EAST PALESTINE, Ohio. — It’s been two years since disaster struck the small community of East Palestine, Ohio.
Vice President JD Vance was at the East Palestine fire department to mark the anniversary of the disastrous train derailment with first responders and elected officials, including Ohio’s Governor and the East Palestine mayor.
Vance shared a strong message that the community will not be left behind and will build back better. A big concern Vance said he heard from community members is economic development.
“I’ve talked to a lot of local businesses just here today who have lost customers, who feel the bottom line is a lot worse than before this disaster happened,” Vance said. “What I would ask them is, don’t give up on this community because we are not going to give up on this community.”
Two years ago, officials did a controlled explosion to burn off the toxic chemicals, fearing a worse, uncontrolled explosion could happen. The fire burned for days, and 2,000 people were evacuated following the derailment, including some people in Beaver County.
A woman from Aliquippa said she and her son got sick and were displaced for months.
“I left my lease after waiting 7 months because we needed to move on with our life. Like, clearly, the cleanup wasn’t happening. People are still sick. We still don’t have specialists to go to. We don’t have anywhere to cover the cost of that. This settlement is honestly a joke in terms of what we need long-term,” Zsuzsa Gyene said.
A lawsuit filed Monday alleges for the first time people died because of the derailment. It contains the first seven wrongful death claims filed against Norfolk Southern. It also alleges the railroad and contractors botched the cleanup.
RELATED COVERAGE >>> Lawsuit alleges first deaths from disastrous 2023 train derailment in Ohio
Since the derailment, Norfolk Southern has spent $13.5 million on the community, including replacing police and fire equipment and improving the water treatment plant. Last week, they pledged an additional $22 million for priority projects.
Vance said the Trump administration is committed to holding Norfolk Southern accountable and helping with the environmental cleanup that still needs to be done.
“The environmental cleanup has to get done. It’s a tragedy and a shame it wasn’t done during the last administration, but I guarantee you we will finish the cleanup during this administration,” Vance said.
Vance said they are also focused on long-term water, air, and health testing and monitoring. He is also pushing for more rail safety.
“We could have smarter regulations that empower the railway to experiment with technology to make their business safer, more importantly, make the communities safer and ensuring when you have a terrible train disaster, the railway actually picks up the tab,” said Vance.
Vance said it will take some time to get this community back on their feet. He said this should have never happened and the Trump administration wants to make sure it never happens again.
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