Reporter Grills CEO About Train Derailment: ‘Why Did Norfolk Southern Spend So Much Money’ Lobbying Against Safety Rule?
PBS NewsHour co-anchor Geoff Bennett grilled Norfolk Southern CEO Alan H. Shaw Tuesday about his company’s recent train derailment and release of toxic chemicals near East Palestine, Ohio.
“How long will Norfolk Southern maintain a presence in East Palestine?” Bennett asked Shaw.
“As long as it takes. Yeah. We’re going to see this thing through. That’s my commitment to the community of East Palestine,” Shaw replied, adding:
We’re going to invest in the environmental clean-up. We have made a lot of progress. We’ve got air monitoring, water monitoring. We’re coordinating with the Ohio EPA. We’re continuing to provide financial assistance for the citizens of this community. So far, we’ve either reimbursed or committed $6.5 million to the citizens of this community. And that’s a down payment. And we’re going to invest in this community for the long haul to help this community recover and help this community thrive.
The nation’s media has been focused on East Palestine in recent days after the early February train derailment led to the release of toxic chemicals, which many local residents continue to fear are contaminating their community.
“When you say the 6.5 million is a down payment, as you know, the average income for an East Palestine family is less than $45,000 a year. We’ve talked to people who say they need Norfolk Southern to pay their medical expenses, to pay their moving expensive expenses, and to pay for independent testing of wells and soil in the air. Is that something that you would commit to?” Bennett asked, referencing the health concerns related to the accident.
“We set up a lot of testing within an hour of the derailment. We had air testing within a couple of hours of the derailment. We’ve had water testing. There is independent testing going on right now with the Ohio EPA and with local health officials,” Shaw replied, adding:
And, you know, there’s been hundreds of tests and there have been thousands of data points and they’ve all come back with the same result that says the air and the water are clean and we’re setting up long term monitoring and we intend to be here for the long haul and continue to support this community.
“A question about rail safety, because in November and December, Norfolk Southern met with federal regulators and pushed back against this proposed rule that would have in most cases mandated at least two crew members on on trains. Why did Norfolk Southern spend so much money, millions upon millions of dollars lobbying against it?” Bennett pushed.
“What we’re really interested in is solution-based safety rules, and we’re very focused on following the science,” Shaw responded.
“And with respect to this accident, the National Transportation Safety Board is, you know, they’re in charge of this investigation. And I’m very much looking forward to their results of their investigation. Once we have that, we’re going to sit down and we’re going to figure out what we could have done better. As you can imagine, every day since this occurred, I’ve been asking myself, what could we have done better?” he added, concluding:
What could we have done to prevent this? So we are fully cooperating with the NTSB and the FRA finding out what happened here. And we’re going to make Norfolk Southern and the industry as a safer railroad.
Many media pundits and observers have pointed the finger in various directions following the accident, with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and President Joe Biden being targeted on the right. Other critics have blamed Ohio Governor Mike DeWine (R) and local leaders for not accepting federal help when it was offered immediately after the accident.
Watch the full clip above via PBS.
