Yeah it's insane. I have seen some overly pessimistic assessments, which is fine as long as people don't overplay their hand when radicalizing people, eg claiming the ecosystem death of the entire Ohio River watershed is compelling but not remotely realistic and could cause reputation loss. Just because it's not a doomsday event doesn't mean it's not gravely seriously, it's entirely reasonable to attribute every out of the norm event, plant, or animal death/illness in the region to this disaster in the mean time until it can be demonstrated to not be the cause.

In a reasonable country the state would immediately sequester at least a quarter billion dollars from Norfolk Southern to finance a cleanup effort, permanent relocation of those nearby, or lifelong medical compensation should they opt to stay. Those responsible should also obviously stand trial, whatever role they played in prior deregulation as a lobbyist/executive of a lobbying firm/bureaucrat either elected or appointed, and of course anyone at Norfolk Southern whose actions could be seen as resulting in deferred maintenance or unsafe operation on the railways.

When it comes to crimes against society by amalgamations of humans, like corporations, you really have to aim for maximum punishment of those involved. It's far too easy to deflect and spread blame when something goes wrong and a large organization is responsible. They have to pay, otherwise nothing will ever change.