Norfolk Southern Accused of Trying to Destroy Evidence of Ohio Wreck

Jef Feeley
·2 min read
4

(Bloomberg) -- Norfolk Southern Corp. adjusted its plan to remove wrecked rail cars from a derailment that spewed potentially poisonous gas over an Ohio town after lawyers for residents complained that the company was trying to destroy evidence of its liability.

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Lawyers in proposed class-action lawsuits over the Feb. 3 accident on Friday asked a federal judge to block the company from clearing the wreckage in East Palestine, Ohio. According to the lawyers, Norfolk Southern informed them last week that it planned to move the 11 rail cars by March 1 and would make them available for inspection for only two days.

The two sides agreed Monday to add an extra day for the residents’ lawyers to inspect the wrecked cars.

Adam Gomez, a lawyer for East Palestine residents, had said in a court filing that it was “common sense” to keep the wreckage where it is for now. “These communities have questions and we need the evidence to answer them,” he said.

The derailment of the freight train headed to Pennsylvania from Illinois released toxic chemicals and prompted a brief evacuation of local residents. Norfolk Southern, along with the governors of Ohio and Pennsylvania, decided to initiate a controlled burn of the chemicals to mitigate the explosion risk. But East Palestine residents have since blamed the resulting cloud for reported headaches, lingering odors and pet deaths.

In a Feb. 23 letter to residents’ lawyers, the company said that, after March 1, “the rail cars will be removed or otherwise destroyed so that Norfolk Southern can continue its work at the site.”

Federal officials cleared Norfolk Southern Sunday to resume shipments of hazardous waste from the East Palestine site after insuring the company’s handling of spilled materials met US Environmental Protection Agency approval. The train had about 20 cars containing chemicals including vinyl chloride — considered a carcinogen — as well as ethylhexyl acrylate and isobutylene, according to the EPA.

Read More: Norfolk CEO Shaw Pledges Quick Removal of Derailment Waste

US District Judge Benita Pearson in Youngstown, Ohio, is overseeing cases about the disaster. Pearson suggested at a hearing Monday that Norfolk Southern give the plaintiffs until March 3 to inspect the five cars carrying the vinyl chloride and move other cars that didn’t have that chemical to another site to give expert witnesses more time to study them, according to court filings.

Norfolk Southern officials later told Pearson they’ll give plaintiffs an extra day to study the cars containing vinyl chloride and preserve component of other cars for testing rather than destroying the equipment. Lawyers for the plaintiffs and the railroad are continuing to joust over procedures for taking soil samples at the derailment site.

The case Erdos v. Norfolk Southern Corp., 23-cv-00268, US District Court, Northern District of Ohio (Youngstown).

--With assistance from David Voreacos.

(Updates with company adjusting its plan)

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