Ohio governor: Norfolk Southern needs to create fund for health care bills

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine says a multimillion-dollar fund needs to be set up to pay the medical expenses of the victims impacted by Norfolk Southern's toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio – and the railroad must pay for it.

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"I think where this clearly goes … to assure people that their concerns about the long run will in fact be taken care of — a year from now, five years from now, ten years from now — we'll have to end up with a fund, and the railroad is going to have to establish that fund in conjunction with officials," the Republican told "FOX & Friends" Thursday. "Ultimately, that will be supervised by a court."

DeWine noted Norfolk Southern has already been hit with several class-action lawsuits from residents of the area where the derailment occurred last month near the Pennsylvania border, and said the railway will ultimately end up in federal court over the disaster.

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The train derailment with 50 rail cars, 10 of which were carrying vinyl chloride, caused hazardous chemicals to spill onto the ground and sent a plume of smoke into the air.

In the chemical spill aftermath, residents living within a one-mile radius were evacuated and many have reported health symptoms like sore throats, headaches and other respiratory issues. Workers cleaning up the site have reported getting sick, too.

DeWine said he did not think Norfolk Southern was "as cooperative as they could have been" in the first day or two after the incident that occurred Feb. 3, but credited the company with paying "every bill that we've submitted to them or that, to our knowledge, had been submitted."

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
NSC	NORFOLK SOUTHERN CORP.	240.83	+4.61	+1.95%

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The governer emphasized the fund for covering the health care costs of people impacted by the derailment will be "significant … in the millions of dollars," and that Norfolk Southern will be forced to set it up if the company does not do so voluntarily.

"If you look at what has happened in other rail and other big environmental disasters, some much, much bigger than this, it always goes to a fund," the governor told FOX. "And that's how you protect people."

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Norfolk Southern did not immediately respond to FOX Business' request for comment.