Ohio rail disaster re-ignites oversight debate (February 14, 2023) -- A train derailment in February 2023 that launched a fusillade of toxic chemicals into the air in East Palestine, Ohio, has now inflamed another safety concern. The nearly 2-mile Norfolk Southern train that derailed and caught fire on February 3 was carrying toxic and flammable materials, including hundreds of thousands of pounds of vinyl chloride, a common organic chemical used in the production of plastics. During the four years of Donald Trumps (R) Presidency the White House and Republicans in Congress sided with the rail industrys battle against additional safety measures and successfully rolled back health, hazardous materials, and safety regulations put in place under President Barack Obama (D). Now there is pushback from Republicans in Congress to the proposal of the Biden Administration to re-institute rail regulations from the Obama Administration. In addition, there is disagreement between the major freight railroads and the federal government over whether workers can use a government hotline to report safety concerns. After the fiery Ohio derailment, railroad firms made a promise to join the same hotline reporting program that airlines use. Now the freight railroads are disciplining workers who report safety concerns. Their opposition to this hotline which only increases protection for public is just part of a decades-old effort to suppress reporting of possible hazards so that they can appear to the public and regulators as acting more safely than they are, said Debbie Berkowitz, a former top-ranking official at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration during the Obama administration that put in regulations on the rail industry. For years, major freight railroads have resisted joining a worker safety hotline because they believe their own internal reporting systems are sufficient. But railroad unions say without federal protection, workers don't use hotlines because they fear retribution. Passenger service Amtrak uses the government reporting program, but none of the big freight railroads have signed on to it. A. Construct a market diagram for rail transport of hazardous materials assuming both supply and demand have some elasticity and assuming safety regulations are in place from the Obama Administration. Assume supply and demand have some elasticity. Label initial demand and supply and price and quantity with subscript 1. B. Construct a combined market diagram of clean air and clean water adjacent and above rail tracks that transport hazardous materials assuming: (i) demand has some elasticity, (ii) supply is perfectly inelastic, and (iii) safety regulations are in place from the Obama Administration. Label initial demand and supply and price and quantity with subscript 1. C. Return to the market diagram for rail transport in 5A, make changes to the market as result of actions under the Trump Administration. Label new demand and/or supply curves and n.

1. Ohio rail disaster re-ignites oversight debate (February 14, 2023) -- A train derailment in
February 2023 that launched a fusillade of toxic chemicals into the air in East Palestine, Ohio,
has now inflamed another safety concern. The nearly 2-mile Norfolk Southern train that derailed
and caught fire on February 3 was carrying toxic and flammable materials, including hundreds of
thousands of pounds of vinyl chloride, a common organic chemical used in the production of
plastics. During the four years of Donald Trumps (R) Presidency the White House and
Republicans in Congress sided with the rail industrys battle against additional safety measures
and successfully rolled back health, hazardous materials, and safety regulations put in place
under President Barack Obama (D). Now there is pushback from Republicans in Congress to the
proposal of the Biden Administration to re-institute rail regulations from the Obama
Administration. In addition, there is disagreement between the major freight railroads and the
federal government over whether workers can use a government hotline to report safety
concerns. After the fiery Ohio derailment, railroad firms made a promise to join the same hotline
reporting program that airlines use. Now the freight railroads are disciplining workers who
report safety concerns. Their opposition to this hotline which only increases protection for
public is just part of a decades-old effort to suppress reporting of possible hazards so that they
can appear to the public and regulators as acting more safely than they are, said Debbie
Berkowitz, a former top-ranking official at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration
during the Obama administration that put in regulations on the rail industry. For years, major
freight railroads have resisted joining a worker safety hotline because they believe their own
internal reporting systems are sufficient. But railroad unions say without federal protection,
workers don't use hotlines because they fear retribution. Passenger service Amtrak uses the
government reporting program, but none of the big freight railroads have signed on to it.
A. Construct a market diagram for rail transport of hazardous materials assuming both supply
and demand have some elasticity and assuming safety regulations are in place from the Obama
Administration. Assume supply and demand have some elasticity. Label initial demand and
supply and price and quantity with subscript 1.
B. Construct a combined market diagram of clean air and clean water adjacent and above rail
tracks that transport hazardous materials assuming: (i) demand has some elasticity, (ii) supply is
perfectly inelastic, and (iii) safety regulations are in place from the Obama Administration. Label
initial demand and supply and price and quantity with subscript 1.
C. Return to the market diagram for rail transport in 5A, make changes to the market as result of
actions under the Trump Administration. Label new demand and/or supply curves and new price
and quantity with subscript 2.
D. Return to the market diagram in 5B for clean air and clean water adjacent and above rail

2. tracks that transport hazardous materials. Make changes to the market assuming that without
regulation future train derailments such as occurred in East Palestine, Ohio, occur. Label new
demand and/or supply curves and new price and quantity with subscript 2.
E. Set out the condition that must hold for the regulation policy advocated by President Biden to
be efficient.
Fi. State the efficiency standard supported by former President Trump.
Fii. State the efficiency standard supported by President Biden.
G. n less than 15 words explain how the preferred efficiency standard by the public is selected.