PAULSBORO, N.J. — There were more than 1,000 train derailments in the United States last year — an average of three a day, according to the Federal Railroad Administration.
Some residents of Paulsboro told Spectrum News they have vivid memories of their own train derailment in 2012, when a train carrying vinyl chloride released 20,000 gallons of the hazardous chemical into their community.
Seeing a similar situation play out in East Palestine, Ohio, has brought back memories and sparked anger. Some said they feel history is repeating itself.
“We've gone to sleep," Paulsboro Mayor Gary Stevenson said. "It’s like you're in plane crash. What are the chances of you being in another plane crash? Well, you keep reading about all these derailments. Once again, it may not be here. May be in that town or it may be in that town. It's going to happen, guaranteed.”
If you ask the mayor to reflect on his town's toxic train wreck, he said he admits some mistakes were made. He also has a message to the mayor of East Palestine.
“We messed up in a way," he said. "You know, follow what I’m telling you. Don’t sign away their rights. Get something in place through the federal government, because it’s interstate commerce, that your citizens are going to get some type of testing throughout for X amount of years, and guess what? Somebody should be paying it and not the citizens.”
The derailment occurred in 2012, and Stevenson said no one from the railroad or the government followed up after the first year, so it's hard to measure the actual impact now.
Former New Jersey Assembly Deputy Speaker John Burzichelli said, in some ways, the derailment in his hometown has been forgotten now more than 10 years later.
“People’s attention span has now shortened to a TikTok version of 15 seconds," he said. "So, it’s in the memory of people that are old enough to remember and were here. The direct effect of it today would be hard to point to.”
The deputy speaker's roots run deep in Paulsboro. He's been running the historic Hill Studio and Scenic Theatre for decades.
At the time of the wreck, Burzichelli had just finished his fourth term as mayor and served as host of a local cable show called "Eye on Paulsboro," alongside the current mayor's mother, Irma Stevenson.
The show chronicled the response to the derailment and featured interviews with top officials. He pointed out that the train wrecks in East Palestine and Paulsboro are not identical.
He said the key difference is there was no fire or a controlled burn in Paulsboro, but there was one in East Palestine and it sent a massive plume of smoke into the sky in Ohio.
“We didn’t have the crush of the national media that occurred in Ohio because of how it ended," Burzichelli said. "You know, again, no explosion, no flames. Train cars off tracks: bad. People evacuated: bad. But you don't have that same visual of fire and smoke and that sort of thing.”
Some Paulsboro residents said they fear the tragedy in Ohio is worse.
“It’s happened again," Irma Stevenson said. "What are they going to do? Did they learn from Paulsboro to there? Did they? I don’t know.”
Stevenson remembers a parade of legislators and lawyers coming through the town, but she said there's been a lack of long-term action.
“We had a lot of politicians here," she said. "They’re going to change all the rules because it’s federal of course you know the railroads are federal. I haven’t seen one darn thing they’ve changed.”
Father and daughter Sean and Andrea McFarland said they remember being given the runaround when they searched for answers, and described a lot of confusion on what to do to ensure their safety.
For them, watching the clean-up effort in East Palestine is maddening.
“They got money, and they can go around and do whatever they want in poor towns and we don’t matter," Sean McFarland said.
In a town where everyone knows everyone, some of the neighbors felt the railroad was negligent and that politicians provided little more than lip service. Now, some of those locals are concerned that will happen again in Ohio.
“I just think the railroad companies have no compassion for the little guy," Irma Stevenson said.
Even some residents like Brenda Montero, who took the payout from Conrail, urge Ohioans not to do so.
"I wouldn't settle," she said.
Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw has pledged the company will do everything it can to make the East Palestine community whole again, and he offered support until things are made right.
“There’s nothing that can make it whole again," Sean McFarland said. "It happened. You got screwed and you’re stuck with it. So, there’s nothing they can do. They could have stopped it from happening again, but obviously they can’t do that because they don’t care.”
Gary Stevenson said it will never be whole for the people who live there.
"And this is what happened in my town, a huge stigma for many years," the mayor said. "Well your water is still tainted. Oh, they tested it and eventually didn’t find anything. They tested the ground, tested the air…the stigma’s there.”
Many in the town of Paulsboro said they believe the stigma from the chemical spill has gone away over time and that the real estate market did eventually bounce back. Despite that, bitterness toward the railroad remains, as well as some health concerns.
“You put your trust in people that don’t care about you, but that’s unfortunately all we have is to put trust and hope that they actually do care about us," Andrea McFarland said.
Their advice for Ohio: keep fighting back, and don't take a payout that takes away your power.
"I feel bad for the people of Ohio because I know what they're going through," Montero said.
“My heart goes out to the people today in Ohio," Irma Stevenson said.
Conrail was unable to be reached for comment by the time of publication. In a statement to Spectrum News 1, Norfolk Southern did not comment on the situation in Paulsboro, but did provide the following statement on East Palestine.
“We have been firm in our commitment to making it right in East Palestine and the surrounding communities in eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. Our employees and contractors remain embedded in the community to serve its residents, and we will remain in East Palestine for as long as it takes.”
Editor's Note: The story has been updated to include a statement from Norfolk Southern. (May 1, 2023)