Editor's note: Bradley Blankenship is a Prague-based American journalist, political analyst and freelance reporter. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

It's been around two weeks since the Ohio train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, in which 450,000 kgs of vinyl chloride and other deadly chemicals burned off in a violent explosion. Local reports suggest extensive damage to local wildlife and children, meanwhile, local officials and the company responsible, Norfolk Southern Corporation, are assuring residents it's OK to return.

However, there was still no word from the Department of Transportation until Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg sent out a Twitter thread. In it, he said that officials "are making historic investments on rail safety through funding in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, work that accelerates this year and continue in the years to come."

He talked about the need for strong regulations, which will soon come. However, the department, as The Lever reports, "has not moved to reinstate an Obama-era rail safety rule aimed at expanding the use of better braking technology." They are leaving in place Trump-era deregulation. On this issue, a former federal safety official recently warned Congress that without better brakes, "there will be more derailments [and] more releases of hazardous materials."

People are confused, hurt and understandably angry that the Secretary, who has no relevant experience in transportation and is a vanity political appointee by U.S. President Joe Biden, has essentially ducked this issue and avoided the press. Local officials have virtually deferred to the aforementioned rail company on the issue and, during one press conference by Ohio officials, NewsNation correspondent Evan Lambert was actually arrested, which raises concerns about transparency.

As Axiom reported recently, what we know is that the train "was pulling at least five tanker cars containing vinyl chloride, a colorless but hazardous gas used to produce PVC plastic and vinyl products." It is believed that a mechanical issue with one of the axles of one of the 150 cars caused the derailment of at least 50 of the cars.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said substances released during the incident were observed and detected in samples from many rivers and streams, and were also observed entering storm drains.

The Ohio River system has an estimated 25 million residents, of which the biggest downstream metropolitan area is Cincinnati, Ohio. That happens to be the city I was born in and lived in for about 23 years. I spoke to many locals, and while I can't give any direct quotes, as I've supplied them to a reporter working on an exclusive story, I can give a summary.

In essence, people are concerned that their drinking water could be contaminated. They're worried about the health of their children. They are clueless about what actually happened (my mother actually didn't even hear about this incident on the news). And some are outright irate over the fact that workers from Norfolk Southern were threatening a strike in December of last year over this and so many other issues.

The main squabble is that most trains in the U.S. use Civil War-era technology and not the aforementioned Obama-era regulatory standards. That's because the rail lobby both forced a skinny deal on workers just months ago, kneecapping their efforts for crucial issues like paid sick leave, and lobbied regulators to ignore this issue. If left unabated, there will be more of these incidents.

What's more, the transportation of these chemicals isn't even necessary. Andy Boreham, a New Zealand journalist based in China, pointed out that in many countries, like China, "vinyl chloride is made LOCALLY from calcium carbide, which is much safer to transport." So the issue comes down to regulation.

Of course, Cincinnatians are not aware of the effects of deregulation. Residents of the city's West End have long reported rare and deadly forms of cancer, which they believe stem from a nearby Monsanto plant. This part of the city is predominantly Black, with many people forced into the neighborhood after the construction of a major interstate highway belt decades ago that destroyed the historic West End, and again after the construction of FC Cincinnati's soccer stadium which opened just two years ago.

So much is at play with this issue: corporate regulation, government corruption, environmental concerns and even racial inequality, and the public demands answers. We Cincinnatians have gone through a complex history over the past several decades, having been one of the most ambient metropolitan areas, suffering the effects of the Rust Belt and now a possible rejuvenation.

But we do not feel that justice has been served. Moreover, this issue risks our struggle to build a viable economy and become a Midwestern business hub. It is to be hoped that Norfolk Southern is destroyed by lawsuits. But we need more. We need a fundamental re-draw of environmental and consumer protections, zoning laws and so much more.

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