Ten days after a train carrying hazardous materials derailed in Ohio, sparking an environmental disaster, two more trains in Texas and South Carolina went off the rails on Monday, adding to the more than a dozen train wrecks reported in the U.S. since the year began.
A Pacific Union train, reportedly carrying hazardous materials, derailed in Montgomery, Texas, north of Houston. At around 7:30 a.m., the train collided with an 18-wheeler, killing the truck driver, and causing 21 rail cars to derail.
A Union Pacific spokesperson estimated that 100 gallons of diesel fuel was released by the truck involved in the crash, but no “major chemicals” were released.
“From what we’re being told and shown, there’s no major chemicals to be concerned about,” the spokeswoman, Robynn Teller said. “It’s more so household chemicals on board for retail purposes. It’s not a large quantity from what we’re being told.”
The East Montgomery Fire Department confirmed there was no active threat to the community stemming from the wreck.
TEXAS — A train carrying "some hazardous materials" has derailed north of Houston. 1 person is dead.
"It doesn't look like there's going to be any type of evacuation other than the immediate area." pic.twitter.com/JFCiJ0XA0l
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) February 13, 2023
There were reports of a second derailment in Enoree, South Carolina, Monday afternoon.
NEW 🚨 Reports of train derailment in Enoree, South Carolina, as per Fox Carolina pic.twitter.com/TZ1Vl2b0wI
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) February 13, 2023
More than a dozen trains have derailed in the United States in the first month and a half of this year, Newsweek reported. According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 54,539 train derailments have occurred in the U.S. from 1990 to 2021.
On Fox News Monday night, Tucker Carlson pointed out that a growing number of these cases are due to acts of domestic terrorist sabotage.
“Over the past two years, the FBI has investigated more than 40 cases of rail sabotage in Washington state alone,” Carlson said, explaining that a lot of the attacks involve “shunt devices” which are put on tracks to interfere with the train’s electrical signals and cause derailments.
“In one incident just before Christmas in 2020, a shunt caused a train to derail in Custer, Washington. That train spilled 30,000 gallons of crude oil and forced locals to evacuate their homes,” Carlson noted.
“Very often, in fact, in the majority of cases, the people who commit acts of terrorism against infrastructure—whoever they are—are never punished, and the ones who are caught aren’t really punished,” Carlson added. “One woman who tried destroying a train using a shunt got out of jail after only a year,” the host noted.
Carlson was referring to Ellen Brennan Reiche, a 28-year-old Bellingham, Washington woman who was one of two far-leftists arrested on the BNSF Railway tracks at around midnight on November 28, 2020. According to independent journalist Andy Ngo, the attack was noted on the antifa site “It’s Going Down.”
A far-left convicted domestic terrorist has been sentenced in federal court in Washington state to a year in prison. Ellen Reiche (they/them) & an accomplice tried to derail a train. The attack was claimed on the extremist #antifa site for @igd_news. https://t.co/DprSHAaHpw
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) December 27, 2021
“No one’s paying attention and no one really seems to care because what does that have to do with environmental racism and climate? said Carlson, mocking the woke concerns of the Biden administration.
“Possibly as a result of that attitude, there are an awful lot of train derailments in this country, many more than you may realize,” he continued. “In the last calendar year, more than 1,000 trains went off the tracks in the United States.”
Carlson added he doesn’t know what is going on exactly, but it’s not just limited to just the railways.
“There have also been many recent attacks on our power grid,” he said, pointing out that very few of those attacks have been widely reported. He also noted there have also been an unusual number of “bizarre accidents” that threaten our food supply, and numerous attempts to poison our water supply.
“Nobody’s paying attention to the most critical infrastructure—not the racist roads, but food, water, energy, transportation infrastructure!” Carlson exclaimed.
“Whatever the cause, our food, water, energy, and infrastructure are being degraded,” he added. “If you didn’t know any better, you might think there was a war going on.”
Protecting our water supply is the EPA's job. But they're more concerned about "environmental racism" to care about any of this. pic.twitter.com/YlmWPKcATV
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) February 14, 2023