Rail company <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/entirely-avoidable-ohio-sues-norfolk-southern-for-train-disaster" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Norfolk Southern</a> doubled its estimate on the cost of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/east-palestine-residents-could-see-long-term-health-risks-from-highly-toxic-chemicals-analysis-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">East Palestine</a>, Ohio, train derailment disaster, now saying the associated costs will be $803 million. 
Executives said the majority of the cost is from the environmental cleanup as crews continue to work to remove the hazardous chemicals released when tankers carrying them derailed six months ago, The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/norfolk-southern-nsc-q2-earnings-report-8b598b5b" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. Norfolk Southern recorded a $416 million charge stemming from the East Palestine disaster Thursday as part of its second-quarter earnings. Earlier this year, the rail giant announced a $387 million charge, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/norfolk-southern-railroad-earnings-east-palestine-derailment-4a3d912b8cb4e66e1613e44220aba4c4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the Associated Press. 
Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw said he is “proud of the way our team rose to the challenge” as his company seeks to help with cleanup efforts and improve the safety of the railroad.
“We are delivering on our commitment to recover service quickly,” Shaw said. “We’re delivering on our commitment to make a safe railroad even safer. We’re delivering on our commitment to address quality of life issues for our hard-working craft railroaders. And we continue to deliver on our commitment to make things right for the people of East Palestine and the surrounding communities.”
The company’s profit from railway operations dropped by more than half in the most recent quarter compared to the previous year, and overall revenue dropped 8% to $3 billion, according to Norfolk Southern. The company’s profit dropped to $356 million ($1.56 per share) from $819 million ($3.45 per share) a year ago. Norfolk Southern estimated that without the derailment costs it would’ve earned $2.95 per share in the quarter.  
Norfolk Southern’s $803 million estimate does not include money to compensate East Palestine residents for any <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/east-palestine-residents-could-see-long-term-health-risks-from-highly-toxic-chemicals-analysis-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">long-term health effects</a> related to the chemical spill. The company opted to burn several cars filled with the dangerous chemical vinyl chloride over fears that the cars would explode. The fire sent a cloud of smoke that remained over the town of 4,700 for days. Nearly six months after the disaster, chemicals from the derailment appear to still be present in a creek as trucks continue to haul contaminated water and soil out of the town, WSJ <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/ohio-train-derailment-norfolk-southern-update-cb5815ee" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. 
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“From the beginning, we’ve been clear that we would be in town for the long haul,” said Connor Spielmaker, a Norfolk Southern spokesman. “We don’t have a timeline to provide as far as when it’ll be ‘job done,’ but we will be there until it is.”
Earlier this month, Governor Mike DeWine (R-OH) <a href="https://governor.ohio.gov/media/news-and-media/governor-dewine-requests-presidential-disaster-declaration-for-east-palestine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">asked</a> President Joe Biden to issue a major disaster declaration order, which would allow the town to receive federal aid in the cleanup, but the Biden administration still has not made a decision.

East Palestine Train Disaster

Norfolk Southern Says Cost Of East Palestine Derailment Has Doubled As Chemical Cleanup Continues

Norfolk Southern Says Cost Of East Palestine Derailment Has Doubled As Chemical Cleanup Continues 6 Months Later

East Palestine

Norfolk Southern

Ohio

Ohio Train Disaster

The White House claimed on Wednesday that President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/joe-biden">Joe Biden</a> still plans to visit <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/east-palestine">East Palestine</a>, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/ohio">Ohio</a>, five months after the Norfolk Southern <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/ohio-train-disaster">train derailment disaster</a>.
But White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to share a date when <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?529128-1/white-house-daily-briefing">a reporter raised a question</a> about a visit, noting that Biden has &#8220;done a lot of travel in recent weeks and months&#8221; to other places.
&#8220;So, I&#8217;m just going to repeat what the president said,&#8221; Jean-Pierre said. &#8220;He will travel to the area, to East Palestine. Just don&#8217;t have anything to share on travel or upcoming dates that he&#8217;ll be there. But the president said it, he&#8217;s going to go. So he will go. Once we have a date, we&#8217;ll certainly share that.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
“Why has the president not made the visit [to East Palestine] and at this point, is he just not going to?”
Karine Jean-Pierre: “He will travel&#8230;Just don’t have anything to share on travel” <a href="https://t.co/YkYvB59GyL">pic.twitter.com/YkYvB59GyL</a>
&mdash; RNC Research (@RNCResearch) <a href="https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1676667347942113280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 5, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
A Norfolk Southern freight train derailed on February 3 while passing through the small town of East Palestine, a village near Ohio&#8217;s border with Pennsylvania. Locals soon began to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/unlike-anything-i-have-ever-seen-ohio-first-responder-says-residents-suffer-from-health-issues-after-train-derailment?%3Futm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=dwnewstwitter">raise concerns</a> about health and environmental threats posed by a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/air-quality-following-controlled-burn-at-ohio-derailment-site-basically-what-it-was-before-train-crash-governor-claims" target="_blank" rel="noopener">controlled burn</a> of toxic chemicals at the crash site meant to deter a large explosion.
Weeks later, East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway <a href="https://www.wlwt.com/article/east-palestine-mayor-biden-ukraine-train-derailment/43012110#">described</a> Biden visiting Ukraine instead of his community as &#8220;the biggest slap in the face that tells you right now he doesn&#8217;t care about us.&#8221; After Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pete-buttigieg-provides-answer-on-why-he-did-not-visit-east-palestine-sooner">traveled to the derailment area</a> in late February — one day behind former President Donald Trump paying a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/you-are-not-forgotten-trump-visits-ohio-town-impacted-by-train-crash-hits-biden-over-lack-of-attention-toward-community">visit</a> to East Palestine — Biden said in early March that <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/biden-visit-east-palestine-point-after-toxic-train/story?id=97587626#:~:text=President%20Joe%20Biden%20said%20Thursday,Senate%20Majority%20Leader%20Chuck%20Schumer.">&#8220;at some point&#8221;</a> he would make the trip to the town.
Jean-Pierre also said on Wednesday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency is reviewing <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/ohio">Ohio</a> Governor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/mike-dewine">Mike DeWine</a>&#8216;s request for a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ohio-governor-asks-biden-for-east-palestine-disaster-declaration-150-days-after-train-derailment">major disaster declaration</a> and she stressed that Norfolk Southern was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/21/us/ohio-epa-cleanup-norfolk-southern.html">ordered</a> by the Environmental Protection Agency to pay for cleanup costs.
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&#8220;The EPA is making them pay so that the taxpayers don&#8217;t have to pay for their mess,&#8221; Jean-Pierre said. &#8220;And so we&#8217;ve been very clear about that. The EPA has been on top of that. And so when it comes to Norfolk Southern, they have met their terms of the order to date and there are stiff penalties if they do not.&#8221;

Joe Biden

White House Insists Biden Still Plans To Visit East Palestine Five Months After Train Derailment

Disasters

Karine Jean-Pierre

U.S.

White House

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/ohio">Ohio</a> Governor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/mike-dewine">Mike DeWine</a> requested a major disaster declaration on Monday from the Biden administration for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/east-palestine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">East Palestine,</a> 150 days after the Norfolk Southern train derailment.
In a <a href="https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/OHIOGOVERNOR/2023/07/03/file_attachments/2544385/REQUEST%20FOR%20PRESIDENTIAL%20DISASTER%20DECLARATION%207.3.2023.pdf">letter</a> to President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/joe-biden">Joe Biden</a>, the state&#8217;s Republican governor explained that the deadline to make the request was Monday, after the Federal Emergency Management Agency refused to grant an extension, while the state &#8220;continues to evaluate long term needs&#8221; stemming from the early February train incident. DeWine added that assistance to the community from Norfolk Southern, which <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/doj-epa-unveil-lawsuit-against-norfolk-southern-over-east-palestine-train-crash">faces</a> <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2023-06-05/norfolk-southern-says-east-palestine-residents-suit-barred-by-us-law">litigation</a> over the derailment and just announced last Friday that it would <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/norfolk-southern-sues-rail-chemical-cos-over-east-palestine-cleanup-2023-07-03/">sue rail car owners</a> over cleanup costs, is not guaranteed.
&#8220;The possibility remains that the voluntary support provided by Norfolk Southern could at some point in the future cease, and this Declaration is needed to ensure that the State and Federal government use all resources available to step in and provide the community with needed assistance,&#8221; DeWine wrote.
Recently released <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/22/us/politics/train-derailment-east-palestine-ntsb.html">documents</a> from the National Transportation Safety Board show the freight train derailed on February 3 while passing through the small town of East Palestine, a village near Ohio&#8217;s border with Pennsylvania, after a car&#8217;s wheel set fell off, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/22/us/politics/train-derailment-east-palestine-ntsb.html">according to The New York Times</a>. Although no one was killed in the derailment, local residents were soon terrified by the health and environmental threats posed by the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/air-quality-following-controlled-burn-at-ohio-derailment-site-basically-what-it-was-before-train-crash-governor-claims" target="_blank" rel="noopener">controlled burn</a> of toxic chemicals that spilled out of tanker cars.
DeWine, who noted that officials had determined a &#8220;controlled release&#8221; would be the safest course of action meant to &#8220;avoid the dangers of explosion,&#8221; said that the clean-up of the site continues to this day, five months later.
&#8220;Residents continue to report medical conditions and are concerned that the air and water were impacted by the chemicals released during this incident,&#8221; the governor added. &#8220;This derailment and the subsequent controlled release were extraordinary events that continue to garner national media coverage.&#8221;
DeWine also said the state is still working to &#8220;identify current needs and evaluate the future impacts&#8221; the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/ohio-train-disaster">disaster</a> will have on individuals and the East Palestine community.
&#8220;In addition to the physical and mental health impacts, there have been economic impacts,&#8221; the governor wrote. &#8220;Homeowners and business have seen property value decline and loss of business as people are hesitant to come into the community.&#8221;

East Palestine train tracks

Ohio Governor Asks Biden For East Palestine Disaster Declaration 150 Days After Train Derailment

Mike DeWine

Residents impacted by the disastrous <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/east-palestine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">East Palestine</a>, Ohio, train derailment in February are continuing to criticize the government’s handling of the toxic fallout stemming from the train wreck. 
East Palestine locals created a group earlier this month called the Unity Council for the East Palestine Train Derailment Community, demanding that Governor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/mike-dewine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mike DeWine</a> (R-OH) declare an emergency over the derailment. With the July 3 deadline coming up for DeWine to make a move, many residents are still skeptical of the government&#8217;s response. 
“We want transparency and we want the freedom to choose, and we can’t be letting these corporations decide the fate of our lives anymore,” Hilary Flint, who helped form the Unity Council, <a href="https://www.thecentersquare.com/pennsylvania/article_a0019294-16b8-11ee-a501-43efcf088008.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> The Center Square. 
Some of the train cars, operated by Norfolk Southern, were <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/half-of-u-s-investigators-fell-ill-while-studying-east-palestine-train-derailment-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">carrying</a> vinyl chloride, a human carcinogen used to manufacture PVC, and formed massive plumes of black smoke visible throughout eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania after it was released via controlled burn. 
The group blasted DeWine in its petition for the governor to declare the aftermath of the 53-car train wreck an emergency. 
“To make matters worse, Governor DeWine has given control of the clean-up to Norfolk Southern – the same company responsible for the disaster – regarding testing and the financial aid process for impacted people and businesses. It’s not only a conflict of interest, it’s an insult to those affected, and Norfolk has left thousands without proper care,” the emergency petition <a href="https://only.one/act/east-palestine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. 
The petition says that many in the East Palestine community believe that they are in danger of being forgotten, and they don’t trust the government’s response to the disaster. 
“They’ve created such an environment of distrust with how they handled this in the beginning and continue to — and when I say ‘they,’ I mean Norfolk Southern, the government, any government agencies like the EPA,” Flint said.
DeWine’s press secretary, Dan Tierney, said that the emergency declaration would not be approved because Norfolk Southern was covering the financial burden of the derailment. 
“The FEMA program is designed as, essentially, an insurer of last resort for property damage,” Tierney told The Center Square. “Very early on, if we were hearing things where somebody wasn’t getting reimbursed for (a) hotel or per-diem food, we’d bring it to Norfolk Southern’s attention and they’d be paying for it.”
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Flint has not been satisfied with the government&#8217;s handling, saying that not enough tests were being conducted on homes impacted by the accident. 
“They can’t say there’s not property damage because they have not even gone into people’s homes to test for everything,” Flint said. “They’re testing for a very specific few chemicals when this was many chemicals.”

U.S.-OHIO-FREIGHT TRAIN-TOXIC CHEMICALS-DERAILMENT

‘Environment Of Distrust’: East Palestine Residents Slam Government Response To Train Disaster

Pennsylvania

The Norfolk Southern 100-car train derailment and subsequent toxic chemical fallout in East Palestine, Ohio, caused nearly half of the U.S. government investigators to experience symptoms of illness while studying the health impacts, authorities said.
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/31/health/ohio-train-derailment-cdc-team-symptoms/index.html">CNN</a> last week that seven of the 15-member crew, which included members of the Epidemic Intelligence Service, began feeling symptoms while surveying town residents&#8217; homes near the contaminated areas.
&#8220;Symptoms resolved for most team members later the same afternoon, and everyone resumed work on survey data collection within 24 hours,&#8221; a CDC spokesperson told the network. &#8220;Impacted team members have not reported ongoing health effects.&#8221;
Local and state authorities previously evacuated all residents within one mile of the February 3 derailment and started a controlled burn of substances on the vehicle. Five of those train cars emitted vinyl chloride, a human carcinogen used to manufacture PVC, and formed massive plumes of black smoke visible throughout eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. Residents have since raised the alarm over health symptoms they experienced after the controlled burn.
Before working from their hotels, some group members began experiencing sore throats, headaches, coughing, and nausea, which mirrored the symptoms reported by many of the town&#8217;s residents near the derailment site.
Federal officials did not disclose what caused investigators to experience such symptoms.
Two contractors from the Environmental Protection Agency out of 100 personnel working on the derailment also reported health symptoms after working in areas where the chemicals created strong odors.
The Ohio Department of Health published the results of <a href="https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/OHIOGOVERNOR/bulletins/34c4146?reqfrom=share">surveys</a> conducted at its East Palestine Health Assessment Clinic, plus door-to-door visits by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, four weeks after the chemical catastrophe permeated the town&#8217;s atmosphere.
The results showed more than half of the 168 After Chemical Exposure (ACE) community surveys reported headaches, anxiety, coughing, fatigue, and irritated skin after the derailment. However, the surveys did not indicate if the residents were exposed to harmful levels of chemicals or what caused their symptoms.
EPA officials, along with the Justice Department, announced a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/doj-epa-unveil-lawsuit-against-norfolk-southern-over-east-palestine-train-crash">lawsuit</a> on Friday against Norfolk Southern, seeking &#8220;penalties and injunctive relief for the unlawful discharge of pollutants, oil, and hazardous substances&#8221; under the Clean Water Act, as well as &#8220;declaratory judgment on liability for past and future costs&#8221; related to the incident under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act.
The complaint from the EPA and Justice Department said materials released from the train cars, such as vinyl chloride, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, Ethylhexyl acrylate, butyl acrylate, isobutylene, and benzene residue, have been &#8220;associated variously&#8221; with impaired fetal development, organ damage, cancers, and other health conditions with a sufficiently high degree of exposure. Yet, state and federal officials have repeatedly claimed that the air and water supplies in East Palestine are safe for residents.
Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw testified before Congress earlier this month regarding the derailment but made no specific promises regarding the firm&#8217;s commitment to handling economic and health fallout into the future.
Ben Zeisloft contributed to this report.

US-TRANSPORT-ACCIDENT-FIRE

Half Of U.S. Investigators Fell Ill While Studying East Palestine Train Derailment: Report

Half Of U.S. Investigators Fell Ill Studying East Palestine Train Derailment: Report

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/environmental-protection-agency-epa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Environmental Protection Agency</a> and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/department-of-justice" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Justice Department</a> officials announced a lawsuit on Friday against <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/norfolk-southern" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Norfolk Southern</a>, the company at the center of the <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/ohio-train-disaster" target="_blank" rel="noopener">train derailment</a> and subsequent <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/chemicals" target="_blank" rel="noopener">chemical</a> fallout in East Palestine, Ohio.
Local and state authorities previously evacuated all residents within one mile of the February 3 derailment and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/evacuation-ordered-ohio-governor-warns-major-explosion-could-send-shrapnel-a-mile-from-derailed-train" target="_blank" rel="noopener">started</a> a controlled burn of substances on the vehicle. Vinyl chloride, a human carcinogen used to manufacture PVC, was emitted from five train cars in the form of massive plumes of black smoke visible throughout eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. Residents have since raised the alarm over health symptoms they experienced after the controlled burn.
The two agencies filed a <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1577411/download" target="_blank" rel="noopener">complaint</a> seeking “penalties and injunctive relief for the unlawful discharge of pollutants, oil, and hazardous substances” under the Clean Water Act, as well as “declaratory judgment on liability for past and future costs” related to the incident under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act.
“When a Norfolk Southern train derailed last month in East Palestine, Ohio, it released toxins into the air, soil, and water, endangering the health and safety of people in surrounding communities,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-and-epa-file-complaint-against-norfolk-southern-unlawful-discharge" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>. “With this complaint, the Justice Department and the EPA are acting to pursue justice for the residents of East Palestine and ensure that Norfolk Southern carries the financial burden for the harm it has caused and continues to inflict on the community.”
The complaint from the EPA and Justice Department said materials released from the train cars, such as vinyl chloride, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate, butyl acrylate, isobutylene, and benzene residue, have been “associated variously” with impaired fetal development, organ damage, cancers, and other health conditions with a sufficiently high degree of exposure. State and federal officials have repeatedly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/this-is-disgusting-j-d-vance-scrapes-creek-bed-with-stick-after-train-crash-oily-substance-emerges-in-viral-video" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claimed</a> that the air and water supplies in East Palestine are safe for residents.
Researchers from Texas A&amp;M University and Carnegie Mellon University nevertheless found that nine chemicals present on the train have higher <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/east-palestine-residents-could-see-long-term-health-risks-from-highly-toxic-chemicals-analysis-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">concentrations</a> than normal in the town’s air and water supplies, posing the risk of long-term health complications to residents. Texas A&amp;M researcher Ivan Rusyn previously told The Daily Wire that environmental officials have not <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/researcher-worries-government-is-wrongly-declaring-safety-near-ohio-train-crash" target="_blank" rel="noopener">provided</a> “the full context into which the actual data collected by them could be placed,” particularly with respect to the long-term health risks posed by exposure to the chemicals.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan said that the cleanup from the derailment will take three months. The state of Ohio has also filed a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/entirely-avoidable-ohio-sues-norfolk-southern-for-train-disaster" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lawsuit</a> against Norfolk Southern in federal court in an attempt to hold the firm financially liable for the disaster.
Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw testified before Congress earlier this month regarding the derailment but made no specific promises regarding the firm’s commitment to handle economic and health fallout into the future. Another train <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/another-norfolk-southern-train-derails-as-ceo-testifies-to-congress" target="_blank" rel="noopener">controlled</a> by Norfolk Southern derailed in Alabama as Shaw delivered his testimony.
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Federal investigators have preliminarily <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-details-in-east-palestine-train-derailment-revealed-in-fresh-ntsb-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">concluded</a> that the derailment was caused by a malfunctioning rail axle. “Surveillance video from a residence showed what appears to be a wheel bearing in the final stage of overheat failure moments before the derailment,” the National Transportation Safety Board said in a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/investigators-provide-more-details-on-what-caused-ohio-train-disaster" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a>. “The wheelset from the suspected railcar has been collected as evidence for metallurgical examination.”

Merrick Garland

DOJ, EPA Unveil Lawsuit Against Norfolk Southern Over East Palestine Train Crash

Biden Administration Reveals Lawsuit Against Norfolk Southern Over Ohio Train Crash

Department of Justice

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Sen. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/ted-cruz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ted Cruz</a> (R-TX) used a congressional hearing on Wednesday to air criticisms of Transportation Secretary <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/pete-buttigieg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pete Buttigieg</a>&#8216;s response to the Norfolk Southern train derailment disaster in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/east-palestine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">East Palestine</a>, Ohio, early last month.
The Texas Republican argued how a &#8220;delayed and disjointed response by the Biden administration&#8221; has not allayed the concerns of local residents terrified by the health and environmental threats posed by the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/air-quality-following-controlled-burn-at-ohio-derailment-site-basically-what-it-was-before-train-crash-governor-claims" target="_blank" rel="noopener">so-called controlled burn</a> of toxic chemicals that spilled out of tanker cars.
&#8220;It took Secretary Buttigieg 10 days to even acknowledge the derailment,&#8221; Cruz said. &#8220;After he was called out, he did a 180 and tried to sell a slew of big government regulatory proposals, desperate to disguise the failure of the administration to act sooner.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
It took 10 days for Pete Buttigieg to even acknowledge the East Palestine derailment.
And when he finally said something, he only tried to distract from his own failures and push regulations which have little to no connection to the East Palestine derailment. <a href="https://t.co/1YtTGJtW0T">pic.twitter.com/1YtTGJtW0T</a>
&mdash; Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenTedCruz/status/1638566212102770691?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 22, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Blunders followed, according to Cruz, who cited the secretary&#8217;s mention of a particular withdrawn brake rule as an example of why the Transportation Department <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2023/02/23/ntsb-chair-brake-rule-buttigieg-blamed-trump-for-repealing-would-not-have-prevented-east-palestine-derailment/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">faced &#8220;constraints.&#8221;</a> Illustrating the problem with that comment, Cruz pointed out, was that the Biden administration&#8217;s own chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, Jennifer Homendy, had <a href="https://twitter.com/JenniferHomendy/status/1626379361027858432?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">to then go and explain how it was &#8220;FALSE&#8221;</a> to say it would have prevented the East Palestine derailment.
&#8220;Undeterred, Secretary Buttigieg then released a laundry list of regulatory proposals, many of which had little to no connection to the East Palestine derailment,&#8221; Cruz added.
&#8220;In an effort to further distract from his own failed response, Secretary Buttigieg has suggested that President Trump was responsible for the derailment in East Palestine,&#8221; the senator said.
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&#8220;I know that&#8217;s a frequent playbook of this administration, blaming every problem on President Trump, but not even The Washington Post fact-checker who usually goes out of his way to back Democrat claims, bought this claim,&#8221; Cruz continued before <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/27/so-far-trumps-rollback-regulations-cant-be-blamed-ohio-train-wreck/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">citing a passage</a> from the publication&#8217;s analysis.
The remarks were made during a hearing held by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation <a href="https://www.commerce.senate.gov/2023/3/executive-session" target="_blank" rel="noopener">focused on improving rail safety</a> following the East Palestine incident. Cruz is the ranking member of the panel.
Buttigieg has called not speaking out sooner about the train derailment a &#8220;lesson learned&#8221; for himself. &#8220;I was focused on just making sure that our folks on the ground were all set, but could have spoken sooner about how strongly I felt about this incident,&#8221; <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ohio-train-derailment-pete-buttigieg/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he told CBS News</a>.
The secretary travelled the site in late February, but only after former President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook-pm/2023/02/23/buttigieg-admits-regret-at-derailment-site-00084178" target="_blank" rel="noopener">paid a visit a day earlier</a>.
At the conclusion of his opening remarks on Wednesday, Cruz lauded two of the witnesses, Sens. J.D. Vance and Sherrod Brown, a Republican and Democrat from Ohio, respectively, for their efforts to bring attention to helping people affected by the derailment.
&#8220;I look forward to continuing to work closely with both of you and with the chairwoman on a bipartisan, serious rail safety package,&#8221; Cruz concluded.

Ted Cruz

Cruz Ridicules Buttigieg At Train Derailment Hearing

Congress

Pete Buttigieg

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/environmental-protection-agency-epa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">EPA</a> Administrator Michael Regan announced on Friday that cleanup for the <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/ohio-train-disaster" target="_blank" rel="noopener">train derailment</a> and subsequent <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/chemicals" target="_blank" rel="noopener">chemical</a> fallout in East Palestine, Ohio, will take three months.
Local and state authorities previously evacuated all citizens within one mile of the February 3 derailment and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/evacuation-ordered-ohio-governor-warns-major-explosion-could-send-shrapnel-a-mile-from-derailed-train" target="_blank" rel="noopener">started</a> a controlled burn of chemicals on the vehicle. Vinyl chloride, a human carcinogen used to manufacture PVC, was emitted from five train cars in the form of massive plumes of black smoke visible throughout eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania.
Regan <a href="https://twitter.com/EPAMichaelRegan/status/1636736359271477248" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on social media that Norfolk Southern, the rail company at the center of the incident, has removed “nearly half” of contaminated soil from the tracks, as well as 6.8 million gallons of liquid waste and 5,400 tons of solid waste. He remarked during a press event that there has been “real progress” in the cleanup effort, but contended that Norfolk Southern “could be moving faster to remove contaminated soil from East Palestine,” according to a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/17/us/east-palestine-ohio-derailment-cleanup/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from CNN.
The EPA <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/epa-orders-norfolk-southern-to-handle-all-ohio-train-derailment-cleanup-pay-triple-if-they-cut-corners" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ordered</a> last month that Norfolk Southern must clean contaminated soil and water, reimburse the EPA for cleaning services provided to residents and businesses, and attend meetings to update residents on the cleanup process. The agency also vowed to “immediately step in, conduct the necessary work, and then seek to compel Norfolk Southern to pay triple the cost” if the firm neglects to adequately complete enumerated cleanup actions.
The state of Ohio filed a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/entirely-avoidable-ohio-sues-norfolk-southern-for-train-disaster" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lawsuit</a> against Norfolk Southern in federal court earlier this week in an attempt to hold the firm financially liable for the disaster.
Regan added that some states were “inhibiting the company’s ability to execute contracts.” A number of officials, such as Governor Eric Holcomb (R-IN) and Governor Kevin Stitt (R-OK), had <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/epa-orders-states-to-stop-blocking-toxic-waste-shipments-from-ohio-train-derailment" target="_blank" rel="noopener">moved</a> to block the EPA from transporting shipments of chemical materials over hundreds of miles to their states, asserting that the waste should remain as close to the disaster site as possible.
“There are too many unanswered questions and ultimately I made the decision that this is not in the best interest of Oklahomans,” Stitt commented earlier this week. “As of late last night that shipment has been blocked.”
Regan nevertheless revealed on social media that he issued notices demanding that state authorities accept the shipments. “No one should impede or prevent this cleanup as we return East Palestine to the beautiful community residents know it to be,” he remarked. “The residents of East Palestine should expect that states, private companies, and the federal government will work together to effectuate the swift cleanup they deserve.”
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Even as Regan said that the cleanup process would take three more months, researchers from Texas A&amp;M University and Carnegie Mellon University found that nine chemicals present on the train have higher <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/east-palestine-residents-could-see-long-term-health-risks-from-highly-toxic-chemicals-analysis-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">concentrations</a> than normal in the community’s air and water supplies, posing the risk of long-term health complications to residents. State and federal officials have repeatedly claimed that the air and water in East Palestine are safe for consumption.
The EPA more recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/epa-requires-norfolk-southern-to-test-near-ohio-train-disaster-for-chemicals-which-impact-fertility-last-for-decades" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> that Norfolk Southern must test for dioxins, a type of pollutant that can be created by the combustion of vinyl chloride and may take decades to decompose. The substances attach to soil particles and have been known to enter drinking water supplies through waste incineration or discharges from chemical factories.
A team of journalists and producers from The Daily Wire who visited East Palestine last month <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/my-eyes-sting-and-my-head-is-throbbing-daily-wire-team-details-experiences-at-ground-zero-of-ohio-train-crash" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> a lingering smell in the air, an oily chemical sheen in local creeks and rivers, and symptoms such as sore throats and headaches garnered by spending an extended period of time in the community. Citizens of East Palestine <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc1zFLHvrwI&amp;embeds_euri=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2F&amp;feature=emb_logo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> the team that their livelihoods are threatened as customers from the region avoid their businesses and family farms.

EPA Announces How Long Ohio Train Derailment Cleanup Will Take

Cleanup Of East Palestine Will Take Three Months, EPA Says

Chemicals

Health

Scandals

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/environmental-protection-agency-epa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">EPA</a> Administrator Michael Regan ordered state authorities to stop blocking toxic <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/chemicals" target="_blank" rel="noopener">chemical</a> shipments from the site of the Norfolk Southern train derailment in Ohio.
Local and state authorities previously evacuated all citizens within one mile of the February 3 derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/evacuation-ordered-ohio-governor-warns-major-explosion-could-send-shrapnel-a-mile-from-derailed-train" target="_blank" rel="noopener">started</a> a controlled burn of chemicals on the vehicle to decrease the risk of an explosion. Vinyl chloride, a known human carcinogen used to manufacture PVC, was emitted during the burn from five train cars in the form of massive plumes of black smoke visible throughout eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania.
Officials from the EPA previously attempted to move the toxic waste to facilities throughout the nation, including a landfill in Roachdale, Indiana, and a waste management facility in Waynoka, Oklahoma, according to <a href="https://fox59.com/indiana-news/indiana-landfill-to-house-waste-shipments-from-toxic-ohio-train-derailment/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">local</a> media <a href="https://www.koco.com/article/oklahoma-stitt-toxic-waste-ohio-shipment/43283276" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports</a>. The former site is more than 400 miles away from East Palestine, while the latter is nearly 1,200 miles away from the rust belt community.
Governor Eric Holcomb (R-IN) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/epa-wants-to-move-chemical-waste-from-ohio-train-crash-to-landfill-in-another-state" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> last month he learned “third-hand” that toxic materials would be transported to his state and contended that they should be transported to “the nearest facilities, not moved from the far eastern side of Ohio to the far western side of Indiana.” Governor Kevin Stitt (R-OK) likewise <a href="https://twitter.com/GovStitt/status/1635018210289549312" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on Sunday that he had worked with lawmakers to prevent the material from coming to his state. “There are too many unanswered questions and ultimately I made the decision that this is not in the best interest of Oklahomans,” Stitt commented. “As of late last night that shipment has been blocked.”
Regan revealed on Friday that he issued notices demanding that state authorities accept the shipments. “No one should impede or prevent this cleanup as we return East Palestine to the beautiful community residents know it to be,” he <a href="https://twitter.com/EPAMichaelRegan/status/1636736359271477248" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> on social media. “The residents of East Palestine should expect that states, private companies, and the federal government will work together to effectuate the swift cleanup they deserve.”
Citizens of East Palestine have voiced frustration over the lack of transparency from government officials and executives from Norfolk Southern, especially with respect to the purported clean bill of health they granted the community’s air and water supplies. Many residents, as well as a team of journalists and producers from The Daily Wire who recently visited East Palestine, have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/my-eyes-sting-and-my-head-is-throbbing-daily-wire-team-details-experiences-at-ground-zero-of-ohio-train-crash" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> sore throats and various respiratory complications.
Analysts from Texas A&amp;M University and Carnegie Mellon University <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/east-palestine-residents-could-see-long-term-health-risks-from-highly-toxic-chemicals-analysis-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> last month that nine chemicals the EPA said were present on the derailed train now have higher concentrations than normal in East Palestine. Texas A&amp;M Superfund Research Center Director Ivan Rusyn told The Daily Wire that environmental officials have not <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/researcher-worries-government-is-wrongly-declaring-safety-near-ohio-train-crash" target="_blank" rel="noopener">provided</a> “the full context into which the actual data collected by them could be placed,” particularly with respect to the long-term health risks posed by exposure to some of the chemicals.
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The EPA has directed Norfolk Southern to sample for dioxins, particles invisible to the human eye which can attach to soil particles and last in an environment for decades. The substances are “highly toxic and can cause cancer, reproductive and developmental problems, damage to the immune system, and can interfere with hormones,” according to a <a href="https://www.epa.gov/dioxin/learn-about-dioxin#:~:text=Dioxins%20are%20called%20persistent%20organic,and%20can%20interfere%20with%20hormones." target="_blank" rel="noopener">fact sheet</a> from the EPA.

East Palestine Ohio – Train Derailment

EPA Orders States To Stop Blocking Toxic Waste Shipments From Ohio Train Derailment

EPA Tells States To Stop Blocking Toxic Waste From Ohio Train Derailment

After a train carrying highly toxic chemicals derailed in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/ohio-train-disaster" target="_blank" rel="noopener">East Palestine, Ohio</a>, President Joe Biden hopped on Air Force One, transferred to a train and went to &#8230; Ukraine.
You see, the U.S. president is worried about their border. He doesn&#8217;t care about the U.S. border, mind you, just theirs. And he&#8217;s now been to the Ukraine border as many times as he&#8217;s visited our southern border: once.
But when billionaire bankers once again crashed and burned, Biden was on it fast.
Everything went south on Friday, when the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapsed — the second largest in history. Biden actually did some work over the weekend, assuring the financial sector that he&#8217;s got their back.
Then on Monday, 30 minutes before the New York Stock Exchange opened, Biden vowed that the federal government would hand out money just like the last time the banking world imploded, just 15 years ago.
&#8220;I instructed my team to act quickly to protect these interests,&#8221; the president said in an effort to stem massive market losses and widespread panic.
“First, all customers who had deposits in these banks can rest assured — I want to — rest assured they’ll be protected and they’ll have access to their money as of today. That includes small businesses across the country that banked there and need to make payroll, pay their bills, and stay open for business,&#8221; he said.
&#8220;Americans can have confidence that the banking system is safe,&#8221; Biden said at the White House. &#8220;Your deposits will be there when you need them.&#8221;
Of course, SVB has little to do with &#8220;small businesses.&#8221; Roblox, the online gaming firm worth $3 billion, had about $150 million in SVB. Streaming service Roku had nearly $500 million held in deposits with SVB. U.S. cryptocurrency firm Circle had $3.3 billion of its $40 billion of reserves at SVB.
Not exactly your mom and pop &#8220;small businesses.&#8221;
Meanwhile, SVB CEO Greg Becker sold $3.6 million of company stock less than two weeks before the bank collapsed, and, in another one of those amazing coincidences, Peter Theil&#8217;s Founder&#8217;s Fund &#8212; worth $11 billion &#8212; withdrew millions by Thursday morning, Bloomberg <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-12/svb-customers-will-have-access-to-all-their-money-on-monday" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
But Biden was there swiftly to help out his billionaire buddies &#8212; a lot of whom donated to his presidential campaign. That was in stark contrast to what happened in Ohio. On February 3, a Norfolk Southern Railway train derailed in East Palestine, home to just 5,000 people. The cars, carrying vinyl chloride, ethyl acrylate, and isobutylene, spilled everywhere.
For two straight weeks, Biden’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) did next to nothing, not showing up on site until February 18. And three weeks after the accident, on February 23, Transportation Secretary Buttigieg finally set foot at the disaster.
And that visit came after former President Trump visited the town.
Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) mused about why Biden never showed.
&#8220;I think that our leadership, our media, and our politicians were slow to respond to this crisis, in part because a certain segment of our leadership feels like the people of East Palestine are a little out of style. They have the wrong politics. They’re a little too rural, maybe a little too white,&#8221; he <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/vance-says-ohio-train-derailment-response-slow-residents-have-wrong-politics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on Fox News.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) <a href="https://twitter.com/berniemoreno/status/1635273963407556609" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted</a>: “Joe Biden will probably visit Silicon Valley Bank before he visits East Palestine.”
But Bernie Moreno, an entrepreneur with fewer than 10,000 followers on Twitter, also got off the best zinger. &#8220;Maybe if East Palestine renamed itself &#8216;East Silicon Valley,&#8217; it would finally get the attention it deserves from Biden.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Maybe if East Palestine renamed itself &quot;East Silicon Valley,&quot; it would finally get the attention it deserves from Biden <a href="https://t.co/uqOtJUj2NT">https://t.co/uqOtJUj2NT</a>
&mdash; Bernie Moreno (@berniemoreno) <a href="https://twitter.com/berniemoreno/status/1635273963407556609?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 13, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Ain&#8217;t that the truth.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to josephcurl@dailywire.com and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.

Train derailment in East Palestine

Biden Ignored The People Of East Palestine, Rushes To Help Billionaire Bankers In Silicon Valley

President Joe Biden Ignored The People Of East Palestine, Rushes To Help Billionaire Bankers In Silicon Valley

Executive

Politics

Silicon Valley

The state of <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/ohio" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ohio</a> filed a lawsuit against rail company Norfolk Southern in federal court on Tuesday over the <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/ohio-train-disaster" target="_blank" rel="noopener">train derailment</a> in East Palestine and subsequent chemical fallout.
Residents of the small rust belt community continue to suffer weeks after the February 3 disaster. Local and state authorities previously evacuated all citizens within one mile of the derailment site and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/evacuation-ordered-ohio-governor-warns-major-explosion-could-send-shrapnel-a-mile-from-derailed-train" target="_blank" rel="noopener">started</a> a controlled burn of chemicals on the vehicle to decrease the risk of an explosion. The lawsuit, which <a href="https://ohioattorneygeneral.gov/Files/Briefing-Room/News-Releases/2023-03-14-Norfolk-Southern-Complaint-FILED.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">contended</a> that Norfolk Southern should be held financially liable for the derailment, characterized the incident as “entirely avoidable” and the result of executives neglecting the “welfare of the communities in which Norfolk Southern operates.”
“Ohio shouldn’t have to bear the tremendous financial burden of Norfolk Southern’s glaring negligence,” Attorney General Dave Yost (R-OH) said in a <a href="https://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/Media/News-Releases/March-2023/AG-Dave-Yost-Sues-Norfolk-Southern-Over-%E2%80%98Entirely" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>. “The fallout from this highly preventable incident may continue for years to come, and there’s still so much we don’t know about the long-term effects on our air, water and soil.”
Vinyl chloride, a known human carcinogen used to manufacture PVC, was emitted during the controlled burn from five train cars in the form of massive plumes of black smoke visible throughout eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. Analysts from Texas A&amp;M University and Carnegie Mellon University <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/east-palestine-residents-could-see-long-term-health-risks-from-highly-toxic-chemicals-analysis-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> that nine of the 50 chemicals the EPA said were present on the derailed train now have higher concentrations than normal in East Palestine, even after state and federal officials claimed that air and water supplies were safe.
The EPA has additionally <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/epa-requires-norfolk-southern-to-test-near-ohio-train-disaster-for-chemicals-which-impact-fertility-last-for-decades" target="_blank" rel="noopener">directed</a> Norfolk Southern to sample for dioxins, a class of pollutants that can be formed by vinyl chloride combustion and can bind to soil particles for decades.
The lawsuit further noted that accident rates for Norfolk Southern have doubled over the past decade and involved at least 20 chemical releases since 2015. Officials therefore demanded reimbursement for all response costs “incurred and to be incurred” as a result of the disaster.
“The state of Ohio is the owner in trust of public lands, waters, and resources within its political boundaries and has a duty to protect and preserve those natural resources,” the lawsuit continued. “Ohio brings this action to redress the derailment and the resulting contamination of Ohio’s natural resources, which has caused significant damage and poses a significant ongoing threat to Ohio’s natural resources and the citizens of Ohio.”
Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw testified before Congress last week regarding the derailment, but made no specific promises regarding the firm’s commitment to handle economic and health fallout into the future. Another train <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/another-norfolk-southern-train-derails-as-ceo-testifies-to-congress" target="_blank" rel="noopener">controlled</a> by Norfolk Southern derailed in Piedmont, Alabama, as Shaw delivered his testimony.
Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) introduced the Railway Safety Act of 2023, which would <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senators-introduce-bipartisan-bill-to-improve-rail-safety-after-ohio-train-crash" target="_blank" rel="noopener">require</a> rail companies to report hazardous materials present on trains to state authorities, raise inspection requirements, and increase the rigor of defect detection efforts. The bill would meanwhile increase several civil penalties for violations of rail safety regulations tenfold and require that each train must operate with at least two-person crews.
Federal investigators have preliminarily <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-details-in-east-palestine-train-derailment-revealed-in-fresh-ntsb-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">concluded</a> that the derailment was caused by a malfunctioning rail axle. “Surveillance video from a residence showed what appears to be a wheel bearing in the final stage of overheat failure moments before the derailment,” the NTSB said in a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/investigators-provide-more-details-on-what-caused-ohio-train-disaster" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a>. “The wheelset from the suspected railcar has been collected as evidence for metallurgical examination.”

Ohio train derailment

‘Entirely Avoidable’: Ohio Sues Norfolk Southern For Train Disaster

Ohio Files Lawsuit Against Norfolk Southern For Train Disaster

Lawsuit

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) highlighted numerous problems facing the United States during an interview over the weekend, problems that have largely erupted under the leadership of President Joe Biden.
Manchin made the remarks during a CBS News interview Sunday with Margaret Brennan on &#8220;Face the Nation,&#8221; while talking about the recent train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
&#8220;It&#8217;s time for us to get serious about this. We&#8217;re moving many, many products, many more products on the rails and on our roads than we ever did before. And we have a lot of people who don&#8217;t want any pipelines. Pipelines would help alleviate a lot of this problem with the oil that we need in our country and we will be using for quite some time to do it safer,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But out of sight, out of mind. They are thinking, if you don&#8217;t have a pipeline, you won&#8217;t be using the product. Well, that&#8217;s far from the truth. And this is the results of people just not making good decisions. And it&#8217;s what&#8217;s broken in West Virginia and broken across the country as far as in Washington, the politics.&#8221;
Brennan noted that Manchin recently gave a &#8220;fiery speech&#8221; in the Senate in which he was at odds with the Biden administration and many in the Democrat Party over their &#8220;out-of-control spending and are refusing to negotiate.&#8221;
Manchin said that the top priority for U.S. officials right now should be getting back &#8220;to normal&#8221; since the pandemic is over.
&#8220;We&#8217;ve gone from $3.5 trillion in spending to over $6.2 trillion in spending every year,&#8221; Manchin said. &#8220;That&#8217;s just unacceptable. You&#8217;ve got to sit down. Anybody that thinks we don&#8217;t have a problem in Washington, anybody that thinks that the politics is not broken in Washington is not living in reality, does not want to face the facts and the truth.&#8221;
Manchin said that the U.S. doesn&#8217;t &#8220;even have a budget anymore&#8221; and that Biden is in violation of U.S. law right now because he is a month late in putting out his budget.
&#8220;We&#8217;ve got a runaway debt. We got inflation that&#8217;s killing people,&#8221; Manchin said. &#8220;We&#8217;ve got an unsecured energy. We have a border that&#8217;s out of control.&#8221;
WATCH:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Sen. Joe Manchin says he will support proposed bipartisan rail safety legislation" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dxZEMGoWo0E?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
TRANSCRIPT:
<blockquote>SENATOR JOE MANCHIN: Good morning, Brennan. Thank &#8212; Margaret, thanks for having me.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to start on that derailment.
SENATOR JOE MANCHIN: Yes.
MARGARET BRENNAN: The president last week praised bipartisan railway safety legislation that would have new rules for trains carrying hazardous materials, increased fines for safety violations, phase in newer cars.
Will you vote for it? Is that sufficient?
SENATOR JOE MANCHIN: Yes, I&#8217;m going to be supporting that. We need to do it.
Back in 2015, in Mount Carbon in West Virginia, we had a derailment, 27 cars, tanker cars carrying Bakken oil. It went off the tracks and derailed and exploded and caused a tremendous problem there. And it was very, very dangerous. It could have been a little &#8212; a lot worse, if it had been a little farther down the tracks, could have torn up a whole town.
But with that we were recommended that the electronic pneumatic brakes should be something &#8212; should be considered that might prevent this, routine maintenance checks and auditing and things of this sort. I don&#8217;t think any of that has been done.
And it&#8217;s time for us to get serious about this. We&#8217;re moving many, many products, many more products on the rails and on our roads than we ever did before. And we have a lot of people who don&#8217;t want any pipelines. Pipelines would help alleviate a lot of this problem with the oil that we need in our country and we will be using for quite some time to do it safer.
But out of sight, out of mind. They are thinking, if you don&#8217;t have a pipeline, you won&#8217;t be using the product. Well, that&#8217;s far from the truth. And this is the results of people just not making good decisions. And it&#8217;s what&#8217;s broken in &#8212; in &#8212; in West Virginia. And &#8212; and&#8230;
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
SENATOR JOE MANCHIN: &#8230; broken across the country as far as in Washington, the politics.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I want&#8230;
SENATOR JOE MANCHIN: It&#8217;s broken. It needs to be fixed.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I want &#8212; I want to come back to energy in a moment.
You&#8217;re saying it&#8217;s broken. You gave a pretty fiery speech a few days ago in the Senate. You&#8217;re at odds with the White House and with many in your own party because you are saying that Democrats need to talk about out-of- control spending and are refusing to negotiate.
You did ding Republicans for not offering specific cuts. If you are the dealmaker &#8212; you seem to be positioning yourself there &#8212; where is it that you see room for negotiation?
SENATOR JOE MANCHIN: Well, Margaret, first of all, I encourage Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
I was hoping that he would, first of all, take things off the table that doesn&#8217;t cause a conflict, but most &#8212; most importantly, sit down with the president. And reached out to the White House. They did sit down, had a meeting. I&#8217;m encouraging much more of that.
But what we can do is, can&#8217;t we get together and just talk about how do we have this much debt accumulated this &#8212; in this short of a period of time? Within 10 years, Margaret, we have accumulated the greatest amount of debt in the history of our country in the shortest period of time. Can&#8217;t we at least find out what we did and how we expanded?
I know that COVID did so much of it. But, you know, we&#8217;re past the COVID&#8230;
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
SENATOR JOE MANCHIN: &#8230; problems. And what we need to do is to get back to normal.
But we&#8217;ve gone from $3.5 trillion in spending to over $6.2 trillion in spending every year in the last 10 years. That&#8217;s just unacceptable. You&#8217;ve got to sit down. Anybody that thinks we don&#8217;t have a problem in Washington, anybody that thinks that the politics is not broken in Washington is not living in reality, does not want to face the facts and the truth.
MARGARET BRENNAN: OK.
So &#8212; so, what is the truth here? Because Social Security and Medicare make up nearly 40 percent of spending in 2023. If no one is touching those programs, where are you finding the cuts?
SENATOR JOE MANCHIN: Well, first of all, just do our job on time.
We&#8217;ve been told that, if we just had a budget done &#8212; we don&#8217;t even have a budget anymore. The president is &#8212; is a month late in putting his budget out, which will come out next week. But I don&#8217;t see the House or the Senate bringing a budget forward. And, basically, by a piece of legislation was passed back in 1985, we&#8217;re supposed to have our budgets&#8230;
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
SENATOR JOE MANCHIN: &#8230; from the House and the Senate done by April the 1st.
The president basically submits his in February, and, by September the 30th &#8212; I&#8217;m told there&#8217;s billions and billions of dollars of savings just right there if we just do it on time.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Sure. But that&#8217;s not&#8230;
SENATOR JOE MANCHIN: We&#8217;re not even doing that.
MARGARET BRENNAN: That &#8212; right.
SENATOR JOE MANCHIN: That&#8217;s what I say it&#8217;s, not working. That&#8217;s&#8230;
MARGARET BRENNAN: But that &#8212; but&#8230;
SENATOR JOE MANCHIN: But it gets a downward trajection, basically, and capping&#8230;
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes, but more has to be done&#8230;
SENATOR JOE MANCHIN: How about capping some of the&#8230;
MARGARET BRENNAN: &#8230; done than that. I mean, you know&#8230;
SENATOR JOE MANCHIN: Yes, capping some of the discretionary spending.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You &#8212; OK.
Well, there&#8217;s a lot to talk about right there. But I want to ask you, what is Joe&#8230;
SENATOR JOE MANCHIN: Hey, Mar&#8230;
MARGARET BRENNAN: What is Joe Manchin looking for in this deal? Are you looking for your permitting reform, for example, that Democrats didn&#8217;t deliver on, though they had told you that you would have an agreement on?
Are you looking for that to be tucked into a potential bill in this agreement that you&#8217;re saying has to be struck between Republicans and Democrats?
SENATOR JOE MANCHIN: Well, rather &#8212; tucking something in, we&#8217;re not trying to hide anything, basically.
If we don&#8217;t do permitting, and we don&#8217;t have permitting reform in America, we&#8217;re not going to meet the challenges and be energy-independent energy- secured. If you&#8217;re not energy-secured, you&#8217;re definitely not going to be a superpower of the world, and depending on other parts of the world to provide what you won&#8217;t do for yourself.
That has to be done. I don&#8217;t care what side of the arena you&#8217;re on, if you want transmission, if you want pipelines, if you realize we&#8217;re going to have a balanced energy proposal. That&#8217;s what the Inflation Reduction Act was for, energy security. The administration, this administration has touted that as strictly an environmental bill.
It&#8217;s good for the environment, but it&#8217;s also very, very necessary for us to have the fossil energy&#8230;
MARGARET BRENNAN: Mm-hmm.
SENATOR JOE MANCHIN: &#8230; using it better and cleaner than anywhere in the world to have the security we need. That&#8217;s what we need to do. And that&#8217;s what they&#8217;ve been avoiding.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
SENATOR JOE MANCHIN: You have to have permitting. If not, all this is going to be voided.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask you about what appears to be some separation between you and the president.
You were quoted a few days ago as saying: &#8220;We&#8217;re just in different ball games. We&#8217;re not even in the same ballpark on many things.&#8221;
Are you going to endorse Joe Biden if he runs for reelection?
SENATOR JOE MANCHIN: Oh, there&#8217;s plenty of time for the election. This is the problem with America right now. We start an election every time there&#8217;s a cycle coming up.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes, he&#8217;s the leader of your party.
SENATOR JOE MANCHIN: I &#8212; I &#8212; no, the bottom line is, let&#8217;s see who&#8217;s involved. Let&#8217;s wait until we see who all the players are. Let&#8217;s just wait until it all comes out.
My main purpose right now is to work for my country and my &#8212; and my state. That&#8217;s my responsibility. I&#8217;m not going to make my announcement for anything until the end of the year. I&#8217;m not going to make a decision what my political position is going to be or where I&#8217;m going to do for my political future.
I won&#8217;t do it until the end of the year. I got too much work to do now.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Your political future, you mean the question of whether you personally are going to run for reelection in the Senate in West Virginia.
Your Republican governor, Jim Justice, says he&#8217;s going to run for your seat, or he thinks he&#8217;s got a good shot at it. Why haven&#8217;t you made up your mind?
SENATOR JOE MANCHIN: There&#8217;s too &#8212; the bottom line, I got plenty of time to make up my mind. The election is not until November 2024. We don&#8217;t even file until January of 2024.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
SENATOR JOE MANCHIN: And to be running and basically &#8212; not basically looking at the problems you have, we&#8217;ve got a runaway debt. We got inflation that&#8217;s killing people.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
SENATOR JOE MANCHIN: We&#8217;ve got an unsecured energy. We have a border that&#8217;s out of control.
You&#8217;re telling me we&#8217;re in the same ball game or the same ballpark? I don&#8217;t think so.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You said let&#8217;s see who all the players are when it comes to running for president.
You&#8217;ve said you&#8217;re not running for president. Is that an open question, though? Who &#8212; who do you think&#8230;
SENATOR JOE MANCHIN: I didn&#8217;t say that. I didn&#8217;t say anything about that.
I &#8212; the bottom line is, I will make my political decision in December, whatever it may be.
MARGARET BRENNAN: To run for president?
SENATOR JOE MANCHIN: I&#8217;m not taking anything off the table, and I&#8217;m not put &#8212; and I&#8217;m not putting anything on the table.
I said I will make a decision in January &#8212; at this &#8212; at the end of this year.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You&#8217;ll make a decision at the end of this year as to&#8230;
SENATOR JOE MANCHIN: Simply that.
MARGARET BRENNAN: &#8230; as to who you will endorse for president?
SENATOR JOE MANCHIN: What my political future will be, what&#8230;
MARGARET BRENNAN: No, but for president.
SENATOR JOE MANCHIN: What I will be involved with, how I will be involved.
I will be making &#8212; any decisions I make politically will not be done until the end of the year. I&#8217;m focused on fixing what&#8217;s wrong with Washington. And the politics are so toxic, the more you talk about this party, that party, what candidate and this candidate.
Look at what you have facing you right now. You&#8217;ve got inflation. You&#8217;ve got, basically, energy. You&#8217;ve got these unsecured borders. You&#8217;ve got geopolitical unrest. And we&#8217;re talking about everything but that.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We are &#8212; we have a lot to talk about.
And, Senator Manchin, you&#8217;re welcome back.
(LAUGHTER)
MARGARET BRENNAN: We got to leave it there, because&#8230;
SENATOR JOE MANCHIN: I&#8217;m happy to come back, Margaret, any time.</blockquote>

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Manchin Unloads On Democrats In Highlighting Problems With America Under Biden’s Leadership

Joe Manchin

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