Norfolk Southern Corp. has agreed to an estimated $310 million settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Justice Department more than a year after the railway company’s trains crashed, exploded, and spilled toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio, last year.
If the settlement is approved by a U.S. District Court judge, Norfolk Southern will pay $235 million for cleanup work, $25 million for a 20-year community health program that includes long-term health monitoring, and $15 million each for alleged violations of the Clean Water Act, 10 years of groundwater and surface water monitoring, and a private drinking water monitoring fund.
The railway company must also enhance the safety of trains that transport hazardous materials by installing devices to detect overheated wheel bearings, among other measures.
According to the settlement, Norfolk Southern is not admitting to wrongdoing, so all violations are described as alleged.
Norfolk Southern has estimated that it will spend more than $1 billion to address contamination created by the East Palestine derailment and subsequent burn and improve safety and operations. The company has said it has incurred about $780 million in environmental response costs from the disaster.
On Feb. 3, 2023, a Norfolk Southern Railway freight train carrying 151 cars derailed in East Palestine, an eastern Ohio village of 4,700 residents located about a mile from the Pennsylvania border.
Eleven of the 38 cars that derailed contained hazardous chemicals, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
Fears escalated in the immediate aftermath of the wreck. To avoid an explosion that officials claimed would send shrapnel flying around, vinyl chloride was intentionally released and burned on Feb. 6, 2023, sending a massive cloud of black smoke into the sky that could be seen for miles around.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine lifted an evacuation order on Feb. 8, 2023, saying it was safe for residents to return to their homes.
Officials from federal and state agencies have repeatedly said tests show that the air and water are safe in East Palestine and surrounding communities.
However, residents are still reporting headaches, vomiting, burning eyes, rashes, and other ailments.
To date, more than 177,000 tons of contaminated soil and more than 69 million gallons of wastewater have been removed from East Palestine, and work to remove contamination from creeks and conduct soil sampling at the derailment site continues, according to a statement from the EPA.
The Biden administration received widespread backlash from critics for what they deemed a slow response. President Joe Biden did not visit East Palestine until February this year, a little more than a year after the derailment occurred.
In April, Norfolk Southern announced it had reached a $600 million settlement to resolve a class action lawsuit related to the 2023 derailment.
Since the derailment, the company has also spent $104 million in community assistance to East Palestine and the surrounding areas in Ohio and Pennsylvania, including $25 million each for a regional safety training center and improvements to East Palestine’s city park, $21 million in direct payments to residents, $9 million to local first responders, $4.3 million to support upgrades to drinking water infrastructure, $2 million for community-directed projects, and a $500,000 grant for economic development.
