(cont'd from yesterday's post)
It happens more often than you might think. So far this year there have been a dozen train derailments nation-wide, and there were 54,539 from 1990 to 2021 (averaging 1704/year).
But most are not as spectacular as the one at East Palestine, Ohio, thirteen days ago, and most don't spill hazardous chemicals into water sources or fill the air with a big dark plume of smoke.
Maybe most surprising, some happen by intentional design. According to this 2021 report, the FBI at the time was investigating at least 41 incidents of railway sabotage in the state of Washington.
It's not just railways either. A water treatment plant operator personally prevented the poisoning of local people in 2021 when he reversed a hacker's attempt to manipulate the acid content of the water supply in Oldsmar, Florida.
We all depend on our public utilities, the infrastructure. It's probably not as secure as we'd like it to be.
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