Costs from train disaster in East Palestine ‘may exceed the immediate cleanup needs,’ senator says

Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw began his Capitol Hill testimony with an apology to the communities hurt by his railroad’s February 3 derailment, and a vow to do the work and spend the money they need to be made whole.

Shaw detailed pledges that the company has made of $21 million in help for East Palestine, and $7.5 million for communities in Pennsylvania. The derailment occurred near the state line between Ohio and Pennsylvania. 

“All of this is just a downpayment,” he said. “We will be in the community for as long as it takes.”

He cited an initial finding from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) that the train was going below the speed limit for that portion of track and that there is no sign the crew did anything wrong, but he admitted, “it is clear the safety mechanisms in place were not enough.”

The NTSB has announced a special investigation into the safety culture at Norfolk Southern. Shaw defended that culture, saying safety is a priority for the railroad and its front-line staff

“The events of the last month are not who we are as a railroad,” he said.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is now hearing from the second panel.

The hearing is expected to focus on health and safety concerns as well as the timeline of state and federal Environmental Protection Agency response to the incident, according to a source.

Here’s who you will see on the second panel:

Three senators from the affected states were on the first panel — Sens. Sherrod Brown and J.D. Vance of Ohio and Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania.

Sen. Bob Casey, testifying on the first panel at the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing, said he heard from the farming community that they are calling for testing following the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

He also quoted a farmer in his testimony, who said: “We along with countless other local agriculture producers have years invested in telling our stories and developing relationships with our customers. The stories of working in harmony with nature to produce a superior product. This story was ripped to pieces on the day of the derailment.”

The farmer called for more testing, saying it would help build back trust with their customers, Casey said.

“The economics of our industry is very emotionally driven. Emotions are now being driven by perception and lack of information. We need testing. We need factual information. We needed it yesterday and we are still not receiving that response,” Casey quoted in his testimony.

Casey also called on Congress to pass the bipartisan Railway Safety Act of 2023 that he has proposed along with Republican Sens. J.D. Vance of Ohio, Marco Rubio of Florida and Josh Hawley of Missouri, and Democratic Sens. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and John Fetterman of Pennsylvania.

“It will be a good start by Norfolk Southern to tell us today … that they support the bill,” he said.

In the lead-up to Thursday’s Senate committee hearing on the toxic train derailment that spilled chemicals in the Ohio town of East Palestine last month, a bipartisan group of senators is introducing a new bill aimed at shoring up rail safety.

The Railway Safety Act of 2023 is being introduced by Republican Sens. J.D. Vance of Ohio, Marco Rubio of Florida and Josh Hawley of Missouri, and Democratic Sens. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, and Bob Casey and John Fetterman of Pennsylvania.

Vance, Casey and Brown are among the senators testifying in today’s Senate hearing.

The bill includes a number of provisions to boost safety procedures to prevent future incidents, including “new safety requirements and procedures for trains carrying hazardous materials like vinyl chloride,” a requirement for advance notice from railways to state emergency response officials about what their trains are carrying, requirements to prevent blocked railway crossings and new rules for train size and weight, according to a statement from the senators.

The bill also addresses the risk of wheel bearing failures by ramping up detection and inspection. It has a provision requiring “well-trained, two-person crews aboard every train.” And it boosts the maximum fines for rail carriers for wrongdoing.

The legislation also increases grants for HAZMAT training and Federal Railroad Administration research and development, as well as funding for the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s development of tank car safety features.

Bipartisan challenges: This rare, general bipartisan agreement about taking action in the wake of the derailment follows years of Republicans generally supporting the deregulation of the rail industry, including the broad rollback of transportation rules during the Trump administration.

Experts point out several areas of opportunity to enhance rail safety and hold rail companies further accountable: updating trains’ braking systems, shortening the lengths of freight trains, further separating cars with hazardous material, requiring more crew members to be on board and increasing penalties.

Many of these proposals, experts say, have been around for decades, and have oftentimes been diminished or entirely eliminated after rail lobbying efforts. Data compiled by the nonprofit OpenSecrets show that Norfolk Southern, the company involved in the Ohio derailment, spent $1.8 million on federal lobbying last year.

CNN’s Maegan Vazquez, Pete Muntean and Aileen Graef contributed to this report.

Sen. Tom Carper, the chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, delivered opening remarks at the hearing on the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, saying that while Norfolk Southern did commit money to helping the impacted residents, the ultimate costs from the disaster may exceed the immediate cleanup needs.

Norfolk Southern “has agreed to pay for the environmental cleanup resulting from the derailment. However, the ultimate costs may exceed the immediate cleanup needs,” Carper said Thursday.

“And moreover,” he added, citing an “apparent lack of transparency on the part of Norfolk Southern, at least in the early days of the response,” there are still members of the community “battling with mistrust and looking for answers.”

Carper’s comments underline the fears among the East Palestine community about the threat of long term chemical exposure from the toxic train derailment.

Some background: Norfolk Southern has so far committed $21 million to the residents and communities affected by the February 3 toxic chemical release caused by its train derailment in East Palestine. It says this is only the beginning of the help it will pay to victims of the derailment in years to come. 

Three senators are now testifying before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee about the train that derailed in Ohio at the beginning of February, spilling toxic chemicals in the town of East Palestine.

Here’s who is on the first panel:

East Palestine is near the Pennsylvania border.

In the days after the crash, Brown, Vance, Casey and other lawmakers from both parties introduced the Railway Safety Act of 2023. The bipartisan bill includes a number of provisions to boost safety procedures to prevent future incidents.

It’s rare, though it does happen, for members of Congress to testify at a congressional hearing. The senators may be able to provide insight into what they are hearing from their constituents and communities affected by fallout from the incident.

CNN’s Clare Foran and Chris Isidore contributed reporting to this post. 

Weeks after a major train derailment and controlled explosion of chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio, many questions remain about how the train derailed and what the lingering chemical exposure could be in residents’ air and water.

Toxic train derailments don’t happen very often, but they can have serious consequences for human and environmental health when they do. 

The agency’s website says railroad accidents that resulted in hazardous materials being released caused just 14 deaths from 1994 to 2005, while 116 deaths resulted from hazardous materials spilling after highway accidents in the same time period.

Still, because trains are crossing state lines, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said he was concerned about the lack of information individual states have about what the rail cars are carrying.

During a news conference, DeWine said the Norfolk Southern train that derailed was not categorized as a high hazardous material train, meaning the railroad was not required to notify state officials about what chemicals the rail cars contained.

“If this is true – and I’m told it’s true – this is absurd,” DeWine said. “We should know when we have trains carrying hazardous material that are going through the state of Ohio.”

DeWine urged Congress to consider updating hazard codes for trains so that states have more information.

A Senate panel is holding a hearing now on the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle call for answers and action in the wake of the disaster.

The most high-profile witness at the Environment and Public Works committee hearing is expected to be Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw, as well as several senators who represent Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Citing the “number and significance of recent Norfolk Southern accidents,” federal investigators said Tuesday they will open a special investigation into the railway’s safety culture.

The company and other major freight railroads have vowed new safety measures in response to the toxic train wreck that ravaged the town of East Palestine. The railroads saythey will revamp a hot bearing detector network. “Hot bearing” or “hot box” detectors use infrared sensors to record the temperatures of railroad bearings as trains pass by.

While Norfolk Southern has pledged more than $21 million so far in help for the communities affected by the derailment, that is only a small fraction of its profits and the billions it is giving to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. Shaw is likely to face questions about the company’s continued share repurchase plans in the wake of the disaster, questions that he dodged at a recent CNN Town Hall on the crash.

The hearing will also feature several senators as witnesses: Ohio Sens. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, and J.D. Vance, a Republican, and Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey, a Democrat.

In the wake of the East Palestine crash, a bipartisan group of senators proposed a new billaimed at shoring up rail safety, The Railway Safety Act of 2023. Outside of a number of provisions to boost safety procedures to prevent future incidents, the legislation would also require two person crews on most long-distance freight trains. There are no such regulations or laws requiring two people on the train currently, only provisions of existing labor agreements with the unions representing crew members. The railroads say they will oppose that change in the law and that they will continue to push to have only the engineer, and not a conductor, riding in the cab of locomotives.

CNN’s Ali Zaslav, Gregory Wallace, Betsy Klein, Lauren Fox and Nouran Salahieh​​ contributed to this report.

On Wednesday, FEMA approved Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s request for a 120-day extension to ask for a major disaster declaration for the state.

In his letter to FEMA, DeWine cited the “continuing impacts and complexities” of the East Palestine derailment, saying the 120-day extension would allow the state to properly assess the impact of the incident before requesting the declaration.