The agency investigating last year’s 38-car train derailment and fire near East Palestine, Ohio, has begun teasing out its findings, with the final report coming later in July.

The National Transportation Safety Board found plenty of blame to go around in the Feb. 3, 2023, derailment of a Norfolk Southern freight train. For instance, that famous plume of vinyl chloride that forced the temporary evacuation of about 2,000 nearby residents and triggered warnings of environmental devastation? That didn’t have to happen.