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The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Norfolk Southern over the major train derailment that occurred in East Palestine, Ohio, last month.
The suit, filed Thursday on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency, accuses Norfolk Southern Railway Company and Norfolk Southern Corporation of “unlawfully polluting” the country’s waterways and violating the Clean Water Act, which prohibits groups from releasing toxic pollutants into waterways without a government permit.
The department also means to hold the company and its subsidiary accountable for the “full cost” of the environmental cleanup, seeing $120,000 for each day Norfolk Southern is found to be out of compliance.
The federal government is the latest group to sue Norfolk Southern in response to the Feb. 3 derailment. The state of Ohio, residents and several local business owners also have filed complaints related to the crash, which happened when 38 cars from a Norfolk Southern train careened off the tracks in East Palestine and ignited a dayslong fire.
