Listen and subscribe on your favorite platform: Substack, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Youtube.

Earlier this month, I reached out to Jess Conard in the hopes of interviewing her for the Reconnect America podcast. I hardly expected that just a few days later we would be meeting face-to-face—along with my friend Beka Economopoulos, co-founder and Director of The Natural History Museum—in my cabin-studio in the woods of Vashon Island, Washington.

Jess is a resident of East Palestine, Ohio, where the 2023 derailment of a Norfolk Southern train and the subsequent decision to vent and burn over 115,000 gallons of toxic vinyl chloride caused an environmental and public health disaster whose consequences will be unfolding for decades to come.

In the aftermath of the derailment, Jess dove headlong into studying the countless layers of profit-driven corner-cutting and neglect that led to and exacerbated the disaster. Earlier this year, she launched Rail Watch, an organization aimed at protecting the safety of trackside communities across North America.

Community organizing and coalition-building is of vital importance in a moment of political timidity on the part of our elected officials, regulatory rollback by executive agencies, and the entrenched captivity of railroad and other corporations to the unfettered power of financial interests. Our conversation focused not just on what happened in East Palestine, but also on how to build from the power we have to the power we need to bring about a world where communities are not endangered, but rather served by the infrastructure that passes through them.

I hope you find our conversation as informative and inspiring as I did!

With Gratitude & Solidarity,

Bill Moyer

Reconnect America is hosted by Bill Moyer, co-author of the book Solutionary Rail: A People-powered Campaign to Electrify America’s Railroads and Open Corridors to a Clean Energy Future. Check out the essays and supplemental posts that complement this podcast HERE.

Keep the podcast ads-free and without paywalls by making a tax-deductible donation HERE.