The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is ordering Norfolk Southern to clean up and pay for the cleanup costs after one of its trains derailed and spilled chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio.
The legally binding order will require the company to identify and clean up contaminated soil and water, reimburse the EPA for the cleaning that it is doing and attend public meetings at the agency’s request, according to a press release from the agency.
The train derailment spilled a number of chemicals into the area, including a carcinogen called vinyl chloride that is used to make plastic.
Officials temporarily evacuated the area, but have since said it is safe to return. Many community members, however, continue to express concerns about the air and water quality since the incident.
“Norfolk Southern will pay for cleaning up the mess that they created and the trauma that they inflicted on this community,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said during a press conference on Tuesday.
Regan was joined at the conference by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D), who indicated that there could be additional legal action to come.
In particular, Shapiro said that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection made a criminal referral over the derailment to the state’s attorney general. DeWine said that Ohio’s attorney general would take “whatever action that Ohio law allows him to take.”
Shapiro also said that the company “injected unnecessary risk” into the crisis by providing inaccurate information and conflicting modeling data.
Under the newly announced EPA order, the agency will approve a work plan outlining the steps needed to clean up the environmental damage that the derailment caused. If Norfolk Southern doesn’t abide by the plan, the EPA will do the work and charge the company triple the cost.
The order was made under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, which gives the agency the ability to order entities responsible for pollution to clean it up.
The statement from the EPA said that this order marks a transition in response efforts from an emergency phase to a long-term cleanup phase.
The Hill has reached out to Norfolk Southern for comment.
Updated at 2:01 p.m.