Biden will visit East Palestine Feb. 16 to meet with victims of train derailment
WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden will visit East Palestine on Feb. 16, nearly a year after the derailment of a Norfolk Southern train derailment devastated the Ohio community, after receiving an invitation from the village mayor.
White House officials emphasized that Biden had waited until the timing was right to visit the town.
“The mayor and community leaders invited the president to meet with East Palestine residents, and also assess the recovery progress that’s been going on for some time now,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Wednesday. “With this invitation – very recent – and the current status of the recovery, we felt that the time was right.”
Biden has faced criticism for not visiting the site earlier, while his chief political rival, former President Donald Trump, traveled to the village within weeks of the accident.
The 38-car freight train derailed on Feb. 3 in the Columbiana County town carrying hazardous materials, and burned for days before authorities were able to contain the site, releasing toxic chemicals into the community.
Feds say they were at East Palestine ‘within hours’ of the derailment
Speaking with reporters, Michael Regan, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, emphasized that trained emergency response personnel were on the ground within hours. The EPA has collected over 45,000 air, water and soil samples from the village, Regan said, and the agency is “confident” that the village drinking water is safe.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg also underscored the need for Congress to pass bipartisan legislation proposed in the aftermath of the accident, called the Railway Safety Act, that would tighten safety restrictions on trains carrying hazardous materials.
“Almost one year since the Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine, it’s long past time to get this done,” Buttigieg said.
Who has helped in the recovery effort?
Several other agencies have been involved in the recovery effort, including the CDC, FDA, Department of Agriculture and Department of Health and Human Services.
The National Transportation Safety Board has an ongoing, independent investigation into the incident, officials said. But the Biden administration says it has held Norfolk Southern directly responsible by ordering the company to clean up the disaster site and pay for the federal response.
Administration officials also said they had still not determined whether a major disaster declaration was warranted to unleash additional federal resources aid the recovery. “The needs assessment is underway,” one official said.
Jean-Pierre, Regan and Buttigieg said that the administration has been providing assistance to the community since news first emerged of the disaster.
“On Day One, within hours of the derailment, we were on the ground at the president’s direction,” Jean-Pierre said. “We’re still on the ground today.”
She would not say whether the president would be willing to drink the community’s drinking water.
This story was originally published January 31, 2024 at 7:48 AM.