President Joe Biden will visit East Palestine, Ohio, on Friday, more than a year after a train derailment sent more than 1 million pounds of toxins into the town’s soil, water and air.
Biden has been under intense pressure to visit East Palestine since the Norfolk Southern train derailed on February 3, 2023. The White House said shortly after the train’s derailment that the president would find a time to visit, but that did not happen last year.
Former President Donald Trump visited East Palestine about three weeks after the derailment on February 22, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited the next day.
Trump during his visit criticized Biden’s absence and what resulted was a political uproar, all while residents said they simply wanted to know whether their water was safe to drink.
Biden’s visit comes at the invitation of East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway and other community leaders, according to the White House. Conaway has been critical of Biden’s failure to visit East Palestine sooner, telling Fox News last month: “My personal opinion is the best time for him to come would be February of 2025, when he is on his book tour.”
The White House said the president would visit East Palestine to “meet with residents impacted by the Norfolk Southern train derailment and assess the progress that his Administration has helped deliver in coordination with state and local leaders to protect the community and hold Norfolk Southern accountable.”
“He also has heard loud and clear from the folks in East Palestine that they don’t want to be defined by an event,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said earlier this week. “And so, he’ll speak to the administration’s work to deliver on the needs for family businesses that are…
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