Geoff: A massive cleanup
operation is underway at the
site of the deadly bridge
collapse in Baltimore last week.
Crews are undertaking
painstaking tasks, removing
sharp twisted steel and concrete
debris from the port.
No one knows yet just how long
it will take to clean up the
wreckage and open the channel.
But the Biden administration has
pledged to help rebuild the
bridge and the president is
expected to ask for more federal
funding soon to make that
happen.
Transportation secretary Pete
buttigieg is going to play a key
role in all of this and he joins
me now.
Welcome back to the newshour
will take years and cost
hundreds of millions of dollars.
Do you agree with that
assessment, and how difficult
will it be to get that funding,
given congress's inability to
pass much of anything these
days?
>> That assessment is certainly
plausible.
We have not yet seen a hard
timeline.
There are a lot of things yet to
be known, both in terms of the
condition of the parts of the
bridge it did not collapse in
terms of the design of what will
take his place.
For example, one advantage of
having a design that is
identical or similar to the old
bridges that it could be done
quickly.
On the other hand, there may be
advantages to having a different
design.
Those are decisions that the
state will work through.
We will not dictate that.
What we will do is make sure
there is funding and whatever
requested technical assistance
to help them get that job done.
The first six immune dollars has
already been made available.
There something going to be a
need for more funding to do what
we can with the dollars we have.
If we need to turn to congress
for more dollars, I hope and
expect that will be a bipartisan
priority.
If you think back to the
Minnesota bridge collapse back
in 2007, it was a matter of days
before congress passed
legislation to get more funding
to make sure they were able to
rebuild that bridge.
A little more recently, the
bipartisan infrastructure
package itself was delivered
with a bipartisan vote.
I know it is a polarized time,
but I'd like to think if there's
anything Democrats and
Republicans can come together
on, it is supporting a part of
our country that is hurting, and
getting the infrastructure back
to where it needs to be.
Geoff: Will the administration
waive certain regulations of
clearing the debris and
ultimately rebuilding the
bridge?
>> We will tear down any
bureaucratic barrier, to be
clear, this has to be done
safely and properly.
Talking about checks to make
sure taxpayer funds are being
used the right way or any safety
consideration, but within that
within the framework of the law,
we will provide as much
flexibility as we responsibly
can.
We've got to get that bridge
back up.
The port reopening will of
course come sooner than the
bridge replacement, but both of
those are important, not just
for Baltimore, for our supply
chains in the U.S. Economy,
we've got to do everything we
can.
Geoff: You announced a new rule
today requiring two person crews
on railroads in a move to
improve safety after that toxic
availment in east palestine last
year.
The railroads say the size of
train crews should be determined
by union contract talks and not
by federal regulators, since her
enough data to support this
notion that two person crews are
actually safer.
What is your reaction to that?
>> I would start with common
sense.
The idea that you can run a two
mile long train or even longer
train than that, some are closer
to three miles, and have only
one human being on board that
train.
I guess is most Americans would
be surprised to learn that until
this morning, that wasn't always
-- already prevented.
We are talking about the
absolute common sense minimum
hear of having two people on
board a freight train.
These trains are two miles long
or longer.
This is something that was
developed back in the Obama
administration, the trump
administration halted that work.
We picked that work backup even
before what happened in east
palestine, but our attention to
rail safety measures is
supercharged by the national
focus on railroad safety that
east palestine brought.
That is she is one of many areas
we have been working on.
I want to reiterate my call on
congress to do more.
They have a bipartisan railway
safety act just sitting there,
waiting its turn.
It has been more than year since
at Ohio crash.
Congress needs to act.
Anything that doesn't require an
act of congress we will seek to
do on her own.
Geoff: It strikes me that
freight trains are getting
longer in the U.S., as you said
in some cases three miles long.
Cargo ships are now dangerously
big, like the one that caused
the bridge collapse in
Baltimore.
In your view, are the modes of
transport getting too big, or do
we need to improve our capacity
and our infrastructure to
accommodate them?
>> It really depends on the mode
of transportation.
It's not automatically
intrinsically safe to have a
larger ship or train or for that
matter, a larger vehicle or
after craft -- aircraft.
But it is important that every
step we take in that to make
sure that as they grow or have
any other feature different than
before that it is safer than
ever.
That's where regulation comes
in.
It is vitally important to
maintain the pattern we've had
in this country of Macon are
modes of transportation more
safe.
We still have a long way to go
on highway safety.
Geoff: Lastly, question about
Boeing.
They are facing a significant
safety crisis after door blew
off an Alaska airlines flight a
few months ago.
What concerns remain, is this
leadership overall sufficient?
>> Is going to take a lot more
than what individual has what
title at that company.
That is something I have
communicated to the senior
leadership at Boeing.
It is something our FAA
administrator made clear after
his visit to their any factoring
facility and has put them on a
90 day clock to put together a
comprehensive plan.
The FAA will not let them
increase the rate of production
until they can demonstrate they
can do it safely.
We are talking about
observations caught on the shop
floor but we are also talking
about culture.
That lines up at the helm of
Boeing as well as their board
and everybody up and down the
entire organization, they'll
have to prepare to put safety
first.
The aviation safety record of
the United States of America is
extraordinary, but there is
nothing about that that
guarantees it will be safe in
the future.
That's why every incident like
this gets an extra near amount
of attention.
Is why Boeing is under the
microscope and will stay that
way as it worked to demonstrate
that they can safely increase
their production.
Geoff: Do you feel safe buying
that's flying on a Boeing made
jet?
>> Every time I step on an
airliner, I know that I'm safe.
If I'm with my family, I know
that my family is safe because
of all the work that goes into
overseeing that, the work of all
of the professionals in the
aviation sector, including those
flight crews on board who do
such good work.
Every time I get on that
airplane I know I'm
participating in the safest mode
of transportation in America,
which is an astonishing thing if
you consider what air travel is.
You cannot take it for granted,
safety is not a destination.
It is something we have to
continually work toward.
Geoff: That is transportation
secretary Pete buttigieg.
Thanks again for your time and
insights.
♪♪