On Monday Vice President JD Vance joined local officials and other Republican Party leaders in East Palestine to meet with residents on the second anniversary of the toxic Norfolk Southern train derailment. Photo by Chris Kleponis/UPI |
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Feb. 3 (UPI) -- Vice President JD Vance on Monday traveled to East Palestine, Ohio, on the second anniversary of the toxic Norfolk Southern train derailment.
The vice president and second lady Usha Vance joined local officials and other Republican Party leaders in East Palestine to meet with residents.
Air Force Two landed at Youngstown Regional Airport before 11:30 a.m. EST where the entourage was greeted on the tarmac by Ohio's newly-appointed Republican Sen. Jon Husted, the state's Attorney General David Yost and ex-presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy before departing to East Palestine.
Nearly 50 Norfolk Southern train cars on Feb. 3, 2023, derailed in the village of approximately 4,700 citizens in Ohio's northeastern Columbiana County.
Roughly a dozen of the cars transported hazardous materials including some 115,580 gallons of toxic vinyl chloride which spewed into the air, soil and water only to later be detected in neighboring Pennsylvania in addition to other states.
Vance was joined on Monday by Gov. Mike DeWine, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio., East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway and members of the village council.
It arrived as Norfolk Southern and local officials recently announced a $22 million settlement which "resolved all claims" by East Palestine stemming from the derailment nearly two years to the date which spread toxic chemicals into the region.
"Still a little up in the air," Conaway said of progress made since. He added the hope is to show Vance the clean-up site and provide a number of other updates.
"We're just about ready to wrap that up down there and then just talk about some of the ongoing things in the village," the mayor said, which included park upgrades and "some other things we have planned."
Meanwhile, ahead of Monday's visit by Vance, the Ohio Democratic Party wrote said that Vance "pretends that he delivered real change for East Palestine, but when the cameras are off, he's nowhere to be seen."
Vance last visited the site as Ohio's senator prior to his 2024 election as vice president.
"Ohioans see right through Vance's attempts to ingratiate himself with the same folks that the new administration is screwing over every day," ODP officials wrote in a statement.