Signing the letter were the four senators from both states — Democrats Bob Casey and John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Republican JD Vance and Democrat Sherrod Brown of Ohio — as well as Reps. Christopher Deluzio, D-Pa., and Bill Johnson, R-Ohio.
The letter also requests that the company pay for “continued testing by an independent third party of the air, water, and other exposure levels for anyone in the broader region who requests it.”
“We must see concrete plans for how Norfolk Southern will take financial responsibility for the issues caused by this derailment, which will affect these communities long after the immediate crash site has been remediated,” members wrote.
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The group requests answers in writing to several questions, from what the company’s plans are to reimburse local farmers if their crops or livestock are found to be harmed, to how Norfolk Southern will determine the amount of direct financial compensation it will provide to municipalities affected by the derailment.
“In the long-term, Norfolk Southern must make the necessary improvements to safety practices regarding the transport of hazardous materials on U.S. railroads, and increased safety will require significant new investment by Norfolk Southern,” the lawmakers concluded. “No American family should be forced to face the horror of fleeing their homes because hazardous materials have spilled or caught fire in their community.”
Both Brown and Vance traveled to East Palestine, separately, on Thursday to survey the damage. In his own visit Thursday, EPA Administrator Michael Regan promised that the Biden administration would “get to the bottom” of the derailment.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
