Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw in testimony before a U.S. Senate committee Thursday will apologize for his company’s toxic derailment disaster in East Palestine, Ohio, and lay out the steps the railroad is taking to remedy the situation.
“I am deeply sorry for the impact this derailment has had on the people of East Palestine and surrounding communities, and I am determined to make it right,” Shaw says in a written version of his testimony that was released Wednesday evening.
Shaw is expected to face tough questioning from the Committee on Environment and Public Works about the Atlanta-based railroad’s actions and response to the Feb. 3 derailment of railcars carrying hazardous materials, which released toxic chemicals into the air, soil and water in East Palestine and caused fear and uncertainty among residents.
The Ohio crash has captured national attention and triggered a bipartisan effort to reform rail safety, while putting Norfolk Southern, a company not accustomed to being in the spotlight, under intense scrutiny.
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in remarks on the Senate floor on Wednesday said he expects Shaw “to own up to his company’s spotty safety culture, particularly the increasingly apparent pattern of negligence.”
“I want to hear from Norfolk Southern’s CEO why they spent years lobbying for looser regulations designed to prevent accidents like this,” Schumer said. “After seeing a record $3.3 billion in profits last year, I want to hear why Norfolk Southern chose to prioritize billions in stock buybacks instead of investing it in safety equipment or their workers.”
The National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday said it is launching a special investigation into Norfolk Southern’s safety practices, citing the East Palestine derailment and four other significant accidents involving Norfolk Southern since December 2021.
In his written testimony, Shaw pledges that the company will safely and thoroughly clean the site of the derailment, where toxic chemicals have contaminated the soil. And he says Norfolk Southern has committed more than $20 million in reimbursements and investments in response to the incident.
After the NTSB pointed to overheated bearings as a cause of the East Palestine derailment, Norfolk Southern on Monday announced a safety plan to add more hot bearing detectors along its tracks and to work on technology to improve detection of potential safety issues, among other measures.
“We are also committed to learning from this accident and working with public officials and the industry to make railroads even safer,” Shaw says in the testimony.
Shaw also says Norfolk Southern did not own the railcar carrying plastic pellets that had a catastrophic failure of its wheel bearing in the derailment.
“That’s one reason why an industry-wide comprehensive approach, including railcar owners, car manufacturers, leasing companies, equipment makers, and the railroad companies, is essential to help improve safety as the rail industry continues to provide the logistical infrastructure that enables the United States’ economy to grow,” Shaw’s written remarks say. “It’s going to take all of us—and we’re eager to lead that effort.”
In the testimony, Shaw says the company announced a new strategy at the end of 2022 that will mean more investment in its workforce and more training, “instead of furloughing workers during periodic economic downturn.”
“An essential part of our effort to make Norfolk Southern an even safer company is to further strengthen our safety culture,” he says in the testimony.
Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw’s written testimony
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