A class action lawsuit has been filed against CSX after a Kentucky train derailment just before Thanksgiving exposed area residents to harmful chemicals and gases.
The chemical irritant acrolein is known to cause breathing problems, eye and nose irritation, and may damage the linings of the lungs, researchers warn.
The derailment spilled hot asphalt and molten sulfur into the Yellowstone River.
The company has not said whether the $387 million includes legal fees from a growing number of train derailment lawsuits
EPA investigators are monitoring the local air quality due concerns linked to ethanol fires which resulted from the train derailment.
Over the last two years, a series of train accidents involving Norfolk Southern have led to massive derailments, chemical spills and employee deaths, the NTSB warns.
Area residents filed a class action against Norfolk Southern, seeking compensatory damages and medical monitoring for anyone within 30 miles of the train derailment
Norfolk Southern put profits ahead of public safety, resulting in the release of over 1 million gallons of hazardous chemicals during the train derailment, the lawsuit claims
Acrolein has been linked to dizzines, headaches and nausea, and could lead to unconsciousness and death at high concentrations.
Union leaders say workers were made to work at the Norfolk Southern toxic train derailment site without proper personal protective equipment, even after they began reporting illnesses.
