Biden administration and state officials on Tuesday cranked up the heat on Norfolk Southern Corp. for its handling of the fiery freight train derailment in Ohio, as federal authorities took control of cleanup operations and two state governors raised the specter of prosecutions in conjunction with the disaster.
Under a formal order issued by the Environmental Protection Agency, the company will be required to conduct cleanup operations in accordance with an EPA work plan and pay for the remediation costs. The company has two days to respond to the directive, which marks the federal government’s strongest move yet to address the disaster.
“It is my view that Norfolk Southern wasn’t going to do this out of the goodness of their own heart. There’s not a lot of goodness in there,” Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said at a news conference. “They needed to be compelled to act.”
