Pa. legislators frustrated with Norfolk Southern CEO’s appearance before Pa. Senate committee

• By J.D. Prose and Zack Hoopes/ PennLive

Norfolk Southern President and CEO Alan Shaw’s appearance before a state Senate committee on Monday focused heavily on the decision to purposely burn the leaking chemicals, which sent a plume of ash and smoke into Pennsylvania.

Shaw’s repeated insistence that a “unified command” group of government and agency officials, led by the East Palestine, Ohio fire chief, made the decision and not Norfolk Southern seemed to ring hollow with some senators.

Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Franklin County, chairman of the Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee, said he knows from his military experience that there is always a “trigger man” who makes the final call.

“I find it hard to believe that the local fire chief would be the one making the decision … to set an explosion off to ignite eight carloads of toxic chemicals,” Mastriano told Shaw, who testified for nearly 90 minutes after being subpoenaed by the committee.

“Who was the individual who made the decision?” Mastriano asked Shaw, who referred again to the unified command structure. Gov. Josh Shapiro has accused Norfolk Southern of ignoring the command structure in its response to the derailment and chemical leak.

Days after the Feb. 3 derailment, authorities conducted what they described as a “controlled burn” of chemicals to avoid having the burning railcars explode. That sent a dark, ominous cloud over communities in eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania.

Sen. Katie Muth, D-Montgomery County, appeared incredulous as Shaw repeatedly stated that the person in charge who approved the burn was the local fire chief.

“So, the local fire chief led the entire operation on the ground including the decision of the burn?” she asked, with Shaw responding that local, state and federal authorities were there, too.

Muth asked who specifically was involved in the decision, but Shaw said he would have that information provided to her.

At previous hearings, Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency director Randy Padfield has raised questions about the hurried decision to conduct a “controlled burn,” conflicting information that changed overnight and Norfolk Southern’s role in urging the burn.

Padfield has also said that Pennsylvania was cut out of the initial response as Norfolk Southern took control.

On Monday, Shaw said that a burn was necessary to avoid a “catastrophic explosion” that could have caused a toxic cloud and sent shrapnel flying up to two miles.

“It’s important to remember that the vent and burn worked,” said Shaw, noting that testing by Ohio and Pennsylvania agencies has shown that air and water is uncontaminated.

East Palestine is just over the state border from Darlington Township, Beaver County, where residents have complained about health issues and shared concerns over soil and water contamination from the burn cloud.

When Mastriano told Shaw that he hopes the company doesn’t leave Pennsylvania families on their own, Shaw responded by saying he has a “deep appreciation” for residents in the region and noted his time spent in coal-mining communities in southwestern Pennsylvania.

“Each and every day I’m going to do the next right thing,” Shaw said. “I’m going to see this through no matter what it takes.”

Mastriano replied, “We’re going to hold you to it.”

Shaw also said that Norfolk Southern is working to establish programs for long-term health costs, property valuations and water monitoring.

In his opening remarks, Shaw said he was “deeply sorry” for the accident and chemical leak and stressed that Norfolk Southern is cleaning up the site. “You have my personal commitment that we will get the job done and we will help these communities thrive,” he said.

On Sunday, Norfolk Southern released a preemptive statement detailing the steps the company has taken in the weeks after the derailment, including committing $7.5 million to create funds to help affected western Pennsylvania communities and local fire departments.

Asked after the hearing if she found any of Shaw’s testimony fruitful, Muth described it as a “box of Fruity Pebbles.”

“We got nothing, no information,” she said. “We subpoenaed him, we got nothing.”

“Don’t tell me everything’s fine and not give us any data,” Muth continued. “Why do you need all these compensation funds if everything’s fine and there’s no contamination?”

One union leader present at Monday’s hearing also expressed similar frustrations with Shaw’s appearance.

“It was a lot of run-around,” said Paul Pokrowka, legislative director for the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers.

“It is not good enough,” Pokrowka said. “To say that it was done by the book, you have to understand a lot of that book is written by Norfolk Southern.”

Pokrowka described a structure in which Norfolk Southern is largely left to regulate itself, creating a system that sounds good on paper but does not function on the ground.

“Worker intimidation is huge” when it comes to reporting safety lapses, Pokrowka said, and the workforce that performs train inspections, which could catch issues like faulty bearings or axles, “was cut heavily during the pandemic.”

“Now you have one person doing the job of three,” Pokrowka said. “There is a time allotment Norfolk Southern has on these inspections. They don’t like to talk about that, but that’s a fact. You have to do things much faster.”

Although Pennsylvania officials have said their control is largely limited to federal railroad regulations, Pokrowka said this is not always the case, and the union is trying to get the state to take a more active role.

“It’s a must,” Pokrowka said. “We’re only scratching the surface here, and this is going to not get any better. There’s nowhere else for [Norfolk Southern] to cut to provide record-breaking profits except for public safety and/or their workforce.”