

For “forgotten”, read white.

With Democrats in Congress demanding answers from America’s freight rail companies, Adam Lowenstein reports on how the industry has in recent years spent handsomely on political contributions, public relations and other methods aimed at crafting public opinion:

Six children, smiling and laughing, sit at a table with lunch boxes open in front of them. “Hey guys! My dad can stop a train with his finger,” one brags. “My mom can see into the future,” another says, holding up her hands as binoculars. “My mom? She speaks train,” a third claims.

Just then, her mom walks into the room. Another child asks if it’s true that she can talk to trains. “You betcha,” she says with a wink, as she stands in front of a sky-blue sign emblazoned with the logo of the Norfolk Southern Corporation.

The kids’ conversation takes place in “Everyday Superheroes”, a 2018 video created for Norfolk Southern, the $12.7bn operator of the train carrying toxic chemicals that derailed earlier this month in East Palestine, Ohio, causing an environmental disaster of still unknown proportions.

Expect Trump and Biden to loom large over train derailment investigations

The derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals that may have done long-lasting, potentially life-changing damage to a small Ohio community is certainly the type of calamity Congress is equipped to look into.

And on the surface, the hearings announced by a House and a Senate committee thus far seem intent on doing just that.

“Thousands of trains carrying hazardous materials, like the one that derailed in Ohio, travel through communities throughout the nation each day. Every railroad must reexamine its hazardous materials safety practices to better protect its employees, the environment, and American families and reaffirm safety as a top priority,” Maria Cantwell, the Democratic chair of the Senate commerce committee, wrote in a letter sent to the heads of America’s top freight rail companies.

Republican House commerce committee chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Bill Johnson, who leads the environment, manufacturing and critical materials subcommittee and also represents the district encompassing East Palestine, addressed their letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Michael Regan.

They asked for “information to our Committee regarding the EPA’s overall response, the controlled burn of some of the rail cars, and its testing plan to ensure people are kept safe.”

Both sound like serious efforts to get to the bottom of the derailment, and they may well be. But they’re also opportunities for each party to make the case that the other is responsible for laying the groundwork for the disaster. For Republicans, they’ll argue the buck stops with Joe Biden and the leaders he’s chosen for the EPA and transportation department. For Democrats, don’t be surprised if they bring up Donald Trump, arguing his deregulation policies were friendly to the rail industry at the expense of the communities around their tracks.

Congress demands answers on Ohio toxic train deraillment

Good morning, US politics blog readers. East Palestine, Ohio, became America’s latest political battleground earlier this month when a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in the small community, sparking fears of life-changing pollution for its nearly 4,800 residents. Congress is now poised to get involved, with lawmakers of both parties pledging to hold hearings into the incident. For Democrats in the Senate, the focus looks to be on whether government deregulation and corporate malfeasance contributed to the accident. House Republicans, meanwhile, may see it as another opportunity to turn the public against the Biden administration.

Here’s what else is going on today:

• Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will hold a White House event to celebrate Black History Month at 5 pm eastern time.

• Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will take reporters’ questions at 2:30 pm.

• The House and Senate are back in action, though no votes are expected.