(NewsInsights.org) – A Norfolk Southern train derailed just outside East Palestine, Ohio, on February 3, 2023. More than 100,000 gallons of vinyl chloride and other flammable chemicals spilled from ruptured tanks, and authorities decided to contain the spill using a controlled burn, potentially causing an even deadlier long-term hazard for the local community. On January 31, the White House announced President Joe Biden would finally visit East Palestine in February, more than a year after the devastating accident. In response, Mayor Trent Conaway criticized Biden’s choices during interviews with media outlets.
Conaway admitted to ABC News that he invited Biden to visit the town to help answer long-term festering health and business concerns because he was doing “what’s best for the people.” However, the mayor also told Fox News Digital that while the president was always welcome to visit the town, “I don’t know what he would do here now.”
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has repeatedly ducked questions about when the president might visit East Palestine since the tragedy occurred. She has deferred timing to world events or simply answered that Biden would visit at a more appropriate time when he can best help the community’s people. So far, the White House hasn’t announced an exact date in February for the visit.
When media sources asked Conaway, a self-described “red as they come” Republican, his idea about the best timing for the visit, he quipped, “the best time for him to come would be February of 2025 when he is on his book tour.” Conaway isn’t alone in his resentment toward Biden and the administration. Several East Palestine citizens have expressed feeling forgotten and snubbed as if their disaster ranked less critical than the fires in Hawaii or the hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, and fires that struck other US communities.
In fact, Biden never declared East Palestine a federal disaster because the government is holding Norfolk Southern and its insurance companies accountable for all damages to homes and businesses, job losses, environmental remediation, and health consequences. However, some residents are only now beginning to receive payments.
On the same day that the White House announced Biden’s impending visit to East Palestine, it released a fact sheet addressing the administration’s whole-of-government response to the tragedy and steps it has taken to ensure the safety and support of residents in and around the town. Yet, residents remain skeptical, worried that a visit and lip service are simply election-year ploys to win votes and legitimacy.
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