Norfolk Southern Corp. CEO to East Palestine: We won’t ‘let you down’
Norfolk Southern Corporation President and CEO Alan H. Shaw on Thursday released a letter to residents of East Palestine in which he pledged not to abandon the community where one of his company’s trains derailed in a fiery crash, spilling hazardous materials into the environment.
“I know you also have questions about whether Norfolk Southern will be here to help make things right,” Shaw wrote. “My simple answer is that we are here and will stay here for as long as it takes to ensure your safety and to help East Palestine recover and thrive.”
The letter came the day after Norfolk Southern representatives, citing unspecified concerns over safety, pulled out of a town hall meeting at East Palestine High School hours before it was set to begin. Hundreds of East Palestine residents attended and voiced their frustration with the fallout from the Feb. 3 derailment.
The letter also came the same day that a Norfolk Southern train derailed near Detroit, though early reports indicate no hazardous materials were being carried.
In his letter, Shaw said he visited East Palestine last week and met with residents who told him their lives have been upended by the derailment.
He also said the railroad has implemented what he called a “comprehensive testing program to ensure the safety of East Palestine’s water, air, and soil.” Norfolk Southern has been operating an assistance center to meet immediate needs and has created a $1 million community support fund.
Shaw said the fund is a down payment “on our commitment to help rebuild.”
Around 9 p.m. Feb. 3, a Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine, a village of about 4,700 near the Ohio-pennsylvania border. No one was injured in the crash or its aftermath.
Of the 38 cars on the 141-car train that derailed, 11 were carrying hazardous materials. Five contained vinyl chloride, a colorless gas used to make hard plastic resin in products like credit cards and PVC pipes. Afraid the cars would explode, sending shrapnel into homes, residents within a 1-mile by 2mile area surrounding East Palestine were evacuated and the vinyl chloride was burned on Feb. 6. Residents were allowed to return to their homes two days later.
In addition to vinyl chloride, four other chemicals leaked into the air, soil and water, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: butyl acrylate, ethylhexyl acrylate, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether and isobutylene.
Some East Palestine residents who have since returned to their homes after being evacuated have reported headaches, nausea and rashes. Others say the air has a foul odor to it.
The Ohio EPA on Wednesday said East Palestine residents can safely drink village water after testing wells that feed into the municipal water system and did not detect raw contaminants. Those with private wells are being encouraged to drink and use bottled water until their well can be tested.
The EPA on Monday stopped monitoring the air in East Palestine for phosgene and hydrogen chloride — byproducts of vinyl chloride. On Thursday afternoon, the EPA said it not detected vinyl chloride or hydrogen chloride in any of the 500 homes it had screened under a voluntary program.
Norfolk Southern has said it will install wells to monitor groundwater in East Palestine. Officials will also sample soil in key areas, including near where the cars filled with vinyl chloride burned.
“I know there are still a lot of questions without answers. I know you’re tired. I know you’re worried. We will not let you down,” Shaw said in the letter.
Monroe Trombly covers the workplace and environmental issues for The Dispatch. mtrombly@dispatch.com @monroetrombly