JD Vance visits East Palestine on 2-year anniversary of toxic Ohio train derailment: This community will not be forgotten

Vice President JD Vance vowed Monday that the Trump administration will “finish the cleanup” of East Palestine, Ohio, during a visit to mark the 2-year anniversary of a toxic train derailment. “We are in it for the long haul in East Palestine,” Vance, a former US senator from Ohio, said in remarks from the town’s fire station. The vice president noted that President Trump wanted him to visit East Palestine and deliver the message that the community “will not be forgotten” and “will not be left behind.” “What does that mean? Well, one thing it means is that, of course, the environmental cleanup has to get done,” Vance declared, calling it a “tragedy and a shame” that the cleanup wasn’t completed during the Biden administration. The vice president also signaled that the Trump administration is committed to ensuring East Palestine’s long term economic development. “We know that a lot of local businesses and a lot of local people lost a lot when that train disaster happened,” Vance said. On Feb.3, 2023, a Norfolk Southern freight train with several cars carrying hazardous materials derailed while passing through the 4,700-person town about an hour west of Pittsburgh, spilling its cargo into the soil. The disaster was made worse three days later, when officials ordered a controlled burn of five tank cars filled with toxic vinyl chloride out of unfounded fears that the tanks would explode. The burn resulted in a dark cloud forming over the town and sparked fear from residents about the long-term health effects of the disaster. The National Transportation Safety Board later determined that the burn operation was unnecessary because the tank cars were already starting to cool off and wouldn’t have exploded. More than 177,000 tons of soil and over 67 million gallons of wastewater have been hauled away from East Palestine as part of an ongoing cleanup that has cost Norfolk Southern more than $1 billion.Vance’s visit coincided w...