East Palestine Train Crash: Norfolk Southern Sued After Releasing Cancer-Causing Chemical Into Environment [UPDATE]

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The latest proposed class action over the catastrophic East Palestine, Ohio train derailment alleges operator Norfolk Southern has discharged more cancer-causing vinyl chloride into the environment in one week than all industrial emitters combined in 2021.

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The 28-page suit explains that vinyl chloride is a highly combustible, DNA-mutating chemical for which there is no safe level of exposure. According to the case, five of the 50 railcars that were derailed or damaged were full of vinyl chloride gas, among other flammable and combustible materials that eventually ignited amid the wreckage and burned for days. 

According to the lawsuit, vinyl chloride is persistent in the environment and can leach into groundwater when dumped directly onto soil. Rather than properly contain and clean up its mess, Norfolk Southern chose instead to set the wreckage on fire, igniting one million-plus pounds of chemicals in a pit that burned for days and covered proposed class members “in a large plume of thick black smoke.” 

The problem with igniting vinyl chloride, the case relays, is that it creates phosgene gas, a “chemical warfare agent banned under the Geneva Convention” and responsible for roughly 85,000 deaths in World War I. 

“As a result of Norfolk Southern’s decision to ignite a million pound chemical burn pit, and subject surrounding communities to chemical warfare agents instead of cleaning up its mess, Plaintiffs and Class Members have been exposed to toxic and noxious chemicals,” the suit summarizes.

The lawsuit stresses that East Palestine residents who were exposed to the gas—more than 1.1 million pounds of which was dumped into the environment to relieve pressure in several of the railcars that crashed on February 3—“may already be undergoing DNA mutations that may not manifest as a clinical cancer diagnosis for years or decades.” Some have already reported experiencing irritation to their throats, eyes, lungs and lips, the case adds.

“This situation would never have occurred if not for failure on top of failure by Norfolk Southern,” the complaint scathes, alleging the train—Train 32N—should never have been operated “in such a reckless manner” whereby its wheel bearings could fail and cause a derailment. 

Norfolk Southern’s apparent “run it until it breaks” operational philosophy is in part to blame for the catastrophe earlier this month when Freight Train 32N, traveling from Illinois to Pennsylvania and carrying hazardous and combustible materials, derailed due to an overheated wheel bearing, the case argues. At least 12 cars filled with dangerous chemicals breached, spilling hundreds of thousands of pounds of hazardous substances into the environment, the suit says. 

Per the case, at least one of the emergency relief valves in the railcars containing vinyl chloride failed, and by February 5, two days after the crash, temperature and pressure build-up in the tanks posed an imminent risk of explosion. After residents were cleared from the area and out of the potential blast zone, Norfolk Southern “blew holes into the cars and drained the contents into a crude ditch,” discharging more than a million pounds of vinyl chloride, the suit says, calling the move “incredibly reckless.” 

One substance created by burning vinyl chloride, phosgene gas, is colorless, “smells like moldy hay” and is six times deadlier than chlorine gas, the lawsuit says. Phosgene gas is “the most dangerous of the choking agents banned by the Geneva Convention,” and in low concentrations, the gas can severely irritate the eyes and respiratory organs, the suit shares.

The lawsuit looks to provide money for medical monitoring and other damages on behalf of all natural persons who resided, owned property, or worked within a 30-mile radius of 1020 East Taggart Street, East Palestine, Ohio, 44413, as of February 3, 2023.

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