Saturday marks the one-year anniversary of one of the worst environmental disasters in Ohio in recent memory with the East Palestine train derailment.

In recognition of the derailment and the people impacted by it, Senator Sherrod Brown spoke about it on the Senate Floor earlier Tuesday afternoon.

The focus of his speech was to make sure the disaster did not fade away from the lawmakers with the power to continue helping the community.

"I don't want any other community Ohio or around the country to have to deal with a disaster like this ever again, " Brown said in his speech. 

He also took aim at Norfolk Southern and the work that he believes still needs to be done by the company to return East Palestine back to the way it was before the incident.

"Make no mistake, this derailment was preventable," Brown added. "The train barreled past sensors that raised the alarm but Norfolk Southern didn't tell the crew to stop."

Instead of improving safety practices, Brown alleges the company laid off a third of its workers in the last decade and continues to remove crews from trains that may be carrying dangerous chemicals. He also accuses them of rushing safety inspections of these trains.

Brown and Sen. J.D. Vance have been advocating for railway safety with the introduction of their Railway Safety Act of 2023, which would improve safety measures for trains carrying hazardous material, reduce the risk of wheel barring failures, support communities impacted by railway disasters and more. The nearly year-old bipartisan bill has seen no movement so far.

"I will continue to fight for Ohio every single time," Brown concluded in his speech. "...I'm there for the long haul...I've been their eight times and I will continue to be there and I will continue to fight for the people of Columbiana County. I will always fight to hold Norfolk Southern accountable. I will always fight to make our railways safer."