Norfolk Southern CEO a No-Show at East Palestine Town Hall, Angering Residents

Members of the community gather to discuss their safety and other environmental concerns at a town hall meeting following a train derailment that spilled toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 15, 2023. Alan Freed/Reuters

Residents of East Palestine, Ohio, were left visibly angered on Thursday when Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw failed to make an appearance at a town hall meeting to discuss the February derailment of a train carrying hazardous materials.

Shaw, who was widely criticized for failing to show up at an earlier town meeting two weeks after the derailment, had met with local officials and some railroad employees last month, according to a press release from the rail company.

He is also set to testify about the derailment in Congress next week.

However, Thursday’s meeting instead saw a lone representative for the train operator left to answer questions from residents who are growing increasingly frustrated at the company’s recovery efforts amid concerns over the long-term health implications of the derailment on Feb. 3.

“Where’s Alan?” one individual yelled during Thursday’s meeting, The New York Times reported. Another resident reportedly handed out T-shirts mocking the company, which had been rebranded as “Nofolk sufferin” and the logo of a horse had been replaced with a broken train.

As residents voiced their concerns over the future of East Palestine, Darrell Wilson, an official with Norfolk Southern, repeatedly apologized to the community, adding that the train operator “feels horrible” about the derailment, but his apologies were met with more anger from locals.

Environmental activist Erin Brockovich (C-R) speaks to concerned residents as she hosts a town hall at East Palestine High School in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 24, 2023. Michael Swensen/Getty Images

‘Get My Grandchildren Out of Here’

“This has touched my family, this has touched my friends, this has touched my farm, this has touched my animals, this has touched my finances, and this has touched my home,” one woman said. “And it will touch me to the cellular level when I get diagnosed with cancer or ALS or whatever is going to come down the road if I stay in this contaminated, toxic town, and you all know it.”

“Evacuate us!” a resident shouted.

“Get my grandchildren out of here!” another man yelled. “If you care about us, get our grandkids out.”

News 5 Cleveland published a video of full the meeting online.

About 38 rail cars on the Norfolk Southern Railroad train carrying hazardous materials including vinyl chloride, which can cause a rare form of liver cancer after long-term exposure, derailed last month.

The decision to perform a controlled burn of the chemicals has further exacerbated concerns among the town of roughly 4,700 people, who have since reported health issues such as rashes and a burning sensation in their lungs and eyes. Some claim to have been diagnosed with bronchitis associated with exposure to chemicals since the incident.

Health officials, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), say that testing shows the air and drinking water in the area are safe.

Thursday’s meeting came just a day after a rail union representative said that workers who helped clean up the wreckage of the train derailment have been suffering from health issues such as migraines and nausea.

A black plume rises over East Palestine, Ohio, as a result of a controlled detonation of a portion of the derailed Norfolk Southern trains, on Feb. 6, 2023. Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo

Railway Workers Suffer Health Issues

Jonathan Long, a Norfolk Southern (NS) Railway employee for nearly 30 years and the general chairman of the union—the American Rail System Federation of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (BMWED)—made the claim in a letter to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on March 1.

“While the world was learning about the horrors occurring in East Palestine on television, NS officials assessed the damages and carried out their plans for rebuilding their track structure so that they could get trains moving again,” Long wrote.

The union representative went on to claim that the workers had not been offered or provided with appropriate personal protective equipment by Norfolk Southern, including respirators that are designed to allow them to safely work around vinyl chloride, and protective clothing such as rubber gloves.

“When some of the NS Workers inquired about the appropriateness of their personal protective equipment [PPE] and the safety of their working conditions, they would receive little or no response from NS officials,” Long said.

Long added that many workers had since reported suffering from nausea and migraines and that “they all suspect that they were willingly exposed to these chemicals at the direction of NS.”

A Norfolk Southern representative told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement the company was “on-scene immediately after the derailment and coordinated our response with hazardous material professionals who were on site continuously to ensure the work area was safe to enter and the required PPE was utilized, all in addition to air monitoring that was established within an hour.”