“If the company fails to complete any actions as ordered by EPA, the Agency will immediately step in, conduct the necessary work, and then seek to compel Norfolk Southern to pay triple the cost.”
The order makes Norfolk Southern clean up the soil and water, pay for EPA’s work and show up at public meetings. Triple damages is the stick, and EPA only gets it if the railroad fails first. Residents get house cleaning offered as “an additional layer of reassurance.” The railroad that poisoned the town now writes the workplan, and EPA approves it.