This photo taken from a drone shows portions of a Norfolk and Southern freight train that derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, on February 3, 2023, are still on fire mid-day on February 4, 2023. PHOTO AP WASHINGTON The US Department of Justice announced on Friday a complaint against Norfolk Southern for a train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, last month.
The complaint seeks sanctions and injunctive relief for the unlawful discharge of pollutants, oil, and hazardous substances, and declaratory judgment on liability for past and future costs.
On February 3, a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous materials, including hazardous substances, pollutants, and oil, derailed in East Palestine, a community of approximately 5,000 residents on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border.
The derailment resulted in a pile of burning rail cars, and contamination of the community's air, land and water. Residents who were close to the derailment site were evacuated.
According to Norfolk Southern, a freight railroad in the Eastern United States, the hazardous materials contained in these cars included vinyl chloride, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate, butyl acrylate, isobutylene and benzene residue.
The fire caused by the derailment burned for several days. On February 5, monitoring indicated that the temperature in one of the rail cars containing vinyl chloride was rising. In order to prevent an explosion, Norfolk Southern burnt five rail cars containing vinyl chloride in a flare trench the following day, resulting in additional releases.
The DOJ says 9.2 million gallons of liquid wastewater and an estimated 12,932 tons of contaminated soils and solids have been shipped off-site.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies are said to continue to investigate the circumstances leading up to and following the derailment.