President Joe Biden will finally visit East Palestine, a year after a train derailment devastated the Ohio community, the White House announced Wednesday.
The president was criticized in the weeks after the shocking incident for not visiting the site of the toxic spill.
Donald Trump visited the construction site, as did Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre insisted the president would make good on his promise to see the devastation, but for months would not say when Biden would make the trip.
Biden will leave sometime in February, the White House now says, without giving a specific date.
President Joe Biden will finally visit East Palestine, a year after a train derailment devastated the Ohio community
The President traveled to other disaster sites across the country in the months since a Norfolk Southern train carrying dangerous goods went off the tracks on February 3, 2023. The accident led to a fire that lasted for days and released toxic fumes into the air. Hundreds of residents were evacuated.
In March, Biden told reporters he would visit eastern Palestine “at some point.”
During his trip next month, he will meet with residents and inspect the cleanup effort.
East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway told Fox News the best time for Biden to visit would be in 2025 “when he's on his book tour,” suggesting he didn't believe the president would seek a second term in office house would win.
“The president is always welcome in our city,” he added. “Other than that, I don’t know what he would do here now.
Trump, who is leading the Republican presidential nomination, visited eastern Palestine shortly after the derailment. He said before his trip that the people of this city had been “let down.”
Trump won Ohio by 8 points in the 2020 election. The state, which was once considered a model state, has become increasingly red.
Republican Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, who accompanied Trump on his trip to the community, heavily criticized Biden for not visiting.
“I think that he doesn’t see this community as a Biden community and so he’s not doing anything about it,” Vance told Fox News in September. “It is shameful behavior.” As president, you serve the people, regardless of who they elected. And East Palestine deserves much better from its government.”
The White House notes that within hours of the derailment, the Environmental Protection Agency had trained emergency personnel on the ground in East Palestine to support state and local emergency and environmental responses. And that the Department of Transportation was also there to support the effort.
A look at the derailment in East Palestine, Ohio
The derailment caused a fire that released toxic fumes into the air
A few weeks after last year's derailment, Donald Trump visited East Palestine
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg (left) and Tristan Brown, deputy administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, shortly after the accident in East Palestine
The small, predominantly white, blue-collar town is still struggling with the effects of the derailment and the resulting chemical disaster.
Dangerous chemicals that leaked from the train included vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate and ethylene glycol monobutyl.
Residents subsequently reported headaches, rashes, sore throats, nausea and other medical problems. Federal authorities have tested the drinking water and say it is safe, but concerns remain about environmental contamination and long-term medical effects.
Under pressure from the federal government, Norfolk Southern agreed to pay for the cleanup.
The railroad is expected to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for the derailment and reimburse the EPA for the tens of millions of dollars the agency has already spent.
The Justice Department is also suing Norfolk Southern, seeking penalties under the Clean Water Act.