HARRISBURG, Pa. — A state Senate committee voted Wednesday to subpoena Norfolk Southern’s chief executive to appear before the panel, after a bipartisan outpouring of frustration over a lack of information and testing data following last month’s catastrophic train derailment across the border in East Palestine, Ohio.
The Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee voted 9-1 to issue the subpoena to CEO Alan Shaw after several lawmakers railed about the plight of residents in Beaver County and nearby portions of Ohio around East Palestine, where the Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic chemicals derailed Feb. 3.
State Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Franklin, said residents haven’t been given reliable information about what they might have been exposed to since the derailment and the subsequent controlled release of vinyl chloride from overturned tanker cars. He said people and animals in the area continue to show signs of poor health.
“The people of western Pennsylvania want answers,” said Mastriano, the committee’s chairman. “I think this is going to get worse.”
State Sen. Katie Muth, D-Montgomery, said requests she made to various government agencies for data about environmental testing have gone unanswered.
“I am getting crickets on that information and it is incredibly frustrating,” said Muth, the panel’s top Democrat.
Norfolk Southern did not immediately respond to an email and phone message seeking comment.
Meanwhile, in the state House, a Republican lawmaker and a Democratic staffer said a bipartisan policy committee hearing — a rare occurrence in the Capitol — was being planned to focus on the derailment. The hearing will be held March 14 in Darlington, near the Ohio border. Policy committees explore topics to lay groundwork for legislation.
“From the very beginning, there has been a problem with information sharing from Norfolk Southern,” said state Rep. Josh Kail, R-Beaver.
Several senators who voted to subpoena Shaw on Wednesday did so with lukewarm support, partly because they wanted to couple it with a demand to the company for documents — and also because they were skeptical a subpoena would yield results.
State Sen. Camera Bartolotta, R-Washington, said she was concerned the vote was happening too quickly, but “perhaps this will shake the tree, and loosen up some tongues at Norfolk Southern.”
State Sen. Maria Collett, D-Montgomery, voiced support but called it a symbolic move.
“They are going to answer it with delay and subterfuge,” Collett said. Nonetheless, she said, “The people of Pennsylvania deserve answers.”
The lone vote against came from state Sen. Tracy Pennycuick, R-Montgomery, who called the subpoena poorly timed because of the many lawsuits already filed against Norfolk Southern. A National Transportation Safety Board investigation is also underway.
“I think the timing of the subpoena is a little premature,” Pennycuick said. “I think our focus needs to be getting Beaver County residents back and made whole.”
But the overall tone of the discussion was one of frustration. The same panel held a hearing Feb. 23 in Beaver County, where residents told horror stories involving headaches, rashes, sick animals and gnawing worries about their families’ health.
The state Department of Health on Tuesday opened a health resource center in Darlington for residents of Beaver and Lawrence counties affected by the derailment. It is scheduled to remain open until March 10.
The state Department of Environmental Protection said on its website Wednesday that, “While there are no known concerns for air or water quality for Pennsylvania residents near the derailment site, DEP will conduct independent testing for at least six months to continue to monitor water quality.”
Muth lambasted that statement.
“If we as a committee are not able to get data and information, that’s really troubling, and in the absence of that information I don’t want to hear from anyone that people aren’t in harm’s way, that everything is fine, the water is fine, our state’s websites say that there is no contamination,” she said. “People are sitting in their homes right now exposed to toxins with no remedy, no answers and they know they are sick.”
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