Over a year ago, disaster struck East Palestine, Ohio. Hazardous chemicals leaked into waterways and nearby residents had to evacuate their homes. Above it all, black clouds billowed into the air, evidence of first responders’ desperate attempts to avoid deadly explosions by venting and burning off volatile gas. All of this mayhem was the product of a train derailment involving volatile hazardous materials.
The train derailment that devastated East Palestine was calamitous, but it could have been even worse—that train could have been carrying explosive liquefied natural gas (LNG). LNG is both long-burning and highly explosive; just 22 train cars of LNG contain equivalent energy to the Hiroshima atomic bomb. LNG is not a substance that can move safely through our communities, especially not at the volume that freight shipping entails. Thus, NRDC and allies have been…