The federal government has agreed to fine Norfolk Southern for $15 million in damages last year. catastrophic crash in East Palestine, Ohio, and the railroad has pledged to pay more than $500 million to complete safety improvements it announced after the crash and address public health issues.
Residents forced to flee their homes after the crash were generally less than thrilled with the agreement, which the Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department announced Thursday, which does not include any criminal charges. This federal settlement comes two days after the federal decision. the judge unfollowed on the railway $600 million class action settlement with residents whose lives have been disrupted.
In addition to the civil penalty, Norfolk Southern agreed to pay $235 million for past and future cleanup costs—on top of what they had already paid for cleanup—and to create a $25 million health fund to pay for 20 years of health checks. in society. The railroad also will pay about $30 million for long-term monitoring of drinking water, groundwater and surface water in the area. The agreement also states that the railroad will pay $244 million for previously promised railroad improvements through 2025.
Many residents of East Palestine believe that the agreement does not bring enough benefit to the company, which just announced Profit $527 million in the fourth quarter of last year and $53 million in the first quarter after the derailment. Last year, the railroad’s CEO received total compensation of $13.4 million.
“To be honest, no amount of money can fix the situation, but it should at least be enough to hurt them a little. I’m confident this won’t hurt their bottom line in any way,” Jami Wallace said.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan said the fine is the largest allowed under the Clean Water Act and the railroad agreed to continue paying all cleanup costs. In addition, he said Norfolk Southern is committed to significant safety improvements.
“This settlement is historic in many ways and will begin to offset some of the damage done to the people of East Palestine. And it will absolutely push the industry in the direction that we would like it to go,” Regan said. “Again, if some of these provisions that we put in place and enshrined had been in effect, we might not even be where we are today. »
But the railroad will not face criminal charges, and this latest settlement will add nothing to Norfolk Southern’s roughly $1.7 billion total costs related to the derailment, as the Atlanta-based company had already anticipated those costs.
Neither this federal settlement nor the class action settlement seems sufficient to Chrissy Ferguson.
“Slaps on the wrist. A $15 million fine? And I will never be able to return home again? – said Ferguson.
But resident Misty Allison said it’s encouraging to see investigations and lawsuits against the railroad beginning to wrap up, with a cleanup expected to take place sometime later this year.
“I think it’s a great step, but let’s continue to make sure the community is whole,” Allison said.
Many in a small town near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border are seeking to end the derailment, but residents fear the possibility of cancer in the future. Allison said she wanted to make sure health needs addressed. But that federal settlement primarily includes only money for exams, while the class-action settlement includes money for health problems that arose over the past year. None of these deals address the potential long-term health problems that may arise.
Safety improvements promised by Norfolk Southern include installing about 200 more track detectors to detect bearing overheating. He also has promised to invest on more than a dozen advanced inspection portals that use multiple cameras to take hundreds of photos of every car passing by.
A bill has been introduced in Congress that would require Norfolk Southern and the rest of the major freight railroads to make more significant changes. stalledalthough the industry promised make improvements on one’s own.
Southern Norfolk officials said they believe the relatively small size of the settlement reflects how much the railroad has already done, including paying $780 million for the cleanup and providing $107 million in aid to residents and affected communities.
“We are pleased that we were able to reach a timely resolution to these investigations that recognizes our comprehensive response to the needs of the community and our mission to be the gold standard for safety in the railroad industry.” CEO Alan Shaw said. “We will continue to deliver on our promises and invest in the future of the community for the long term.”
With Thursday’s announcement, the only remaining federal investigation is the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation into the cause of the Feb. 3, 2023, train derailment. The agency plans to announce its findings at a hearing in East Palestine on June 25. Republicans in Congress said they may want to consider rail safety reforms in the wake of the report.
Ferguson said it felt like Norfolk Southern was rushing to resolve the situation before the NTSB report came out. U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said in a joint statement that they believed the government should have waited to reach an agreement.
“The people of East Palestine deserve full compensation for the hardships they faced in the months following the crash, but they also deserve the full truth about why the crash, breakdown and fire occurred,” the statement said. “By choosing to reach a settlement now, the Department of Justice may have sacrificed its ability to use the NTSB findings to bring maximum pressure to bear on those responsible for any potential wrongdoing.”
NTSB said It was previously thought that the derailment was likely caused by an overheated bearing that was not detected in time by track detectors, which the railroad uses to detect mechanical problems. The head of the NCB also said that five tanks were filled with vinyl chloride. there was no need they had to be blown up to prevent an explosion because they were actually starting to cool down even though the fire continued to burn around them.
The railroad is still working to settle a lawsuit Ohio filed against it after the derailment.