Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg will visit the scene of the Ohio train derailment tomorrow, per a source familiar with his plans. There, he'll get an update from the National Transportation Safety Board on its investigation into the toxic crash.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg speaks during a news conference at the construction site of the Hudson Tunnel Project, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023, in New York. | John Minchillo/AP PhotoTransportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg will travel Thursday to the site of a toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, a person familiar with his plans told POLITICO.
The visit is due to happen 20 days after a 150-car train carrying oil and toxic chemicals derailed, causing a fire and spilling toxic chemicals into the air and water, setting the region on edge andButtigieg had told reporters earlier this week that he would visit the city “when the time was right.
It is exceedingly rare for a transportation secretary to visit the site of a train derailment, especially one that resulted in no fatalities — even though this crash has resulted in unusually heavy national media attention, partly driven by the televised image of the accident’s toxic black plume and residents’ anger over the safety of their air and water. About 1,000 train derailments occur each year, according to federal data.
“The secretary is going now that the EPA has said it is moving out of the emergency response phase and transitioning to the long-term remediation phase,” the person familiar with Buttigieg’s thinking told POLITICO.Filed under:
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