US Justice Department sues Norfolk Southern over Ohio trail derailment

Almost a month after the tragic derailment near the Pennsylvania border in East Palestine, Ohio, the US Justice Department on Thursday filed a lawsuit against the transportation provider Norfolk Southern Corp seeking damages for alleged Clean Water Act violations.

The US lawsuit was filed Thursday on behalf of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seeks to hold Norfolk Southern "accountable for unlawfully polluting the nation’s waterways and to ensure it pays the full cost of the environmental cleanup," as per CNN.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a Friday release said, “With this complaint, the Justice Department and the EPA are acting to pursue justice for the residents of East Palestine and ensure that Norfolk Southern carries the financial burden for the harm it has caused and continues to inflict on the community."

On 3 February, 38 cars of Norfold cargo train including 11 carrying hazardous materials derailed and resulted in the release of over 1 million gallons of hazardous materials in the environment, as per Ohio's Attorney General Dave Yost.

EPA Administrator Michael Regan said “no community should have to go through what East Palestine residents have faced.”

Earlier this month, Ohio had also sued Norfolk Southern. Yost in Mid-March allegedthat Norfolk Southern breachedseveral local, state, and federal lawsas well as the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of Ohio (CERCLA).

“This derailment was entirely avoidable,” Yost had told earlier this month. “I’m concerned that Norfolk Southern may be putting profits for their own company above the health and safety of the cities and communities they operate in.”

Norfolk Southern has yet not commented on this latest development.

Fortunately, no deaths or injuries were reported in the trail derailment incident. However, some of East Palestine's 4,700 residents have complained of rashes and respiratory problems since the incident. Some even worry about long-term health implications.

While railroad workers burnt off a dangerous chemical from five tanker cars of the cargo train, thousands of people of eastern Ohio were under evacuation orders.

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According to Sandy Mackey, a representative for the Ohio Emergency Management Agency, the venting of pressurised vinyl chloride, a highly flammable and cancer-causing gas, started with a single explosion as was predicted, followed by a slow burning of the remaining cargo.

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