A civil lawsuit has been filed against Norfolk Southern following the February train derailment and environmental crisis in East Palestine, Ohio.
Norfolk Southern Railway Company and its parent company Norfolk Southern Corporation were sued by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The lawsuit seeks injunctive relief, cost recovery, and civil penalties under the Clean Water Act (CWA) for discharges of hazardous materials and pollutants into waters under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA).
The DOJ seeks $64,618 per day for a violation of the CWA and $55,808 per day for a violation of the CWA or $2,232 per barrel of oil or “unit of reportable quantity of hazardous substances discharged,” without specifying how many days the company allegedly violated the CWA.
The lawsuit alleges that cleanup crews released vinyl chloride following the derailment, preventing an explosion but causing health concerns for residents.
Norfolk Southern spokesperson Connor Spielmaker told CNN the company is making “progress every day cleaning up the site, assisting residents whose lives were impacted by the derailment, and investing in the future of East Palestine and the surrounding areas.”
Despite officials’ assurances that the air and water are safe, some residents have reported nausea, rashes, bloody noses, and difficulty breathing, according to CNN.
A total of seven government investigators became briefly sick while researching possible health consequences of the incident, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to CNN.
“Symptoms resolved for most team members later the same afternoon, and everyone resumed work on survey data collection within 24 hours. Impacted team members have not reported ongoing health effects,” according to a CDC spokesman, per CNN.
As a result of Norfolk Southern’s derailment, the DOJ claims toxic chemicals were released into the air, soil, groundwater, and seven local waterways, according to CNN.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, some of the toxic water was brought to Texas to be disposed of.
Within a five-mile radius of the crash site, Ohio’s Department of Natural Resources reported the deaths of thousands of aquatic animals.
Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw said in a U.S. Senate hearing that his company would “clean the site safely, thoroughly, and with urgency,” according to ABC 7 Chicago.
Shaw and other Norfolk Southern executives’ compensation has also come into question, as the lawsuit claims “approximately eighty percent of the compensation for NS Corporation’s executives are based on performance metrics.”
Over the past four years, Norfolk Southern’s annual reports “show a stark contrast between the increases in operating income and the drop in railroad operating costs,” according to the lawsuit.
Shaw’s compensation was almost $9.8 million in 2022, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
