The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Justice announced a $310 million settlement with Norfolk Southern for the damage done on Feb. 3, 2023, in East Palestine on Thursday.

If approved by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Norfolk Southern has agreed to improve rail safety, pay for health monitoring and mental health services for the surrounding communities, fund long-term environmental monitoring, pay a $15 million civil penalty, and take other actions to protect nearby waterways and drinking water resources.

In addition to the settlement, it is estimated that the railroad company spent more than $1 billion to address the contamination and other harms caused by the East Palestine derailment and work to improve rail safety and operations. Nearly $780 million has been spent on environmental response costs incurred by Norfolk Southern.

Norfolk Southern has estimated that the costs of rail safety enhancements, including those required by this settlement, will exceed $200 million since the derailment.

Norfolk Southern has agreed to create and adopt a procedure for coordinating with first responders and government officials, where appropriate, before restoring and reopening tracks for use after a derailment involving spilled hazardous material. Norfolk Southern will also create and adopt a procedure for coordinating with government officials and other stakeholders in advance of any vent and burn proposed by the company.

Under the settlement, Norfolk Southern has agreed to:

• Spend an estimated $235 million for all past and future costs so that cleanup efforts can continue and the company, rather than taxpayers, covers the cost.
• Pay a $15 million civil penalty to resolve the alleged violations of the Clean Water Act.
• Pay $25 million for a 20-year community health program that includes medical monitoring for qualified individuals, mental health services for individuals residing in affected counties as well as first responders who worked at the site, and a community facilitation plan to assist community members in using the benefits of the program.
• Spend approximately $15 million to implement long-term monitoring of groundwater and surface water for a period of 10 years.
• Pay $15 million for a private drinking water monitoring fund that will continue the existing private drinking water well monitoring program for 10 years.
• Implement a “waterways remediation plan,” with an estimated budget of $6 million, for projects in Leslie Run and Sulphur Run that will prioritize addressing historical pollution, reducing non-point source pollution through infrastructure upgrades and stormwater management projects, and restoring aquatic and riparian habitat.
• Pay $175,000 for natural resource damages, to be used by the United States to restore, rehabilitate, replace, or acquire the equivalent of the natural resources injured as a result of the derailment.

Ohio-based U.S. Senator J.D. Vance alongside Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost issued a joint statement on this settlement:

"This federal settlement, reached prior to the completion of the NTSB’s investigation, risks undercompensating the residents of East Palestine. The Department of Justice would have better served East Palestine and surrounding communities by negotiating against Norfolk Southern armed with all relevant facts surrounding the disaster—facts which can only be revealed by the NTSB."

"The residents of East Palestine deserve full compensation to account for the hardships they have faced in the months since the derailment, but they also deserve the full truth about why the derailment and vent and burn occurred. With its decision to reach a settlement now, the DOJ may have sacrificed its opportunity to use the NTSB’s findings to impose maximum leverage on those responsible for any potential wrongdoing."

"We are reviewing the now-public settlement proposal, but with so much unknown at this time, it is difficult to assess its impact. We will continue to do everything in our power to ensure those impacted by the derailment are made whole and to ensure anyone responsible for wrongdoing is held accountable.”