EPA orders Norfolk Southern to conduct all cleanup actions related to derailment
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Re: EPA orders Norfolk Southern to conduct all cleanup actions related to derailment
#2Re: EPA orders Norfolk Southern to conduct all cleanup actions related to derailment
#3what kind of protections does bankruptcy afford Norfolk Southern or other corp shenanigans can they pull to avoid having to do anything?
Re: EPA orders Norfolk Southern to conduct all cleanup actions related to derailment
#4Based on the fact that there's thousands of superfund sites that are decades old, this probably won't be cleaned up any time soon
Re: EPA orders Norfolk Southern to conduct all cleanup actions related to derailment
#5Glad to see this, and if Norfolk Southern goes bankrupt, all assets go to the cleanup and high level execs are changed or are forced to pay the difference.
Also, with this being in Ohio, I hope people in Ohio realize how valuable the EPA is and stop voting for people who want to cut every Gov Program except for Defense.
Re: EPA orders Norfolk Southern to conduct all cleanup actions related to derailment
#6what kind of protections does bankruptcy afford Norfolk Southern or other corp shenanigans can they pull to avoid having to do anything?
Well, they could spin off a new company that owns the liability. That sometimes works, although notably courts did not allow Johnson & Johnson to get away with something similar recently. Details https://www.npr.org/2022/09/19/1123567606/johnson-baby-powde... Rejection https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/30/business/johnson-and-johnson-...
Re: EPA orders Norfolk Southern to conduct all cleanup actions related to derailment
#7Glad to see this, and if Norfolk Southern goes bankrupt, all assets go to the cleanup and high level execs are changed or are forced to pay the difference. Also, with this being in Ohio, I hope people in Ohio realize how valuable the EPA is and stop voting for people who want to cut every Gov Program except for Defense.
I think you’re overestimating the cost of this cleanup by 2 or 3 orders of magnitude. Vinyl chloride is not particularly toxic, has low environmental persistence, and does not bioaccumulate.
Re: EPA orders Norfolk Southern to conduct all cleanup actions related to derailment
#8Glad to see this, and if Norfolk Southern goes bankrupt, all assets go to the cleanup and high level execs are changed or are forced to pay the difference. Also, with this being in Ohio, I hope people in Ohio realize how valuable the EPA is and stop voting for people who want to cut every Gov Program except for Defense.
I'm really hoping the residents and rail workers realize they need to come together for this common cause. Unfortunately, busting the rail strike as both parties did only contributes to this problem in a major way. Nobody is coming to save us. These issues can only be resolved with people coming together in collective action.
As a side note, i hope they go bankrupt and we expropriate them. Railroads are too important to leave largely to the private sector. Our rail infrastructure compared to really any developed nation is abysmally sad.
Re: EPA orders Norfolk Southern to conduct all cleanup actions related to derailment
#9what kind of protections does bankruptcy afford Norfolk Southern or other corp shenanigans can they pull to avoid having to do anything?
They could always just not do it. The release says that if this happens, the gov will do it instead and "compel" NS to pay them triple the cost, but I don't really see that happening, given that they just "compelled" the rail workers union to not strike against them.
I'm hopeful that they will just clean it up, but this is a massive corporation owned by hedge funds we're talking about. The rules don't apply to them.
Re: EPA orders Norfolk Southern to conduct all cleanup actions related to derailment
#10Based on the fact that there's thousands of superfund sites that are decades old, this probably won't be cleaned up any time soon
Well based on the fact
that
- we’ve cleaned up 25% of sites in a system that only started in the 80s
- the infrastructure bill in 2021 bringing back the superfund cleanup tax on chemical companies that expired in 1995 — at double the rate
- and Congress also authorizing an extra $3.5 billion 2 years ago just for cleanups
I think it’s too early to be so cynical