EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — East Palestine and Norfolk Southern reached a settlement nearly two years after the train derailment, where 11 train cars caught fire that were carrying hazardous materials.

What You Need To Know

  • East Palestine and Norfolk Southern reached a $22 million settlement 

  • There will no longer be a safety training center built in East Palestine

  • The 15 acres of land for that training center will be used however East Palestine sees fit 

Jess Conard, an East Palestine resident, said it was a terrifying experience.

“We’ve been impacted by this in different ways. Rather that be property damage or health impacts or just general stress from having the changes come into this town,” Conard said.

The Village of East Palestine released a statement about the new settlement that in part reads, “Provides the Village with $22 million from Norfolk Southern to be used for priorities identified by the Village in connection with the train derailment.”

Spectrum News reached out to the city, but said they are not commenting any further. Conard isn’t fully on board with the settlement.

“East Palestine is able to set a precedent for when this does happen again, because it will and I don’t think a $22 million settlement is a very good precedent to set,” Conard said.

East Palestine now won’t be getting a regional safety training center that was supposed to be the new home of fire and police departments and other emergency services.

The settlement announcement said, “Norfolk Southern and the Village have mutually agreed that the creation and operation of the proposed regional safety training center in the Village is not feasible and, as a result, work will not proceed with building the center.”

Misti Allison, an advocate for the training center, said the training center was something the community was excited about.

“Something like that first responder training facility was going to provide a sustainable economic development plan for East Palestine and its very disappointing and really devastating for the plans for the economy because it would’ve brought a lot of individuals to town, it could’ve provided a lot of jobs for community members and I’d just like to know more details on how this was decided,” Allison said.

The 15 acres of land that were allocated for the training center will still be given to the city for whatever the city wants to use for it. Allison hopes they consult the residents of East Palestine about it.

“I would really encourage the village and its leadership to host some sessions with community members to maybe have a town hall provide more information about why the first responder training facility isn’t going to be there and then to workshop some ideas of what could be there and what could be done with that space,” Allison said.

Allison expressed the concerns she still has on the long-term effects of the derailment.

“East Palestine is a very strong and resilient community, but the trauma of this disaster is something we’re going to have to live with for years to come,” she said.