Corporate Greed Is a Root Cause of Rail Disasters Around the World

Aerial view of head-on collision of two freight trains across center of green fields. Black smoke clouds rise to the upper right.

On February 25, Greece experienced its deadliest rail disaster ever when a freight train ran headlong into a passenger train coming towards it on the same track, killing 57 people. This tragic accident, near the city of Larissa, occurred just weeks after the East Palestine, Ohio rail disaster, and while the outcomes are different, the […]

The Fight to Define ‘Green Hydrogen’ Could Determine America’s Emissions Future

By Emily Pontecorvo, Grist. This story originally appeared in Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. With the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act last year, a decades-long effort to get a major climate package through Congress is over. But the work of ensuring […]

The Railroad Industry Loved Modern Brakes and Safety, Until They Didn’t

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) chair Jennifer Homendy concluded that the East Palestine, Ohio, rail disaster was “100% preventable.”  The certainty of this statement raises the obvious question: Why did this happen? The answer was actually provided by one of Homendy’s predecessors at the NTSB. In 2014, speaking about the spate of oil train disasters […]

Liquid Gas Industry Fights to Weaken EU Climate Plans Ahead of Key Vote

This story is part of a DeSmog series on the influence wielded by the gas lobby in Europe and was developed with the support of Journalismfund.eu Liquid gas companies are casting themselves as champions of rural communities in a bid to weaken proposals to slash the carbon emissions produced by heating Europe’s buildings, according to […]