Norfolk Southern Settles Government's Ohio Derailment Probe

By Dean Seal

Norfolk Southern has agreed to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to resolve the federal government's investigation into the February 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

The Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Justice said the settlement was valued at more than $310 million. A tally of the penalty and financial commitments laid out by Norfolk Southern total more than $373 million.

The railroad operator said Thursday that its settlement includes a $15 million fine and several major financial commitments to monitoring groundwater, supporting the surrounding community's health and bolstering safety in the area impacted by the derailment.

Norfolk Southern said the financial impacts of the settlement have either been included in the estimated $1.7 billion Norfolk Southern has earmarked in response to the incident as of March 31, or included in the company's current full-year guidance.

The settlement comes about a month after Norfolk Southern agreed to pay $600 million to resolve civil claims brought by individuals and businesses in connection with the derailment.

Shares of Norfolk Southern fall 0.9% to $228.60.

Write to Dean Seal at dean.seal@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 23, 2024 12:42 ET (16:42 GMT)

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