A federal judge has ruled that Norfolk Southern will be responsible for paying for the cleanup after last year’s train derailment in eastern Ohio. The decision, issued Wednesday, threw out the railroad’s claim that the companies that made chemicals that spilled, and owned tank cars that ruptured, should share in the cost of the cleanup. An assortment of toxic chemicals spilled and caught fire after the train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, last February 3rd. Three days later, officials blew open five tank cars, filled with vinyl chloride because they feared those cars might explode. Residents still worry about potential health consequences from those chemicals. Norfolk Southern has said the ongoing cleanup from the derailment has already cost it more than $1 billion. The cleanup is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
