President Joe Biden on Thursday said he will travel to East Palestine, Ohio, “at some point” as residents continue to fear for their health and safety after the derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals last month.
After attending a luncheon of Senate Democrats at the US Capitol, Biden told reporters that he had been in contact with officials responding to the crisis in the town near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border.
“I’ve talked to every official in Ohio, Democrat and Republican, consistently, just like in Pennsylvania,” Biden said. “I laid out a little in there what I think is the answer, and we put it together. And we will implement a lot of legislation here.
“And I’ll be out there at some point,” he added.
Last week, Biden told reporters that he had no plans to visit East Palestine “at this time.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre did not share any other details during Thursday’s briefing.
Two Ohio senators, Sherrod Brown (D) and JD Vance (R), along with Sens. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Josh Hawley ( R -Mo.), Wednesday introduced legislation that includes new safety rules for railroad companies to prevent future train disasters.
“Through this legislation, Congress has a real opportunity to ensure that what happened in East Palestine never happens again,” Vance said. “We owe it to every American to have peace of mind that their communities are protected from disasters like this.”
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg became the highest-ranking administration official to visit East Palestine last week. He called on “national political figures who have decided to get involved in the East Palestinian situation” to work with the department to prevent future disasters.
Republicans, as well as Sens. Joe Manchin (DW.Va.), has been arrested in the train derailment for criticizing Buttigieg to visit 20 days after the accident.
Former President Donald Trump also visited the derailment site last week, along with Vance, while campaigning for the White House in 2024.
In an interview with ABC’s David Muir last month, Biden defended the administration’s handling of the disaster.
“Within two hours of the derailment, the EPA was there. Within two hours. Every major agency in the United States government that has anything to do with the rail and or cleanup was there, and there,” he said.
Meanwhile, East Palestinian residents on Thursday said they are still dealing with health issues during a town hall with officials from the Environmental Protection Agency and a sole representative from Norfolk Southern.
The Norfolk Southern train that derailed and caught fire on Feb. 3 was carrying toxic and flammable materials, including hundreds of thousands of pounds of vinyl chloride, a plastic component that has been linked to cancer.
Alan Shaw, CEO of Norfolk Southern, will appear before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee next week.