President Joe Biden said Thursday he will visit the site of a toxic train derailment in eastern Ohio “at some point,” ABC News reported.
Biden made the promise to reporters after attending a Senate Democratic caucus luncheon at the U.S. Capitol Thursday afternoon, according to ABC News. Biden has come under fire for not visiting East Palestine after a Norfolk Southern train derailed on Feb. 3, sparking a controlled burn days after it leaked dangerous chemicals like vinyl chloride into the air and water.
“I’ve talked to every official in Ohio, Democrat and Republican, on an ongoing basis, as in Pennsylvania,” Biden said. “I laid out a little bit here what I think the answers are … and we’re going to very much implement the legislation here.”
He then promised that he would “be out there at some point,” but press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said later in the day that she was not aware of any new travel plans for the president, the Hill reported.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sent officials to the crash site hours after the derailment, according to its website. EPA Administrator Michael Regan and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg recently made visits to the city, but Biden said on February 24 that he had no plans to visit.
“The federal government, Biden, has not recognized East Palestine, so I’m a little unhappy about that,” William Hugar, an East Palestine resident, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The first week it passed, Biden was too busy blowing up Chinese balloons.”
The White House did not immediately respond to DCNF’s request for comment.
Post written by Alexa Schwera. Reprinted with permission from DCNF. Images via Becker News.
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