Ohio U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) traveled to East Palestine on Friday to meet with residents and survey the status of the environmental cleanup of the area nearly one year after a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous materials derailed.
Great to be in East Palestine yesterday to speak with community leaders and get an update from the EPA on the status of the cleanup. There’s still so much work to do, but I am confident East Palestine will come back strong! pic.twitter.com/eU9275pn0l
— J.D. Vance (@JDVance1) February 3, 2024
In remarks to the media, Vance called on the Biden administration to fund a long-term health screening program for residents despite revealing the administration’s refusal to provide the funding that has “already been appropriated” for such screenings.
Vance noted that residents “want to know with confidence” that if they experience symptoms in the future, they would be able to trace their illnesses to the Norfolk Southern train derailment.
“We have to get long-term health screening in place for residents. If you talk to people, this is people who want to move on from this disaster, this is people are still worried about chemical contamination, they want to know with confidence that 10 years down the road, if something happens to their kids, God forbid, or themselves, they can trace it to this accident or not,” Vance explained. “The only way to do that is to do the health baseline screening that we have talked about and we have tried to pressure the Biden Administration into doing something about it – they have been completely unmoved on it.”
“In fact, my staff spoke with the White House two days ago and the Biden administration continues to refuse to provide the very small amount of funding, money that’s already been appropriated, that could be used tomorrow to do long-term health screening,” Vance added. “You’ve got to give people confidence that long term chronic exposure is not going to give them problems. That’s why we’ve pushed the health screening stuff so aggressively, and why we frankly need the Biden administration to step up and help us.”
Vance also renewed calls to pass his Railway Safety Act while visiting East Palestine on Friday.
The bill, introduced last March, passed the Senate Commerce Committee and is awaiting a vote on the Senate floor. The bill has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, a group of bipartisan U.S. senators, and many conservative organizations.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “JD Vance” by JD Vance.
