Bureaucrats And Big Business Leave East Palestine Suffering A Year After Train Disaster

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — President Joe Biden plans to visit Baltimore this week following the devastating collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. While the loss of life and devastation of crucial infrastructure certainly warrants a presidential visit, one can’t help but wonder why Biden lacked similar urgency when it came to East Palestine, Ohio.

In February 2023, 38 cars — several containing hazardous materials, notably vinyl chloride monomer — on a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in the heart of East Palestine. Fearing these tankers might explode, representatives from Norfolk Southern, along with individuals from the village fire department and Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, opted to “vent and burn” the vinyl chloride.

The burn released hazardous chemicals into the community’s air, waterways, and soil. Village residents experienced a slew of concerning health symptoms as a result of the now-unbreathable air and toxified environment. Thousands of people were forced to flee their homes, and local employers had no other option but to close their doors. 

This past September, more than eight months after the derailment, President Biden issued an executive order mobilizing federal agencies to oversee cleanup efforts, monitor environmental and public health consequences, and provide additional resources to members of the affected communities. Biden also called for Norfolk Southern to be held accountable for any wrongdoing it may have committed during the incident. Village residents remain unconvinced, however, that any of this will have a positive effect.

We are now a little over a