JD Vance blasts Biden administration over Ohio train disaster: ‘We are ruled by unserious people’

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) blasted the Biden administration for abandoning the people of Ohio following last week’s release of toxic fumes after a train derailed near the state’s eastern border.

Residents living in areas surrounding East Palestine, Ohio, were instructed to evacuate after 50 train cars derailed and subsequently caught fire, spewing vinyl chloride, phosgene, hydrogen chloride, and other gases into the air and water. The train crashed on Feb. 3 while traveling from Madison, Illinois, to Conway, Pennsylvania.

Residents have since been allowed to return despite reports of dead fish and chickens across the region. Concerns have also risen over water safety as far away as West Virginia, causing one water utility company to increase its monitoring of water quality.

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“We are ruled by unserious people who are worried about fake problems instead of the real fact that our country is falling apart in some of the most important ways,” Vance said. “The leaders of this country have decided to disregard the people of East Palestine.”

The Ohio senator blasted Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for being more concerned about race and diversity representation in construction jobs instead of the “fundamentals of his job, which is ensuring we have a viable transportation infrastructure in this country.”

“The Environmental Protection Agency,” Vance continued, “should be focused on clean air, clean water. It’s the thing I’m most focused on for the people of East Palestine, but so often they’re focused on environmental racism and other ridiculous things instead of fixing the problem that they are established to fix.”

Amid growing criticism over his silence, Buttigieg publicly addressed the disaster on Monday evening, tweeting that the Environmental Protection Agency was testing for volatile organic compounds and “other chemicals of concern.”

“I continue to be concerned about the impacts of the Feb 3 train derailment near East Palestine, OH, and the effects on families in the ten days since their lives were upended through no fault of their own. It’s important that families have access to useful & accurate information,” Buttigieg wrote.

Buttigieg also ensured that the Department of Transportation was continuing to investigate the crash.

“In the meantime, our Federal partners at EPA are onsite and monitoring indoor and outdoor air quality to test for VOCs and other chemicals of concern,” he added, noting that the “EPA has screened 291 homes and no detections were identified — and 181 homes remain.”

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A town hall meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the East Palestine High School auditorium.