'Shameful': Pennsylvania governor shreds Norfolk Southern for 'giving the middle finger' to regular people

Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) tore into the management of Norfolk Southern, the freight company behind the derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, on CNN Thursday.

The disaster, which occurred just miles from the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, forced thousands of people to leave their homes and spilled toxic chemicals into the environment. Locals are enraged over the company's lack of presence in the aftermath, and new reporting reveals that the company has done away with jobs that used to maintain safety features on tracks in that area.

"You wrote a letter to Alan Shaw, that's the president of Norfolk Southern, in which you outlined a series of mistakes you think the company made in the immediate aftermath of this crash, including creating an environment of confusion resulting in a lack of awareness for first responders, getting inaccurate information, and an overall unwillingness to explore alternate courses of action to the proposed vent and burn," said anchor Jake Tapper. "Is Norfolk Southern cooperating with you at all in the aftermath of this attack?"

"I think Norfolk Southern's conduct has really been shameful," said Shapiro. "They load themselves up with lobbyists and lawyers and then they give the middle finger to the good people of Pennsylvania. They made this process much more difficult than it needed to be."

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"Let me explain specifically," said Shapiro. "When you're dealing with an emergency situation, Jake — a snowstorm or train derailment, you name it — it's imperative that we create what's known as a unified command structure. This was complicated a bit because we were dealing with two states. But I must say that Governor DeWine and our partners in Ohio cooperated greatly and we worked really well together. The hitch in all of this has been Norfolk Southern. They refuse to participate in that unified command. Which created extra work. It added confusion. It made it harder for us to get the information out. It wasn't insurmountable, but they were not good stewards, participants in this process."

"They need to be accountable," Shapiro added. "Not just now with this current situation in East Palestine, Ohio and the potential effects it could have on Pennsylvania, but they need to be held to a higher account when it comes to federal policy. They work with such arrogance, such disregard for local communities and local residents. That needs to change. And I hope it does change as a result of this."

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