The civil suit includes 58 charges against the company for holding it financially responsible for the spill of more than a million dangerous chemicals.
The attorney general of the state of Ohio (USA) filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against Norforlk Southern, the railway company that operated a train that derailed, causing a chemical accident at the beginning of February.
Prosecutor Dave Yost said in a press release that he filed a civil lawsuit in federal court that includes 58 charges against the company and seeks to hold it financially responsible for the derailment that caused the oil spill. over a million dangerous chemicals near in East Palestine (Ohio).
The company, Yost said, “recklessly” put at risk both the health of the inhabitants from Ohio, like the natural resources of the state.
“Ohio should not bear the enormous financial burden caused by Norfolk Southern’s gross negligence. The repercussions of this incident, which was highly preventable, may continue for many years and much remains to be done.” We don’t know about the long-term effects on our air, water, and land.”the prosecutor stressed.
The lawsuit states that the company violated multiple environmental regulations federal and state, incurring in “negligence”, which led to the accident. The document stresses that the chemical spill poses a substantial and long-term threat to “human health and the environment.”
In turn, the attorney general notes that the derailment caused significant damage to both the local economy and the inhabitants of the state, many of whom were displaced as a result of the accident.
The lawsuit seeks that the company of a reimbursement to the state for the damage caused, as well as for the resources invested in the emergency response, public health and restoring natural resources, among others, the statement detailed.
The state attorney general’s decision comes a few weeks after it became known that an organization independent of the US government would open an investigation against Norfolk Southern.
The company has issued a statement on Tuesday in which it informs that it is doing progress in cleaning up the areain addition to providing funds for affected people and companies, as well as investing in the community, reports Europa Press.
According to a statement from the company spokesman, Connor Spielmaker, they are “listening carefully to the concerns of the community about whether there could be a long-term impact as a result of the derailment”, in addition to confirming that they have met with the Ohio Attorney General to study New ways to mitigate accident damage.
At the beginning of March, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ordered Norfolk Southern to analyze the water from the river near the incident to guarantee, as preliminary tests have indicated, the absence of contaminating dioxins. and thus rule out effects in the medium or long term in the population.
The company’s CEO, Alan Shaw, assured the US Senate last week that Norfolk Southern would “clean the site safely, thoroughly and urgently”, in addition to assuring his “personal commitment” and stating that he is “willing to fix this”.
Part of this investigation pertains to the train itself operated by Norfolk Southern. Company employees, on condition of anonymity, revealed this week to CBS that the vehicle had experienced mechanical failure two days before the derailment and that it was carrying an obviously exaggerated load: 151 wagons, including twenty with harmful elements, for a total weight of about 18,000 tons.
So far, the US National Transportation Safety Board has found “preliminary indications of mechanical problems in one of the axes”, while waiting to gather more information.
A total of 38 of these wagons ended up coming off the track.of which at least eleven contained butyl acrylate and, above all, vinyl chloride gas, used for the manufacture of plastics and potentially carcinogenic.
The fire unleashed by the derailment -accompanied by an explosion that launched a fireball almost a kilometer high- forced the immediate evacuation of much of the 4,700 residents of East Palestine both due to the release of gas in the derailed wagons and in the other nine cars with toxic substances that were still on the track.
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