![]() 'I pledge that we won't be finished until we make it right,' Norfolk Southern President and CEO Alan Shaw told an Ohio rail safety committee last week. The railroad also must remove toxic chemicals from two creeks, which could take longer. ![]() The company is still excavating tens of thousands of tons of contaminated soil, a process the Environmental Protection Agency expects to take another two to three months. ![]() Norfolk Southern Railroad is paying for lodging for some families but won't say how many still are out of their homes. 'So it's trying to find something to keep yourself busy, to keep from going crazy.' Jeff Drummond, a retired truck driver and Gulf War veteran, is among those not allowed back in his home due to the ongoing cleanup effort.įor nearly three months, he has been living in a motel room North Lima, Ohio, uncertain of when he will be able to return home. Norfolk Southern Railroad is paying for lodging for some families but won't say how many still are out of their homes Kyan Cepin also remains in a motel after being displaced by the East Palestine train derailment. She remembers the scorched rail tanker at her property line and a backyard flooded with water from the burn site. Walker, 48, also works at a small hotel where many cleanup workers are staying, so is constantly reminded of the accident. 'I have no idea how long we can continue to do this,' said Walker, while washing clothes at a laundromat. The grandmother has been bouncing from hotel to hotel with her five children and four grandchildren while crews tear up railroad tracks and scoop out contaminated soil near their four-bedroom home, she recently told the Associated Press. Walker and her family live 900 feet from the site of the controlled burn, and she now believes they will never be able to safely live in the home again. Similarly, grandmother Shelby Walker told WOIO-TV that benzene and vinyl chloride were detected in her urine by lab tests. I know there's central nervous system disorders that come along with this.' 'I know there's risks of liver cancers,' she told the ABC affiliate. Murphy said that she and her husband avoided drinking water from their private well after the derailment, but recalls experiencing symptoms including sore throat and shortness of death in the days after the derailment and controlled burn. Now, several residents say that urinalysis tests revealed at least trace amounts of vinyl chloride in their systems, raising fears about potential long-term health problems including a heightened risk of cancer.Įast Palestine resident Linda Murphy recently told WTAE-TV that tests revealed her body contained small amounts of the chemicals formed after metabolizing vinyl chloride.Įast Palestine resident Linda Murphy said that uranalysis tests revealed small amounts of the chemicals formed after metabolizing vinyl chloride The company on Wednesday disclosed that it took a $387 million charge in the first quarter related to the East Palestine derailment, a sum that does not include any costs potentially covered by insurance.Ībout half of East Palestine's nearly 5,000 residents evacuated when, days after the February 3 derailment, officials decided to burn toxic vinyl chloride from five tanker cars to prevent a catastrophic explosion. ![]() Norfolk Southern has said the freight train derailment that released millions of gallons of toxic chemicals in a small Ohio town could cost the company nearly $400 million in legal fees and cleanup costs.
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