Speaker 1: As we continue to learn more about the train derailment that took place in Ohio and we
continue to cover it, it's harder and harder to avoid this sub story that's come up about
some breaking related regulations that were put in place by the Obama administration that
the Trump administration rolled back. Now, the reason I haven't spoken about that yet is it's
genuinely unclear to me and apparently to others as well, whether those regulations are actually
related to what took place in this particular train derailment. I have a friend who's a train
engineer and he looked at it very strongly and he said, yes, that happened, but it's not clear yet,
at least that that's related to this train derailment. But putting that aside for a moment,
that topic has now even made it to Fox and Friends, even Fox and friends who, you know,
the interesting thing about this story is that it has gone somewhat bipartisan because, I mean,
it's kind of crazy, but from some of the right, they're interested in the train derailment,
not because they care about trains or they care about regulation, but because they believe the
media doesn't care about the train derailment, because a lot of the victims in Ohio are white.
I know it's crazy. And we already talked about that on the Wednesday show. But regardless,
it's leading to right wing media caring about the train derailment. They also see it as an
opportunity to criticize Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Democratic
President Joe Biden. So needless to say, I have to tell you, I was surprised. Even
Fox and Friends Brian KILMEADE yesterday morning mentioned this issue of those regulatory changes.
Speaker 2: Speaking to the White House, apparently regulations regarding train safety.
Speaker 1: This is steve. Steve doocy. Speaker 2: Nat kilmeade change during the
trump administration of this particular railroad and others lobbied president Trump to dismantle an
Obama era rule that would have required railroads to update their braking systems. And apparently
the Obama administration would push for it to govern transportation of hazardous materials after
about half a million barrels of crude were dumped. But ultimately, the Trump administration undid
that and said the costs exceeded the benefits. Nobody understands. And, you know, when they talk
about whether or not it's safe to drink the water. Speaker 1: Okay, so then they get off of that
aspect. That is absolutely and completely true. If you Google this, you'll find it widely documented.
Here's one article Trump Rules. This is from 2018. Trump Rolls Back Train Breaking Rule meant to keep
oil tankers from exploding near communities, and the article reads Trains that carry oil and other
flammable material won't have to install won't have to install electronically controlled brakes
that reduce the risk of train derailment and explosions. After the reversal by Trump officials
of an Obama era safety rule, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
posted the rule change on its website. And again, they say today this was from September of 2018,
arguing the cost of installing these more sophisticated breaks outweighs the benefit. This
was first proposed in December 2017, around the time of a deadly Amtrak derailment and finalized
today. The improved brakes had had a 2021 deadline for installation. So it is 100% true that this was
something that was started during the Obama administration. A deadline was placed on it
under Trump that was canceled. I would want to be really sure that it's actually related to
this train derailment before we ascribe this train derailment blame under that umbrella. But it still
goes without saying that we are not overregulated when it comes to trains by any means. And in fact,
it's probably the opposite. But ultimately, we will have a more specific answer here. And I mean,
it isn't good for Fox News for bringing it up. They get they mention it as an
aside and they get off of it very quickly. But they did bring it up to their credit.