The White House plans to use the visit to urge lawmakers to pass federal railway safety legislation that stalled in Congress after a Norfolk Southern train derailed on Feb. 3, 2023, spilling dangerous chemicals, including vinyl chloride, and raising health concerns throughout the area. The entire freight rail industry drew heavy scrutiny, and the spotlight prompted a group of lawmakers to sponsor the bipartisan Railway Safety Act, which aimed to strengthen safety requirements, improve train inspections and increase penalties on rail companies for wrongdoing. In May, the bill sailed through the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, but it has gone nowhere since.

With any disaster affecting a reeling community — especially a rural one with fewer resources — security for a presidential visit in an incident’s immediate aftermath is challenging, so the White House will sometimes delay a trip depending on the conditions on the ground. But soon after the East Palestine derailment, some local officials began to criticize the Biden administration for the lack of a presidential visit. Months later, the village’s mayor, Trent Conaway, whose position is nonpartisan, endorsed Trump in the 2024 election. 

The White House has repeatedly highlighted that the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies were on the ground in hours after the derailment and that teams went door to door in the community to check on residents. Biden issued an executive order requiring Norfolk Southern to pay for any long-term cleanup efforts. In September, he issued another executive order calling for the appointment of a coordinator for long-term recovery efforts.

At a White House briefing this week, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden was traveling to East Palestine at the mayor’s invitation. Conaway didn’t respond to requests for comment.

“The president has always said when the time is right and when it made sense for him to go, he would go,” Jean-Pierre said. “This administration is continuing to make sure that Norfolk Southern is held accountable, and we want to make sure that we support the community as it moves forward.”

In a recent interview, Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw said the rail company was investing tens of millions of dollars in the community, though some residents said that wasn’t enough.

Timothea Deeter, 27, lives with her parents, her sister and her sister’s boyfriend in a home about a mile and a half from the site. In the derailment’s immediate aftermath, they moved to her brother’s home but came back once the evacuation orders were lifted. The family continues to drink bottled water but gave up on using it for showering and brushing their teeth because they couldn’t keep up with the cost. Deeter, a member of a local advocacy group, River Valley Organizing, hopes Biden’s visit is more than a photo-op.

“I’m glad he’s coming,” she said. “But if he’s going to come here, he needs to do something. You can’t just come and take a picture when we’ve needed aid for a year. He’s been aware of it. He needs to come and address our concerns.”

Some residents have asked the federal government to test the air in their homes, but the EPA has said it’s not necessary. The EPA has said that since the derailment, it has collected more than 45,000 air, water and soil samples and that ongoing monitoring shows that residents aren’t at risk.

In a report Wednesday, the EPA said more than 176,000 tons of contaminated soil and 49 million gallons of contaminated liquid have been shipped off-site for proper disposal.

Daniel Winston, a co-executive director of River Valley Organizing, is among those who want the EPA to mandate indoor air quality testing.

“We don’t know what the health and environmental effects will be,” he said, adding that he hopes the federal government provides long-term health care and financial resources to the community. 

“We’re glad that the president is showing up,” Winston said. “I don’t think he took too long to go.”

Winston directed his frustration not at the White House but at Congress for failing to pass the railway safety legislation.

“Washington is still Washington,” he said. “Politics is still politics.”

Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You May Also Like

Over 50 hospitalized after Christmas Eve bus crash in British Columbia

Dozens of people were taken to hospital late Christmas Eve after a…

CNN’s New Boss Overcame Brush With Death, Helped Create ‘Morning Joe’ and Revived Stephen Colbert

On an April morning in 2010, the future leader of CNN heard…

Meatpacker JBS Removed At-Risk Workers from Plant Amid Covid-19 Surge

Meatpacking company JBS USA Holdings Inc. said it has removed hundreds of…

Months after Philadelphia banned ski masks in public spaces, there’s still no plan to enforce the new law

PHILADELPHIA — For Leem Washington, ski masks aren’t just a fashion accessory…