Connor Spielmaker, senior communications manager for the company, said the repayment process can take time with gathering the necessary paperwork, and Norfolk Southern began paying the agencies in full starting in July, and will continue “as final paperwork is received.”
“Local agencies are an integral response to derailments, and Norfolk Southern aims to reimburse those agencies as quickly as possible,” Spielmaker said.
On March 4 at around 4:45 p.m., 28 train cars containing non-hazardous materials of 212 train cars derailed in Springfield Twp., but there was no spill.
Brown said in the letter that getting Norfolk Southern to communicate about the payments owed has been difficult. He said he had to intervene in the past as well, writing to the company three months ago about compensating the city of Sandusky for work after a derailment in October.
Spielmaker said checks were mailed for three county invoices last month, and there has been no animosity and communication has been effective between Norfolk Southern and these agencies.
Norfolk Southern owes the Clark County Sheriff’s Office more than $87,000 for overtime pay for its deputies who responded to the derailment and its aftermath, Sheriff Deb Burchett said Wednesday.
Spielmaker said a check was mailed to the sheriff’s office on Monday.
Norfolk Southern owed the county EMA more than $12,000 and the county’s HAZMAT teams more than $15,500, though county spokesperson Mike Cooper said Wednesday that the company was in contact with the agencies and they expect to receive payment by the end of next week. This was after Brown’s letter was sent.
These checks were mailed in mid-July, Spielmaker said.
Springfield Twp. Trustee Tim Foley said Norfolk Southern has paid the township the $32,380 it was owed.
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
Of the 212 train cars, 31 were labeled as carrying hazardous materials, but those cars remained on the tracks and were unaffected.
The derailment occurred about a month after a Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine, in which hundreds of thousands of hazardous waste spilled into the air and water.
This was the seventh Norfolk Southern train derailment in the state in a year, Brown wrote. It was the second in Clark County in less than a year, county EMA director Michelle Clements-Pitstick said last month.
“Your full cooperation and repayment is essential to making the people of Ohio whole,” Brown wrote. “That includes living up to your side of the bargain and paying for all damages incurred.”
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