Norfolk Southern Finally Establishes a Fund for Residents Near Derailment Site in East Palestine

Fire from the East Palestine derailment on February 3, Source: Kevin Csernik

It only took over three months after 38 train cars derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, for Norfolk Southern to finally provide some type of accountability and compensation for nearby residents. On May 10, 2023, the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation advanced an initiative that would make Norfolk Southern repay the loss on any property affected by the Ohio derailment- as long as the property is in a 5-mile radius from the derailment site. This piece of legislation is bipartisan and focuses on preventing derailments like the one in East Palestine from occurring. Many train derailments could be completely avoided if the U.S. ensured a standard of railroad safety, but that would also mean that the U.S. would have to hold companies accountable when they bypass safety checks. Even if all these steps were done to ensure safety, these companies still have the buying power to bribe their way out of any accountability. Lobbying plays a huge role in companies avoiding accountability for their actions. This bill also increases the maximum fine for violating rail safety laws from $100,000 to $10 million. Which is in the right direction of holding rail companies accountable for the crimes they commit. However, I still feel $10 million is too low, especially when looking at East Palestine. There are residents who are testing positive for dioxins in their urine as a direct result of the train derailment and "controlled" burning of the hazardous chemicals. These residents will have adverse health effects, and many could die as a result. The environment will also have negative effects, which is why there has been an excavation effort to ship out contaminated soil from the derailment. There should be real accountability, if a normal citizen can serve prison time for littering it should not be any different for companies.

It is clear that there needs to be federal oversight when it comes to railroad companies and they ways they conduct their business. These companies should not be bypassing security measures just so they can ensure a higher profit, doing so is simply inhumane. It is also inhumane that Congress allows this to occur simply because of lobbying.