Norfolk Southern has sued rail car owners over cleanup costs stemming from the February derailment of a Norfolk-operated train in East Palestine, Ohio, that caused a toxic chemical spill.
The company, which is being sued by the state and the federal government over the crash, said in a Friday filing in Ohio federal court that several companies — including Dow Chemical, an Occidental Petroleum subsidiary and a tank car business owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway — must help shoulder the cleanup costs.
As owners of the rail cars that were carrying toxic chemicals that spilled, polluting the Ohio River and the nearby community, the companies are liable for cleanup costs under the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, or Superfund law, according to the filing.
Norfolk Southern said the Superfund law, which sets cost-sharing procedures for cleaning up heavily polluted sites, makes responsible parties strictly liable for the remediation of those sites.
Norfolk Southern also said it was seeking damages from Occidental and several others for failing to properly maintain the rail cars and failing to follow hazardous materials transportation regulations.
A spokesperson for GATX Corp, whose subsidiary Norfolk Southern said failed to properly care for a wheel bearing that allegedly failed ahead of the crash, said Monday the company takes safety seriously and called the allegations “baseless.”
The other companies didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday.
A total of 38 cars fell off the tracks in East Palestine on Feb. 3, including 11 carrying hazardous materials like vinyl chloride.
Ohio and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sued Norfolk Southern in March seeking costs tied to cleaning up the chemicals, as well as compensatory and punitive damages. Those now-consolidated lawsuits claimed Norfolk Southern was responsible for violating the Clean Water Act and state hazardous waste and pollution laws.
Norfolk Southern has promised to help restore the crash site, and said in June it had paid more than $16 million directly to affected residents. In April, it said the derailment had already cost it $387 million.
The company has also been sued by shareholders, Pennsylvania school districts near the crash site and residents and businesses in the area.
The case is State of Ohio v. Norfolk Southern Railway Co, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, No. 4:23-cv-00517.