Senator Vance and Attorney General Yost React to East Palestine Train Derailment Federal Settlement
May 23, 2024
(WASHINGTON, D.C. & COLUMBUS, Ohio) — Senator JD Vance and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost issued a joint statement expressing concern that the U.S. Department of Justice’s recently announced settlement with Norfolk Southern could severely undercompensate the people of East Palestine. The DOJ’s announcement comes before the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) completed its investigation into the circumstances leading up to the derailment and the decision-making process which resulted in the “vent and burn” of derailed tanker cars.
“This federal settlement, reached prior to the completion of the NTSB’s investigation, risks undercompensating the residents of East Palestine,” they stated. “The Department of Justice would have better served East Palestine and surrounding communities by negotiating against Norfolk Southern armed with all relevant facts surrounding the disaster—facts which can only be revealed by the NTSB. The residents of East Palestine deserve full compensation to account for the hardships they have faced in the months since the derailment, but they also deserve the full truth about why the derailment and vent and burn occurred. With its decision to reach a settlement now, the DOJ may have sacrificed its opportunity to use the NTSB’s findings to impose maximum leverage on those responsible for any potential wrongdoing. We are reviewing the now-public settlement proposal, but with so much unknown at this time, it is difficult to assess its impact. We will continue to do everything in our power to ensure those impacted by the derailment are made whole and to ensure anyone responsible for wrongdoing is held accountable.”
The Department of Justice has closely guarded details of this settlement and did not make co-plaintiffs, including Ohio, aware of crucial details before its public release today. They emphasized that more time and consideration are necessary as Ohio was only presented with this agreement today. According to them, Ohio should have been consulted on details of this resulting settlement due to bearing most damage caused by this derailment. It remains unclear why DOJ did not follow standard practice in consulting Ohio.
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Bethany McCorkle: 614-466-1339