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Derailment

Norfolk Southern Worker Sues; Railroad Put ‘Profits Ahead Of Safety’

Claiming that Norfolk Southern put “profits ahead of safety,” one of the railroad’s employees has filed a lawsuit accusing the company of negligence by sending him to the site of the February 3, 2023 fire, derailment, and toxic spill in East Palestine. Joseph Lee Roberts of Indiana filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Youngstown Wednesday claiming he had developed chemically induced asthma after he and other workers were exposed to vinyl chloride that some of the derailed cars had been carrying. Roberts says in the lawsuit that with a focus on getting trains running through the village again, Norfolk Southern sent employees to East Palestine to fix the track which had been damaged by the derailment and fire.

Judge Allows East Palestine Residents’ Lawsuit Against Norfolk Southern

A class action suit accusing Norfolk Southern of negligence over the train derailment that released toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio, last year can go forward, a federal judge determined Wednesday. Judge Benita Yalonda Pearson rejected the railroad’s arguments that claims in the suit were protected by federal law regulating railroads, instead ruling that the case focuses on activity that is not covered by protections. The suit represents about 500,000 people and businesses near the eastern Ohio town where nearly 40 railcars derailed last year, some of which contained toxic vinyl chloride.

Is East Palestine Safe One Year After The Ohio Train Derailment?

If there hadn’t been construction planned for the bridge that crosses over Leslie Run, one of the creeks that runs through the middle of East Palestine, Ohio, Rick Tsai and Randy DeHaven might not have noticed the worst contamination they’d seen in the creek in weeks. A backhoe had hoisted a chunk of earth from the bank of the creek, leaving a pool about eight feet across and deep enough to come up to the knees of Tsai’s rubber fishing waders. What it also left, in Tsai’s words, was an opportunity for a sort of “geological sample” — evidence that oil and chemicals still lingered in the soil and in the creeks six months after a catastrophic derailment.

Victims Of The East Palestine Train Disaster Still Fighting For Their Lives

On February 3, 2023, a Norfolk Southern Railroad train carrying 150 cars, some containing toxic chemicals, derailed in the small town of East Palestine, Ohio on the border with Pennsylvania. The residents in the immediate area were evacuated but the 100,000 gallons of chemicals, including vinyl chloride, that spilled spread throughout the region. Now, over six months later, many residents still cannot return to their homes. Hilary Flint of Enon Valley, Pennsylvania, the vice president of the Unity Council for the East Palestine Train Derailment joined Clearing the FOG to describe what happened, the failures of the local, state and federal governments to provide what affected residents need and how they are organizing to pressure President Biden to grant Governor DeWine's request for an emergency declaration and more.

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