East Palestine continues to have major impact
Legislators and attorneys remain busy in wake of Feb. 3 derailment
THE POLITICAL AND LEGAL FALLOUT
keeps coming from Norfolk Southern’s Feb. 3 derailment and toxic-chemical release in East Palestine, Ohio.
On the legislative front, two Ohio members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Bill Johnson (R) and Emilia Sykes (D), introduced rail safety legislation March 17. The Reducing Accidents in Locomotives Act — which sacrificed some labeling accuracy to gain the acronym “RAIL Act” — featured many of the same provisions as the Senate’s Rail Safety Act. Among notable differences was its lack of a requirement for two-person crews, which drew immediate criticism from rail unions.
Democratic senators John Fetterman and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Sherrod Brown of Ohio also introduced a bill March 31 with measures they said were meant to build on the Rail Safety Act. None specifically addressed issues from East Palestine, but several cited problems that led to earlier fatal or hazardous-material incidents.
NS CEO Alan Shaw appeared at two Senate hearings, and continued to apologize for the accident. He promised the railroad will do everything it can to make things right in East Palestine. He also said the railroad supported much of the proposed safety legislation but urged regulators to take a data-driven approach to safety improvements, saying no statistics support two-person crews as safer than one-person operation.
Shaw’s railroad continues to be the target of a broad range of lawsuits. The most significant may have been filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, over water pollution caused by the release of chemicals, and by the state of Ohio. The state wants to be reimbursed by the railroad for all costs incurred responding to the accident, and damages for residents, among other charges. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said the suit’s intent is to ensure the railroad delivers on its promises to take responsibility.
NS, which met with Yost beforehand, announced three additional programs for residents, including one providing “tailored protection” for home sellers if their property loses value. Several suits were also filed by or on behalf of NS stockholders regarding stock losses resulting from the derailment. One essentially argued the railroad had defrauded those stockholders because its investor-driven Precision Scheduled Railroading strategy to reduce costs proved to have negative consequences for investors.