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CV NEWS FEED // On the second anniversary of the East Palestine train derailment, Vice President JD Vance visited the Ohio town that faced the disaster, telling them that they are important to the new administration and that cleanup will happen.
“President Trump wanted to deliver a message that this community will not be forgotten and we are in it for the long haul in East Palestine,” Vance said.
On Feb. 3, 2023, a train traveling through the town derailed, releasing hundreds of tons of toxic chemicals into the ground, water, and air of East Palestine. At the time, Vance was a U.S. senator for Ohio.
In his address to the East Palestine community on the two-year anniversary of the disaster, Vance promised that the Trump administration and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin will work on cleaning up the environment in the area.
CatholicVote reported in April 2024 that Norfolk Southern Railway paid residents of East Palestine $600 million to settle a class action lawsuit filed by residents and businesses affected by the toxic spill.
According to the Associated Press, many residents were concerned that the payouts would not be sufficient once stretched across the many who were affected. Resident Eric Cozza said at the time that the payout is “nowhere near my needs, let alone what the health effects are going to be 5 or 10 years down the road.”
In his Feb. 3, 2025 address, Vance also noted the importance of building up East Palestine’s long-term economic development.
“We are committed not just to finishing the environmental side of the cleanup,” he said, “but hopefully seeing East Palestine build back better and stronger and more prosperous than it was before this disaster happened in the first place.”
Vance also criticized the Biden administration for its lack of assistance.
“President Biden may have forgotten East Palestine’s tragedy, but its citizens will never forget his administration’s failed leadership,” he said, according to The Columbia Dispatch.
“It’s past time for the president to right his wrongs and deliver the relief East Palestine needs.”
Vance highlighted the importance for Congress to pass the Railway Security Act, legislation he co-sponsored while he was still a U.S. senator for Ohio. He said the Act would require railways to heavily invest in infrastructure and technology that would prevent another derailment such as the one that occurred in East Palestine.
“I think now we can do a lot better,” Vance said, “[and] have smarter regulations to empower the railways to experiment with technologies that will make their business safer, but more importantly they make these communities safer.”
