After Doing Just What Norfolk Southern Said, Including Torching Toxics, Ohio Is Now Suing Them

[hatrack]

Ohio sued Norfolk Southern on Tuesday over a train derailment that caused an environmental disaster, displaced people from their homes and led to national political backlash. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (R) announced the federal lawsuit in a news conference Tuesday afternoon, saying his state “shouldn’t have to bear the tremendous financial burden of Norfolk Southern’s glaring negligence.”

A Norfolk Southern train was carrying hazardous chemicals such as vinyl chloride and butyl acrylate when it derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 3. The cars caught fire, and surrounding residents were ordered to evacuate their homes. Authorities released a toxic plume of chemicals three days later to avoid a potential “major explosion,” and the cloud traveled at least as far as neighboring Pennsylvania.

The 58-count lawsuit filed Tuesday in the U.S. district court in northeastern Ohio is seeking at least $75,000 in damages, Yost said, but that amount will balloon because authorities are still calculating how much they’ve spent on the disaster.

Ed. - $75,000?

“The fallout from this highly preventable incident may continue for years to come, and there’s still so much we don’t know about the long-term effects on our air, water and soil,” Yost said. In response to the lawsuit, a Norfolk Southern spokesman said the company is committed to cleaning up the town and providing financial assistance to those affected by the derailment. The company is also aware of residents’ concerns including their long-term health, property values and access to potable water, spokesman Connor Spielmaker told The Washington Post in an email.

EDIT

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/03/14/ohio-train-derailment-lawsuit/

[brer cat]

1. I'm sure $75k will cover the environmental cost plus make the citizens whole.

exactly!

[jaxexpat]

2. This area of Ohio is not known for its expertise with estimating budgets.

In fact, many have trouble evaluating their elected officials' integrity.

[hatrack]

3. And Ohio leaders's budget skills to benefit electric utilities are, well . . . .

[jaxexpat]

5. ,....well . . . . second only to their political dependence on the railroads.

Apparently.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

4. Maybe the greatest name ever for a PR guy tho ...

Connor Spielmaker.

Just sayin'

[orthoclad]

6. As I recall from articles at the time,

it was Ohio Gov DeWine who made the decision to torch the toxins.

A tempting plan: set it on fire and export the bulk of the poison downwind to Pennsylvania. One of the combustion gases was phosgene, a chemical weapon.

Sounds like the Covfeferacy conducting interstate warfare, like Lee invading the North.

[orthoclad]

7. Petrochemicals

East Palestine. Willow. Global heating. What do they have in common?

All those poisons on the NS train were petrochemicals. Vinyl chloride is the intermediate step between fossil gas and PVC. The majority of threats to the world are all traceable to petrochemicals. Cancerous toxins, dioxins, climate change, the Pacific Garbage Patch, microplastic everywhere, PFAS.

Have you noticed the explosion in plastic waste since the fracking boom? That's where plastic comes from. I've noticed in the last few years how damned difficult it is to avoid plastic. An example: I used to buy mushrooms in fiber cartons which breathed and were great to reuse for storing vegetables. I haven't seen one of those in years now. They're all plastic cartons now. Fracking enables cheap virgin plastic -- cheap only because the external costs of cleaning up the mess are dumped onto society, a twisted kind of socialism: private profits, social costs.