Norfolk Southern Railway sued by Justice Department over train derailment

The Justice Department filed a lawsuit this week against the Norfolk Southern Railway Company for the train derailment on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border last month. 

The Department says that it seeks to hold the company accountable for "unlawfully polluting the nation's waterways and to ensure it pays the full cost of the environmental cleanup," in the lawsuit filed Thursday.

The Norfolk Southern train derailed near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, resulting in a days-long fire. Ten of the 50 train cars contained toxic chemicals including vinyl chloride and butyl acrylate, which are combustible liquids. 

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources said three weeks after the incident that the chemicals spilled killed roughly 44,000 fish.

Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw has apologized for the derailment and has said that the company will be responsible for paying for the cleanup. 

"I'm terribly sorry for the impact this derailment has had on the folks of that community," Shaw told the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works earlier this month. "We're going to be there for as long as it takes to help East Palestine thrive and recover." 

The state of Ohio also filed a lawsuit against the railway company two weeks ago to ensure that it will pay for the environmental damage.