Joe Biden will finally visit East Palestine, a year after a train derailment near the Ohio border town caused a toxic spill that contaminated the surrounding air and waterways.
The White House confirmed to multiple news outlets that the president would make the trip sometime next month to meet with residents affected by the incident. The one-year anniversary of the derailment is February 3.
Biden previously drew the ire of Republicans and local lawmakers over his decision to visit Kyiv ahead of the first anniversary of the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine instead of visiting the domestic crash site in the immediate aftermath. Trent Conaway, the mayor of East Palestine, described the trip to Kyiv as a "slap in the face."
The Biden administration received further criticism over its response to the chemical spill after former President Donald Trump flew there to deliver supplies and bottled water to residents.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited the crash site the following day and later said Biden had not visited as he did not want to disrupt the recovery process.
When asked about visiting East Palestine in September while surveying the damage caused by Hurricane Idalia in Florida, Biden said he had not had the time to go, despite taking several vacations in the intervening period.
Newsweek reached out to the White House via email for comment on Wednesday.
On February 3, 2023, a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed with 38 cars coming off the tracks, 11 of which were carrying toxic chemicals. The derailment sparked a large fire, which prompted emergency responders to breach five cars carrying vinyl chloride and initiate a controlled burn, sending toxic gases into the atmosphere.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials later detected toxic substances in the nearby water and soil, but stressed throughout the recovery effort that air contamination remained at safe levels.
Residents of East Palestine were evacuated due to the controlled burn, but were later allowed to return home. They have since complained of symptoms associated with exposure to toxic chemicals. Residents with private wells were told to drink bottled water while testing was ongoing.
A year on, clean-up work by Norfolk Southern contractors and the EPA continues. Large amounts of contaminated soil are being removed and replaced around the site of the crash, while contaminated stretches of nearby creeks are also being treated.
A National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation into the derailment suggested that it had been caused by an overheated wheel bearing on one of the cars failing.
A controlled burn was initiated to prevent the cars of vinyl chloride exploding due to a build-up of heat and pressure. Relief valves on the cars for this purpose did not function, and the NTSB said that the melting of their aluminum covers may have prevented them from working.
Update 1/31/24, 8:32 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include further information.
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Aleks Phillips is a Newsweek U.S. News Reporter based in London. His focus is on U.S. politics and the environment. ... Read more
