Norfolk Southern alone should pay for cleanup of Ohio train derailment, judge says

Source: AP

Updated 7:09 PM EST, March 7, 2024


Norfolk Southern alone will be responsible for paying for the cleanup after last year’s fiery train derailment in eastern Ohio, a federal judge ruled. The decision issued Wednesday threw out the railroad’s claim that the companies that made chemicals that spilled and owned tank cars that ruptured should share the cost of the cleanup.

An assortment of chemicals spilled and caught fire after the train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 3, 2023. Three days later, officials blew open five tank cars filled with vinyl chloride because they feared those cars might explode. Residents still worry about potential health consequences from those chemicals.

The Atlanta-based railroad has said the ongoing cleanup from the derailment has already cost it more than $1.1 billion. That total continues to grow, though EPA officials have said they expect the cleanup to be finished at some point later this year.

U.S. District Judge John Adams said that ruling that other companies should share the cost might only delay the resolution of the lawsuit that the Environmental Protection Agency and state of Ohio filed against Norfolk Southern. He also said the railroad didn’t show that the derailment was caused by anything the other companies could control.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/norfolk-southern-railroad-derailment-east-palestine-84120e55a7b7b92eb2fb69b82c3fb3eb