President Joe Biden will visit East Palestine, Ohio, one year after a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in the town of roughly 5,000 people.
A White House official confirmed to Fox News on Wednesday that Biden will travel to East Palestine in February to mark the first anniversary of the disaster and to discuss his administration’s “comprehensive, whole-of-government response” to the Norfolk Southern train derailment and the subsequent fallout.
“In February, President Biden will travel to East Palestine, Ohio, to meet with residents impacted by the Norfolk Southern train derailment and assess the progress that his Administration has helped deliver in coordination with state and local leaders to protect the community and hold Norfolk Southern accountable,” a Biden administration official said, according to The New York Post.
Many East Palestine residents were forced to evacuate their homes after the derailment as the toxic chemicals burned, releasing poisonous fumes into the air, ground, and water. After the derailment on February 3, Norfolk Southern was sued by East Palestine residents, the state of Ohio, and the federal government.
The president has been criticized for never stepping foot in East Palestine even as his chief political rival, former President Donald Trump, visited the town after the disaster and bought McDonald’s for residents who came out to see him. After the White House announced Biden would finally come to the town, some East Palestine residents weren’t thrilled to hear the news.
East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway told Fox News that in “my personal opinion the best time for him to come would be February of 2025 when he is on his book tour.”
“The President is always welcome to our town. That being said, I don’t know what he would do here now,” Conaway added.
An East Palestine business owner said in an interview with “Fox & Friends” that Biden is only visiting the town now to “check it off the books.”
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“The American people have awakened to realize that the leader of our country did not show up to the greatest catastrophe of 2023. And now he’s going to show up because it is an election year,” said DJ Yokley. “President Trump came and supported us when he didn’t have to … Now it’s, ‘Hey we have to go visit East Palestine because we haven’t done that yet — and check it off the books.’”
Trump also slammed Biden as well after learning he would visit East Palestine for the first time a year after the disaster.
“With the World blowing up around us, with the Middle East on FIRE, Biden has finally decided to visit East Palestine, Ohio, a year late, and only to develop some political credibility because EVERYTHING else he has done has been such a DISASTER,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “I know those great people, I was there when it counted, and his reception won’t be a warm one. Worst President in History!”
Last week, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was questioned by CNN anchor Jake Tapper about why the Biden administration still had not approved Ohio Governor Mike DeWine’s request for a disaster declaration, which could unlock additional resources such as health screenings to residents are not being heeded by the federal government.
Buttigieg responded, saying he doesn’t “know all the legalities of the emergency management process.”
“I do know what we can do as a department to make sure that railroads are safer,” Buttigieg added. “We’ve been taking action on everything from focused inspection of railroads, to making sure that there’s better hazardous material-related regulations, to just investing in better railroad infrastructure.”