TOXIC RAILWAY SUIT

Feds hit ‘derail’

The Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Norfolk Southern Railway Company on Thursday following the disastrous Feb. 3 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

Court documents reveal the civil suit on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency is seeking damages for alleged violations to the Clean Water Act due to the pollutants released in the aftermath of the derailment.

Included in the filing is an aerial photograph provided by Norfolk Southern, which shows the derailed train cars and labels the substances contained in each one.

The incident forced residents to evacuate their homes while fires burned for days and plumes of smoke billowed overhead.

It prompted widespread rancor over the government’s perceived indifference to the situation.

East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway, in particular, called a surprise visit to Ukraine by President Biden “the biggest slap in the face” as the town struggled to learn more about its new reality.

“That tells you right now he doesn’t care about us,” Conaway told Fox News’ Jesse Watters at the time.

“He can send every agency he wants to, but I found out this morning that he was in Ukraine giving millions of dollars away to people over there and not to us . . . on Presidents’ Day in our country, so I’m furious,” Conaway said.

Almost two months after the derailment, residents are also still grappling with mysterious medical side effects of the widespread toxicity.

“Doctors say I definitely have the chemicals in me, but there’s no one in town who can run the toxicological tests to find out which ones they are,” resident Wade Lovett told The Post in late February.

“My voice sounds like Mickey Mouse. My normal voice is low. It’s hard to breathe, especially at night. My chest hurts so much at night I feel like I’m drowning. I cough up phlegm a lot. I lost my job because the doctor won’t release me to go to work,” Lovett said.