28 February 2023- Senator Doug Mastriano, chairman of the Pennsylvania Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee are convening a meeting again. This meeting, following the field meeting they held in Beaver County, PA, will include a vote to subpoena Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw into testifying at a future hearing about the company’s response to the February 3rd train derailment and wreck in East Palestine, Ohio.
Found during the field meeting, Norfolk Southern allegedly made the call to ignite dangerous chemicals, namely vinyl chloride, from several of the railcars on February 5th. The Committee looks to find the ways these actions negatively affected the health and safety of nearby Pennsylvania residents.
The meeting to vote on the subpoena is set to convene on Wednesday, March 1st at 9:30am in Room 8E-A of the East wing of the Capitol Complex in Harrisburg.
If the subpoena is approved, the committee would become the first legislative body in the United States to subpoena the CEO in the aftermath of the disaster.
The Committee, headed by Mastriano, held a field meeting in Monaca, Beaver county earlier this month to hear from residents, experts, and local emergency personnel. Alan Shaw was invited to attend the hearing, but never showed.
