A ruling by a federal judge has determined that Railroad company Norfolk Southern alone will be liable for the cost of the clean-up following the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment in February last year.
The decision came a day after the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) testified in a Senate hearing on March 6 that the burning off of chemicals, known as vent-and-burn, which unleashed a plume of toxic chemicals into the air, could have been avoided.
Norfolk Southern had previously argued that the cost for the cleanup should be shared with the companies that shipped the chemicals and owned the tank cars.
However, U.S. District Judge John Adams said during the ruling that Norfolk Southern did not have sufficient grounds to prove that the derailment was caused by either of the two companies, as it fell only within the realms of what Norfolk Southern could control.
In addition, the judge said that ruling that other companies should be held partially liable might only delay the resolution of a separate lawsuit by the Environmental Protection Agency and state of Ohio filed against Norfolk Southern.
“The court notes that such arguments amongst potential co-defendants does not best serve the incredibly pressing nature of this case and does not change the bottom line of this litigation; that the contamination and damage caused by the derailment must be remediated,” judge Adams wrote.
The train disaster, which happened on Feb. 3, 2023, caused a mixture of chemicals to spill out of the tank cars and catch fire. This was then followed by a vent-and-burn procedure, which officials—under the advice of Norfolk Southern’s contractors—initiated three days later, and which caused harmful gases to escape. Residents of East Palestine remain highly concerned to this day about the potentially detrimental fallout of the chemical exposure.
Norfolk Southern has consistently defended its decision that the vent-and-burn was the only option to avoid a catastrophic explosion.
However, some have claimed that Norfolk Southern acted purely in the interest of profit and did not consider people’s safety.
The company stated that the cleanup has already cost it over $1 billion, and that this will likely increase exponentially before the expected end of the operation later this year. Norfolk Southern offered no further comment on the ruling.
According to the NTSB, there is sufficient evidence to suggest that further damage following the initial spill could have been avoided.
Meanwhile, the cause of the crash was likely due to an overheating bearing on a car that was carrying plastic pellets, causing the derailment. The sensors activated but did not trigger an alarm until just before the disaster.
After the crash and initial overheating, the tanks’ temperature reportedly lowered, yet the NTSB said at the hearing that allowing them to cool down further would have eliminated the risk of explosion.
GATX, the company that owns the railroad cars, said the ruling aligns with the company’s initial argument in court.
“We have said from the start that these claims were baseless,” GATX said in a statement. “Norfolk Southern is responsible for the safe transportation of all cars and commodities on its rail lines and its repeated attempts to deflect liability and avoid responsibility for damages should be rejected.”
The chemicals manufacturer OxyVinyls did not offer any comment.
However, both companies could potentially be implicated in another lawsuit, initiated by residents of East Palestine, which may still result in the company being held partially liable for the derailment.
The Associated Press contributed to this article
