DARLINGTON, Pa. — When Mike Carreon ran for Darlington Township supervisor in 2022, he felt confident he could handle whatever challenges were thrown his way. Darlington is a rural municipality in Beaver County, Pennsylvania with just under 2,000 residents. What’s the worst that could happen — some sort of natural disaster, he figured.
It’s safe to say that Carreon, who is a farmer and truck driver, didn’t expect to lead the township through an unprecedented public health and environmental disaster caused by a train derailment in neighboring East Palestine, Ohio.
He also never expected to meet the president or sit as a guest at the State of the Union address, things that have both happened in the last month. U.S. Congressman Chris Deluzio invited Carreon to be his guest at the 2024 State of the Union address, on March 7.
“I wanted to lift up Mike and his service,” Deluzio said. He also wanted to keep attention on the Railway Safety Act. U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and JD Vance, R-Ohio, introduced the bipartisan legislation in the Senate a month after the derailment, and Deluzio, a Democrat, introduced the companion bill in the House.
The Railway Safety Act seeks to change safety requirements for trains carrying hazardous materials, make new requirements for wayside defect detectors, mandate a two-person crew and increase fines for railroads who break the rules, among other things.
“For two guys that are at opposite ends of the spectrum politically, for us to get together in the name of rail safety… that’s the way politics is supposed to work,” said Carreon, a Republican.
There’s been little movement on the legislation since it was introduced last year, something Deluzio and Carreon are disappointed by.
Carreon, chairman of the board of township supervisors, led the municipality through the uncertainty that followed the fiery derailment in February 2023 and subsequent chemical burnoff, all while working his day job as a truck driver and running the family farm where they raise beef cattle and row crops.
There are still lingering concerns for some residents about the long-term impacts the derailment and chemical cloud will have on their health and the environment. There are also concerns that without some kind of legislative action, what happened in East Palestine and Darlington could happen somewhere else, Carreon said.
Deluzio, who represents Pennsylvania’s 17th Congressional District, said 95% of his constituents live within 5 miles of the tracks, and nearly half live within a mile. “We are not unique,” he said. “The railroads have made it clear that they can’t be trusted to regulate themselves.”
(Editor Rachel Wagoner can be reached at 724-201-1544 or rachel@farmanddairy.com.)
