COLUMBIANA, Ohio — The East Palestine Justice team gathered once again to hold a community meeting for the residents impacted by the toxic Norfolk Southern train derailment that took place on Friday, Feb. 3.
The meeting took place Wednesday at the Columbiana Cultural Collective on North Main Street. At the event, representatives from the Ohio law firm Bevan & Associates and trial attorney Mikal Watts spoke about the derailment as well as "the flagrant pattern of deregulation by Norfolk Southern." This included a history of the railroad's past derailments involving hazardous chemicals as well as connected wrongful death lawsuits.
You can watch the entire meeting again in the player below:
The community meeting came just a day after the NTSB announced that they are opening a special investigation into Norfolk Southern's safety practices and culture following the recent Ohio train derailments. One month after the Feb. 3 wreck in East Palestine, another Norfolk Southern train derailed in the city of Springfield. Days later in Cleveland, a railroad conductor working on a train was killed after being hit by a truck at a grade crossing.
On Monday, Norfolk Southern released a new six-point safety plan which will "immediately enhance the safety of its operations.” The announcement was based on the preliminary findings of the NTSB as they continue to investigate the East Palestine derailment.
