EPA Orders Norfolk Southern to Clean Up Chemicals After Ohio Train Derailment

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan (left) walks with his staff through East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 16, 2023. Residents of the Ohio village upended by a freight train derailment are demanding to know if they're safe from the toxic chemicals that spilled or were burned off to avoid an even bigger disaster. Lucy Schaly/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP

Norfolk Southern Railway has been ordered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to conduct “all cleanup actions” associated with the Feb. 3 derailment of a train carrying hazardous chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio.

“Norfolk Southern will pay for cleaning up the mess that they created and the trauma that they inflicted on this community and impacted Beaver County [Pennsylvania] residents,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan announced at a Feb. 21 news conference in East Palestine.

Regan’s second visit to the area coincided with the opening of a clinic to address the concerns of local residents that the adverse health effects some have been experiencing—including rashes, vomiting, and headaches—may have been caused by the chemicals leaked from the crash.

To rectify the damage done by the incident, Regan said he was ordering Norfolk Southern to identify and clean up contaminated soil and water resources, reimburse the EPA for additional cleaning services to be offered to residents and business owners, attend and participate in public meetings at the agency’s request, and pay the EPA’s costs for work performed under the order.

Regan also noted that the company would be required to create a work plan that would be reviewed and approved by the EPA and local governments. Failure to comply with the order will result in the EPA conducting the work and Norfolk Southern paying triple the cost.

According to an EPA press release, the order will take effect in two days, though cleanup work has already begun. To implement the order, the agency will establish a “unified command structure” to coordinate the related efforts of the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), Department of Human Health Services, Ohio EPA, Ohio Emergency Management Agency, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, and Norfolk Southern.

“In no way, shape, or form will Norfolk Southern get off the hook for the mess they created,” Regan said.

Joining the EPA chief for Tuesday’s press conference were Ohio’s Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, Pennsylvania’s Democrat Gov. Josh Shapiro, and Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio).

Shapiro, noting the ongoing bipartisan efforts to address the crisis, did not hold back in his criticism of Norfolk Southern’s response to the situation, describing the company’s “corporate greed, incompetence, and lack of care” for those affected as “absolutely unacceptable.”

“They chose not to participate in the unified command,” he noted. “They gave us inaccurate information and conflicting modeling data, and they refused to explore or articulate alternative courses of action when we were dealing with the derailment in the early days. In sum, Norfolk Southern injected unnecessary risk into this crisis, and they created confusion in this process.”

Shapiro also praised DeWine as “the glue” that had held the recovery process together and the efforts of Regan to hold Norfolk Southern accountable.

Meanwhile, DeWine stressed the need for congressional action on railway safety and noted that residents had also expressed the fear that the rest of the country’s concern would vanish with the next news cycle.

“The very legitimate concern is that when all the TV cameras are gone, the reporters are gone, and the world turns to something else, the community is going to be left here to handle this problem all on their own,” he noted.

“Let me just say that we are making a public commitment again today. We will not leave them. We will stay here; we will continue to test; we will continue to do what needs to be done in the weeks, in the months, in the years as we go forward.”