EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — It has been more than four months since the train derailment and fire in East Palestine. For many, life is returning to close to normal, but for others, that might never be the case. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) returned to East Palestine to meet with local manufacturers who are still dealing with various obstacles.
For decades RBS Manufacturing has operated just off the Norfolk Southern tracks in East Palestine.
“We build steel mill equipment, so anything that goes in a steel mill,” said RBS General Manager Rick Severs.
And they did it uninterrupted for years until Feb. 3, when they had to shut down because of the train derailment and fire just east of their plant. The good news for the 30 employees here was that this place was far enough away from the derailment site that they were able to reopen the next week. Even still, Severs said, “it’s just been a bit of a challenge with getting people here every day, and we’ve had probably about a 35 to 40 percent sales drop. I think it’s just confidence in our ability and staffing and people.”
Last month we met with the owner of CeramFab, a manufacturer of ceramic installation materials which is located adjacent to the crash site. His business shut down indefinitely and his outlook more dire.
“Everyone knows this is a disaster area, and they do not feel secure to do business with us in the future,” said owner Edwin Wang. “I’m not sure how to get the business back.”
Wang moved his businesses to East Palestine from New Jersey four years ago. CeramSource, located off North James St., makes carbon bricks for steel factories. His other business, CeramFab, manufactures ceramic installation materials. It’s located right down the street from where the Norfolk Southern train derailed on Feb. 3.
Wang said his employees returned to work Monday, Feb. 6, following the controlled release of vinyl chloride, but Operation Manager Howard Yang said employees started to feel ill.
“Bad, a lot of coughing, headaches, nosebleeds, and we sent them to the ER right away,” said Yang. “They were diagnosed with chemical bronchitis.”
Since then, Wang has stopped operations at CeramSource and CeramFab until the EPA says it's officially safe to return. The EPA is also currently using CeramFab's parking lot for contaminated soil cleanup, which Wang said he agreed to. Wang's 30 employees are now receiving lost wages compensation from Norfolk Southern.
Senator Sherrod Brown said Monday they’re dealing with Norfolk Southern and with the manufacturers in East Palestine on a case-by-case basis.
“The reason I came here, in part, is we work individually with individual companies and individual people and businesses to make sure they’re made whole,” he said.
Brown and fellow Senator JD Vance (R-OH) are co-sponsors of the Railway Safety Act, which includes reforms to better safeguard against rail disasters like this in the future. Brown is hoping to get it before the full senate for a vote next week, where it will pass, he believes, with at least 60 votes.
“We’ll have all 51 Democrats. Vance, I think, will have at least a dozen Republicans. The railroads are still fighting it. We’ll need the momentum of a big victory in the Senate to get it through the house.”
Back at RBS, Rick Severs says they’d like to expand but there are concerns about what the return on investment in East Palestine would be and also about attracting future employees.
“We just need to feel safe,” Severs said. “Those people that come in need to feel that the air’s good, the wells are good and moving forward that all of that is taken care of properly.”
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