Ohio lawmakers are asking Congress to address longstanding safety failures of class-one freight railroads, to prevent disasters like last year's massive train derailment in East Palestine.

House Resolution 8996 would require that rail companies employ a second crewman and implement a confidential reporting system, among other reforms.

At a recent hearing, U.S. Ohio Rep. Michael Rulli - R-Youngstown - said the East Palestine derailment has caused irreparable environmental and economic damage.

He said the legislation would require companies like Norfolk Southern to ensure hazmat expertise on board is shared with on-scene responders - which one of the chemical companies, Oxy Vinyl LP, did not do.

"Oxy Vinyl manufactured the chemicals on board the train in East Palestine," said Rulli. "They recommended not to vent and burn the contents of the train, but this recommendation wasn't shared with first responders until after the fact."

After the Norfolk Southern train derailed and exploded, known carcinogens - including vinyl chloride - were released into the air, soil and water.

East Palestine residents immediately reported experiencing nosebleeds, rashes, throat and eye irritation, vomiting, and difficulty breathing.

Many report lingering health problems, more than a year after the accident.

Federal Railroad Administration Administrator Amit Bose said the agency has been supportive of the legislation, in addition to conducting inspections on high-hazard, flammable train routes.

"For over a year, the Department of Transportation has continued those calls," said Bose, "while concurrently taking important actions to make freight rail safer."

According to Federal data, there were 952 class-one train derailments in 2022, with about 77% occurring in railyards and 23% on mainline tracks.




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Only one in five Arizona voters said they have heard about President Joe Biden's effort to address climate change and expand clean energy.

One organization contends Arizona seniors have won big with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act as well as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, especially as the state continues to battle relentless heat and the effects of climate change.

Dora Vazques, executive director of the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans, said older Arizonans experience greater risk when exposed to extreme temperatures, which has led to an increased demand for energy and price hikes.

"It is a crisis in that 'are we able to pay for those electricity bills?'" Vazques noted. "With this plan, there are a lot of incentives to weatherize your home. Weatherize meaning that you can have funding to put in new windows, to put in insulation; things that will help to protect you."

The Arizona Governor's Office of Resiliency is expected to take advantage of about $150 million in rebates to benefit Arizona homes.

Vazques pointed out older adults, who rely on Social Security to cover their expenses, are less likely to combat rising energy costs and are less able to afford repairs on dated equipment. Information on incentives is at homes.rewiringamerica.org.

While upfront costs for going electric tend to be higher than fossil-fuel dependent counterparts, Vazques noted the investments will save money in the long-term. He emphasized one of the biggest challenges is the lack of awareness among Arizona homeowners and renters about the help available to them.

"They need those upgrades to move away from gas appliances to electric appliances, to upgrade that cooler to an air conditioner," Vazques outlined. "This is a godsend for all of Arizona."

Vazques added clean energy investments will also help Arizona's economy. Biden's clean energy plan will bring more than $4 billion in clean energy investments to Arizona by 2030, according to Climate Power.


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As West Virginia opens its door to the plastics recycling or "advanced recycling" industry, a recent report found only a fraction of plastics are recycled and plastics labeled as biodegradable in reality can take years to degrade.

One study found biodegradable plastic bags were still fully intact after three years of being buried in the soil. There are currently no federal standards regulating bioplastics, or products claiming to be biodegradable or compostable.

Judith Enck, president of the group Beyond Plastics, said the plastic recycling plants being built in Appalachia increase exposure to microplastics and pose health risks for neighboring communities.

"Chemical recycling just takes plastics heated at a really high temperature to make small amounts of fossil fuels, or uses vast amount of toxic chemicals to try to break down old plastic and make it new plastic," Enck explained. "(It is) the last thing we need."

Plastic production is forecast to increase by 70% over the next 20 years, with roughly half designed for single-use products, according to the report.

Enck argued without significant reduction in plastic packaging, consumers will continue to ingest chemicals like PFAS, lead, mercury, vinyl chloride and other chemicals found in food and beverage packing.

"We're particularly concerned by a chemical called polylactic acid, PLA," Enck noted. "That is typically made from corn or sugar crops, and they also contain toxic chemicals."

Microplastics and nanoplastics are produced when plastic products break down into tiny fragments, which end up in soil and waterways.

Enck pointed out plastic particles have been found in honey, beer, salt, tea bags, fruit, vegetables, seafood and meat. Microplastics have been found in human blood, organs, brains, breast milk and in newborn babies. Research has linked microplastics exposure to heart attacks, stroke, and diseases related to hormone disruption.

Two new studies find that without sustained intervention, California may permanently lose big sections of old-growth giant sequoia groves.

The majestic trees only grow on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. Since 2015, 20% of them have died, mostly in three megafires in 2020 and 2021.

David Soderberg, Ph.D, a biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and a study co-author, said the blazes incinerated many of the older, seed-bearing trees.

"You're getting much larger patches of fires burning at what's called high severity. So, you have this kind of bad combination for the sequoias where many more of the mature trees are dying, and there are many fewer of the seedlings regenerating," he explained.

The studies show there are substantially fewer seedlings than in the past, and those that germinate are imperiled by drought and heat stress linked to climate change. The Giant Sequoia Lands Coalition partners have planted more than 500,000 native seedlings in severely burned areas where reproduction has been insufficient.

Paul Ringgold, chief program officer with the Save the Redwoods League, said the idea is to give forest regeneration a head start.

"When you're planting seedlings, you're planting trees that have been grown in the nursery for two years or more. They're more robust than a seedling that is sprouting from a seed, giving it a little bit of an edge against the impact of drier, hotter summers," he said.

Old-growth sequoia are the world's largest trees and depend on fire to reproduce. But Ringgold noted that past fire-suppression efforts have led to a buildup of excessive fuel loads in the forests. So, extensive projects are underway to clear out dead vegetation and make the groves more resilient to fire.