The US Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a press release announcing it and EPA have reached a settlement with Norfolk Southern “to address and pay for the damage caused by the Feb. 3, 2023, train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.” DOJ said, “Norfolk Southern estimates that it will spend more than $1 billion to address the contamination and other harms caused by the East Palestine derailment and improve rail safety and operations.”

The settlement is in the form of a proposed Consent Decree filed for court approval on May 23, 2024; it is subject to a 30-day comment period.

Ongoing Cleanup
The settlement requires Norfolk Southern to continue its cleanup efforts; Norfolk Southern estimates its direct environmental response costs will be “around $780 million.”

Reimbursement, Community Programs, Penalty, and Rail Safety
The proposed consent decree also requires Norfolk Southern to 1) reimburse the government for its past and future cleanup costs, estimated at $235 million; 2) pay $25 million for a 20-year community health program that includes medical monitoring, mental health services for residents and first responders, and a “community facilitation plan” to assist those eligible in using the services; 3) implement “long-term monitoring of groundwater and surface water” for 10 years, estimated at $25 million; 4) implement a “waterways remediation plan” for area streams, estimated at $6 million; 5) pay $15.175 million in civil penalty and natural resource damages; and 6) undertake “rail safety enhancements” to “improve the safety of transporting hazardous materials by rail, which will include installation of additional devices to detect overheated wheel bearings,” estimated at $200 million.

To see the news release, which has a link to access the proposed Consent Decree https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/united-states-reaches-over-310-million-settlement-norfolk-southern-address-harms-caused-east