Making his long-anticipated trip to East Palestine, Ohio, President Joe Biden pledged to hold freight company Norfolk Southern accountable, calling the disastrous train derailment that rocked the small community more than a year ago an “act of greed.”
“While there are acts of god, this was an act of greed,” Biden said on Friday standing alongside Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan and East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway. “This was 100% preventable.”
While the president promised his administration would not go home “no matter what until this job is done,” and announced new grants to study the impacts of the crash, he did not veer into the criticism he has received for waiting more than a year to visit the site.
The 2023 crash led to 51 derailed train cars, 11 of which carried hazardous chemicals used in manufacturing plastics, petrolium, paints and more, thousands of gallons of which spilled out, contaminating the area. Controlled burns of vinyl chloride — a chemical precursor to PVC — kept five tank cars from exploding, but dispersed toxic gases into the air.
“There’s a lot more to do,” Biden said Friday. “A vast majority has been done but we are going to stay until the very end until every deed is met.”
Despite the scrutiny for the timing of the trip, the president sought to highlight that members of his administration were on the ground within hours after the crash as well as the executive order he signed in September that requires Norfolk Southern to address lingering impacts of the derailment on the community and fund the clean-up.
The president also called for the passage of the Railway Safety Act — legislation co-sponsored by Ohio Sens. Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican J.D. Vance — which was created after the East Palestine derailment. The bill would set new safety rules for trains carrying toxic materials and require train crews to continue to have two people. However, it is stalled in Congress.
The president started his trip on Friday meeting with first responders in Darlington, Pa., before making his way to East Palestine, where he received a briefing on recovery efforts.
Last year's fiery train derailment and toxic chemical spill shook the Ohio community, displacing residents and leaving many concerned about lingering health impacts. Biden's absence from the site in the aftermath of the disaster drew no shortage of criticism from Republicans who have blasted him for not doing more sooner.
Nonetheless, speaking after Biden on Friday, the EPA's Regan sought to paint the last year as a “year of action,” pledging that Biden has “never forgotten” the community.
The EPA has engaged in an intense cleanup and says the community’s air, water and soil are now safe.
The agency has removed more than 176,000 tons of hazardous waste. More than 49 million gallons of water, rainfall and snowmelt were removed or treated. The EPA is also collecting 2,500 samples to ensure that the cleanup has succeeded.
Norfolk Southern said it has spent roughly $1.1 billion in its response to the derailment. Since the fire began on February 3, 2023, and caused hazardous chemicals to mix, the company says it has invested $103.2 million in the community, including $21 million distributed to residents.
The White House has said Biden has been waiting to make the stop “when the time is right" and noted Friday’s trip came specifically at the invitation of East Palestine’s mayor, a conservative who does not support Biden.
“President Biden, your long-awaited visit to our village today allows us to focus on the things we agree with: acknowledging this disaster should have never happened, addressing the long-term health concerns and economic growth of the village and ensure this never happens again to another community,” Conaway said.
Former President Donald Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination visited weeks after the derailment last year. The former president sharply criticized Biden’s trip when it was first announced, writing on X that it is “a year late, and only to develop some political credibility because EVERYTHING else he has done has been such a DISASTER. I know those great people, I was there when it counted, and his reception won’t be a warm one.”
Trump won nearly 72% of the vote in Ohio’s Columbiana County, which includes East Palestine.
The Associated Press contributed to this report