Norfolk Southern fires $4.5-million-a-year CEO Alan Shaw for inappropriate relationship with companys chief legal officer a year after East Palestine train derailment
The company at the heart of the East Palestine train derailment has fired its CEO, after it said in a statement that he was in an inappropriate relationship with the companys chief legal officer.
The company at the heart of the East Palestine train derailment has fired its CEO, after it said in a statement that he was in an inappropriate relationship with the companys chief legal officer.
Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw was dismissed for engaging in a consensual relationship with Nabanita Nag, and may be prevented from receiving the typically massive exit packages that CEOs are often given when they are made to leave, the company said on Wednesday.
It had revealed on Sunday that Shaw was under investigation on Sunday. His tenure as head of one of the nations four largest freight railroads for just over two years was marred by scandals including the detonation of a derailed train in East Palestine, Ohio, that was carrying toxic chemicals in 2023.
Dozens of train cars carrying derailed and burned for two straight days in February 2023, leaching poisonous hydrogen chloride and phosgene into the air and waterways, leading to fears that locals in the town of around 5,000 would suffer long-term health problems.
Norfolk Southerns chief legal officer was also sacked from her roles as executive vice president of corporate affairs, chief legal officer and corporate secretary, effective immediately.
Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw (pictured) was dismissed for engaging in a consensual relationship with the companys chief legal officer
Norfolk Southerns chief legal officer Nabanita Nag (pictured) was also sacked from her roles as executive vice president of corporate affairs, chief legal officer and corporate secretary
Debris from a Norfolk Southern freight train lies scattered and burning along the tracks, Feb. 4, 2023, the day after it derailed in East Palestine, Ohio
Neither Shaw nor Nag were thanked for their service at the company in its statement announcing their departures.
Shaw had spent 30 years at the company, joining in 1994 as a cost systems analyst before rising through the ranks.
Nag, meanwhile, had joined in 2020 as general counsel, having spent a career working as a legal expert at prestigious firms including Shearman & Sterling, Goldman Sachs and Prudential Financial, according to her Linkedin.
Last year, Shaw, who made $4.5million a year as CEO, was forced to defend his decision to blow up the derailed train cars.
He told local media that blowing up five train cars carrying vinyl chloride was the right move to mitigate the threat of the carcinogenic chemicals— insisting that a terrifying plume of black smoke following the controlled burn proved it was a success and prevented a much riskier event.
I understand why this has created a lot of national attention. What were trying to do is work closely with the local leaders on the environmental remediation, getting information right, data-based, science-based information.
A video posted online shows a cloud of toxic chemicals covering Pennsylvania in the aftermath of the crash
The train carrying hazardous materials measured 1.9miles long
Machinery sat along the railroad tracks in February 2023 as cleanup efforts continued
All the misinformation out there, thats really causing a lot of issues, frankly for the people of this community.
Many of East Palestines residents are still reporting respiratory problems, rashes or headaches, or say they feel ill whenever they return to the village not far from the Pennsylvania border.
At least several dozen havent returned to their homes, concerned about chemicals that may still be in the air and water.
Local resident Misti Allison told the Associated Press in February that her 8-year-old son Blake has asked whether he is going to die from living at their home, or whether one of the really bad nosebleeds hes started having will ever stop.
I remember once he jumped in a puddle, and he stopped and looked at me and said, "Is vinyl chloride in this puddle?" And that is just so sad, said Allison, who testified before Congress last spring about the derailment.
Its really robbed our children of some of their childhood, and hopefully not more than just that.
Experts say it will likely take years and extensive research to understand the derailment’s health implications. They note it’s simply not possible to say yet how many cancers or chronic respiratory conditions might develop down the road.
Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw made a rare appearance in East Palestine, Ohio, last year
About 50 cars, including 10 carrying hazardous materials, derailed in a fiery crash in East Palestine at about 9pm on Friday, February 3 2023
Shaw insisted that the plume of black smoke that was released after a controlled explosion on February 6 2023 proved it was a success
Dr. Beatrice Golomb said she’s already seen people with symptoms similar to health problems military veterans developed after working around toxic burn pits during the Gulf War, but that it’s hard to predict what might develop in East Palestine because there isn’t good research on the chemicals that spilled.
We don’t have good data on the individual chemicals and their human impact, and we certainly don’t have good data on the combined impact, said Golomb, who is based at the University of California San Diego.
More than 176,000 tons of contaminated soil and over 44 million gallons of tainted water were removed from the area around the derailment last year. That work was largely done in October, and crews are now replacing the soil.
Norfolk Southern has promised to spend $25 million refurbishing the town’s park and another $4.3 million to upgrade its water treatment system — things East Palestine would likely struggle to afford itself. The railroad is spending another $20 million to build a regional training center for first responders to help prepare them to deal with the kind of hazardous materials that spilled in this derailment.
The railroad has also created a fund to compensate homeowners for any lost value if they sell and promised to create funds to help pay for any water contamination or health problems that develop down the road. Details of those funds are still being negotiated with state and federal authorities who say they are holding Norfolk Southern accountable for the disaster.
