Re: Slug Biden visits site of Ohio train derailment more than a year after toxic disaster

[Bribe-a-Biden]

In article <CwTWJ.75249$LN2....@fx13.iad>
Rudy Canoza <notg...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Talk about shirking your duty and job responsibilities.
>
> Norfolk Southern, mail Joe a check and he'll forget all about it.

The president delivered remarks in East Palestine, Ohio, about
efforts to hold Norfolk Southern accountable.

How about we hold your treasonous ass accountable?

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — More than a year after a fiery train
derailment spilled toxic chemicals here and turned the area into
an environmental flashpoint, President Joe Biden visited
residents Friday amid criticism that he should have done so much
sooner.

Biden said in remarks Friday afternoon that Norfolk Southern had
been remiss in taking appropriate precautions to avoid the
derailment.

“This was an act of greed. That was 100% preventable,” the
president said.

“I want to continue to hold Norfolk Southern accountable and
make sure they make your community whole, now and in the
future," Biden said. "And what they do not make whole, what they
cannot make whole, what isn’t made — the government will make
whole, we have an obligation."

Biden's visit comes as the 2024 campaign ramps up and the
president draws renewed taunts from Republican front-runner
Donald Trump, who traveled to the community less than three
weeks after the derailment. The former president slammed Biden,
his likely Democratic opponent, over the issue this week on his
social media platform, Truth Social.

“Biden should have gone there a long time ago,” Trump wrote
Wednesday. “For him to go now is an insult to those who live and
work in East Palestine.”

A day after Trump’s visit last year, Transportation Secretary
Pete Buttigieg went to East Palestine.

Last March, Biden told reporters that he’d visit “at some
point,” but the trip didn’t materialize. His trip was announced
late last month, but an exact date wasn’t specified.

The White House had said planned to use the visit to urge
lawmakers to pass federal railway safety legislation that
stalled in Congress after the Norfolk Southern train derailed
Feb. 3, 2023, spilling dangerous chemicals, including vinyl
chloride, and raising health concerns throughout the area. The
entire freight rail industry drew heavy scrutiny, and the
spotlight prompted a group of lawmakers to sponsor the
bipartisan Railway Safety Act, which aimed to strengthen safety
requirements, improve train inspections and increase penalties
on rail companies for wrongdoing. In May, the bill sailed
through the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and
Transportation, but it has gone nowhere since.

Biden said Friday that he wanted to "restate" his support for
the bill, noting that trains carrying hazardous waste "should be
stronger, they should be able to survive crashes without
exploding."

With any disaster affecting a reeling community — especially a
rural one with fewer resources — security for a presidential
visit in an incident’s immediate aftermath is challenging, so
the White House will sometimes delay a trip depending on the
conditions on the ground. But soon after the East Palestine
derailment, some local officials began to criticize the Biden
administration for the lack of a presidential visit. Months
later, the village’s mayor, Trent Conaway, whose position is
nonpartisan, endorsed Trump in the 2024 election.

The White House has repeatedly highlighted that the
Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies were
on the ground in hours after the derailment and that teams went
door to door in the community to check on residents. Biden
issued an executive order requiring Norfolk Southern to pay for
any long-term cleanup efforts. In September, he issued another
executive order calling for the appointment of a coordinator for
long-term recovery efforts.

At a White House briefing this week, press secretary Karine Jean-
Pierre said Biden was traveling to East Palestine at the mayor’s
invitation. In remarks alongside Biden on Friday, Conaway called
the president's visit "long awaited."

In a recent interview, Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw said the
rail company was investing tens of millions of dollars in the
community, though some residents said that wasn’t enough.

Timothea Deeter, 27, lives with her parents, her sister and her
sister’s boyfriend in a home about 1½ miles from the site. In
the derailment’s immediate aftermath, they moved to her
brother’s home but came back once the evacuation orders were
lifted. The family continues to drink bottled water but gave up
on using it for showering and brushing their teeth because they
couldn’t keep up with the cost. Deeter, a member of a local
advocacy group, River Valley Organizing, said she hoped Biden’s
visit would be more than a photo-op.

“I’m glad he’s coming,” she said ahead of the president's
arrival. “But if he’s going to come here, he needs to do
something. You can’t just come and take a picture when we’ve
needed aid for a year. He’s been aware of it. He needs to come
and address our concerns.”

Some residents have asked the federal government to test the air
in their homes, but the EPA has said it’s not necessary. The EPA
has said that since the derailment, it has collected more than
45,000 air, water and soil samples and that ongoing monitoring
shows that residents aren’t at risk.

In a report Wednesday, the EPA said that more than 176,000 tons
of contaminated soil and 49 million gallons of contaminated
liquid have been shipped off-site for proper disposal.

Daniel Winston, a co-executive director of River Valley
Organizing, is among those who want the EPA to mandate indoor
air quality testing.

“We don’t know what the health and environmental effects will
be,” he said, adding that he hopes the federal government
provides long-term health care and financial resources to the
community.

“We’re glad that the president is showing up,” Winston said. “I
don’t think he took too long to go.”

Winston directed his frustration not at the White House but at
Congress for failing to pass the railway safety legislation.

“Washington is still Washington,” he said. “Politics is still
politics.”

Biden is still taking bribes, lying and full of shit.