A specialized plane equipped with advanced sensors that the government deploys to chemical disasters could have helped authorities avoid needlessly blowing open five rail tank cars and burning their toxic contents after the disastrous 2023 East Palestine train derailment, a new report says.
The report released Tuesday found the single-engine Cessna wasn't called into action until the night before the rail cars filled with vinyl chloride were blown open because officials with the Environmental Protection Agency on the ground didn't fully understand the plane's sophisticated capabilities.
