The Justice Department is suing Norfolk Southern for a train crash last month in East Palestine, Ohio, that spewed dangerous materials and sparked weeks of outrage about the Biden administration’s response.
Federal prosecutors accuse the firm of illegally polluting rivers with oil and dangerous substances from the derailed trains in a lawsuit filed on Thursday.
According to the lawsuit, the DOJ is seeking injunctive action, cost recovery, and civil penalties to “guarantee it pays the full cost of the environmental cleanup.” It makes no allegations of negligence against Norfolk Southern.
“As a result of this occurrence, hazardous materials were released into the atmosphere and spilled onto the ground.” “These contaminants damaged local waterways and spread for kilometres downstream,” prosecutors wrote in the lawsuit.
Connor Spielmaker, a Norfolk Southern spokeswoman, stated that the business was “acting with urgency, under the direction of the U.S. “cleaning up the site, aiding residents whose lives were disrupted by the derailment, and investing in the future of East Palestine and the surrounding areas,” according to the EPA, at whose request the DOJ filed the complaint.
That remains our objective, and we’ll keep working until we do it right,” Spielmaker continued, echoing a message repeated by Alan Shaw, the railroad’s CEO, in recent congressional appearances in which he apologised for the catastrophe.
The incident, which occurred near a small village on the Pennsylvania-Ohio border, threw 38 cars off the track, spilling hazardous chemicals. Several of the tank vehicles were compromised, necessitating a controlled discharge of hazardous vinyl chloride, which was burned off and caused the evacuation of the town.
Federal officials have declared that the neighbourhood and its water are now safe, but locals continue to complain about bad odours and are concerned about long-term health risks, as well as declining home values.
The corporation has under significant criticism from the industry and lawmakers, who have pushed for stricter safety safeguards because they believe an overheating wheel caused the catastrophe. Norfolk Southern, like the rest of the industry, has since announced a slew of new safety measures.
Legislators from both parties, including a sizable number from Ohio and Pennsylvania, are pushing legislation to improve rail safety, but it has yet to receive widespread support.
