DOJ Sues Norfolk Southern Over Ohio Derailment
DOJ Sues Norfolk Southern Over Ohio Derailment
Re-posting of Law360 Article written By P.J. D’Annunzio – Editing by Daniel King
(March 31, 2023, 9:54 AM EDT) — The U.S. Department of Justice joined the long list of parties suing Norfolk Southern over its derailment, fire and chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio, making claims for violations of the Clean Water Act and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act.
Like the other lawsuits that came before it, the government’s complaint, announced Friday, says Norfolk Southern put profits before safety, which led to the derailment that spilled chemicals into federally protected waters. The Feb. 3 incident happened near Ohio’s border with Pennsylvania.
The DOJ has asked the court to declare that Norfolk Southern is liable for the derailment, and to order the rail company to reimburse the government for its emergency response to the accident.
The “United States of America asks this court to hold defendants accountable for unlawfully polluting the nation’s waterways and to ensure it pays the full cost of the environmental cleanup,” the complaint said.
The case is U.S. v. Norfolk Southern Railway Co. et al., case number 4:23-cv-00675, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.
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