(The Center Square) – Sufficient aid, including health care funding, to Pennsylvanians is being asked of Norfolk Southern in a settlement request of the U.S. Department of Justice, says state Attorney General Michelle Henry.
Along with Gov. Josh Shapiro, the Justice Department was given the response when it requested input on a proposed settlement with the train company related to the February 2023 derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
In a release, Henry said, “This catastrophic crash had wide-ranging impacts on many Pennsylvania residents and workers, and Norfolk Southern must remedy these impacts. As a result of this incident, many Pennsylvanians are in financial hardship and were physically harmed — the full extent of those negative health impacts still to be seen — and they deserve to be made whole, now and in the future.”
In the letter, the state’s top prosecutor and her predecessor write, “The Commonwealth remains concerned that the agreement does too little to protect the health of our residents and our public natural resources generally and specifically by: 1. failing to address health care treatment costs for present or future adverse health impacts related to the toxic plumes of contaminants that filled our air following the derailment and the vent and burn; 2. establishing an inappropriately limited range of applicability of the decree’s health and environmental monitoring provisions, thus precluding many impacted Pennsylvania residents from coverage; and 3. failing to incorporate recommendations made by the National Transportation Safety Board in the NTSB Final Report on the derailment, dated June 25, 2024.”
The letter says “payment of health care treatment costs should be required”; “stronger monitoring provisions are needed by Pennsylvania residents”; and Norfolk-Southern “should be required to implement all relevant recommendations of NTSB Final Report.”
Norfolk Southern train 32N, a general merchandise freight train, was traveling from Madison, Illinois, to Conway, Pa., with 149 cars, including 20 cars with hazardous materials among its cars. A total of 38 cars derailed on Feb. 3, 2023, including 11 tank cars with hazardous materials.
The cause of derailment was a wheel bearing on rail car 23 that caught fire, causing the axle to fall off.
Two days later, a vent and burn was conducted on the five tank cars carrying vinyl chloride, a volatile colorless gas. Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy, President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the National Transportation Safety Board in 2021, said the controlled chemical explosion was unnecessary and the crash itself could have been avoided.
It was more than a week later, about Valentine’s Day, when national media and congressional members brought attention to the crash.
The Justice Department, led by Attorney General Merrick Garland of the Biden administration, and Norfolk Southern agreed to a $310 million settlement before the final report of the National Transportation Safety Board.
In a separate class-action settlement, Norfolk Southern agreed to a $600 million pact for claims within a 20-mile radius of East Palestine. That covers Ohio and Pennsylvania residents. Shapiro negotiated a $7.4 million settlement with the rail company in the weeks after the crash.
