EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — Vice President JD Vance returned to East Palestine today for the two-year anniversary of when dozens of train cars, including 10 carrying hazardous materials, derailed in a fiery crash that drew global attention.
Watch his remarks below:
It was in the evening hours of February 3, 2023, when the bearing on a Norfolk Southern train heading from Ohio to Pennsylvania overheated and caught fire. It went undetected for at least 20 miles, the NTSB would later find, before derailing in East Palestine and catching fire.
In all, 38 cars derailed, including 11 containing hazardous materials including vinyl chloride. It began a days-long saga that led to the intentional venting and burning of some of those cars to reduce the risk of a greater explosion.
A move that put this Columbiana County community at risk, releasing hazardous chemicals into the air, ground, and as then-Senator JD Vance showed at the time, the water.
“You can just see that chemical pop out of the creek, this is disgusting,” Vance said in a video posted to X at the time.
Two years later, he returned Monday not as Senator but as Vice President of the United States, and he came with a promise not just from him but the country that they will remain committed to the people here.
“This community will not be forgotten, will not be left behind, and we are in it for the long haul in East Palestine,” he said.
That means finishing the cleanup and looking after the long-term health of the people impacted. With him was newly appointed EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin who was just appointed to the post last week. He vowed that the administration’s commitment will be one carried out by his department.
“Because it is such a high priority for him I will make sure that for the EPA it is our highest priority day in and day out doing everything in our power to make sure that this is completed as quickly as possible,” said Zeldin.
The derailment and fire came literally a month to the day after Vance was sworn into the U.S. Senate, and immediately, he and his Democratic colleague Senator Sherrod Brown teamed up to introduce the bi-partisan Railway Safety Act.
Also coming to the surface were glaring issues related to the industry, the operation and length of these trains, the detection system, staffing and the alerting of local communities what’s actually on the trains passing through their towns.
“Congress can legislate a solution to this problem and that’s exactly what I’m going to try to do,” Vance said in February of 2023.
Among other things, it called for advanced notification of first responders, tougher tank car standards, mandatory two-person crews, increased investment in hotbox detectors and a new design of hazardous tank cars. There was early support and momentum, but soon that itself was derailed, and the legislation died in the last Congress, and there has been little talk of it by Vance or the Trump Administration.
News 5 asked the vice president when he introduced the bill, and he spoke for himself and his constituents, but now that he speaks for the Trump Administration, would it support the Railway Safety Act as written?
“The president endorsed the Rail Safety Act when it came out and certainly I think we can say with confidence that the president shares my view that we need some common sense rail safety and yes that is something that we’re going to work at over the next few years,” said Vance. “It’s something that I think we have a much better shot at with Republicans in charge.”
“Remember we had the legislation, we had it in a place where it would have passed the United States Senate, (former Senate Majority Leader) Chuck Schumer just refused to bring it up to the floor for a vote,” said Vance.
Schumer had said it was because he wasn’t sure that Vance had the Republican votes to avoid a filibuster. That being said, Vance said, “I think things are a little bit different this time and we’re going to make sure we get this right.”
In 2023, Vance and former Sen. Sherrod Brown met with residents and heard their concerns.
RELATED: Ohio's senators visit East Palestine to see damage caused by Norfolk Southern train derailment
The derailment
Dozens of cars, including 10 carrying hazardous materials, derailed in a fiery crash on Feb. 3, 2023, in East Palestine. Vinyl chloride was released into the air from five of those cars before crews ignited it to eliminate the highly flammable, toxic chemicals, creating a dark plume of smoke, photos of which were shared worldwide on social media.
Residents from nearby neighborhoods in Ohio and Pennsylvania were evacuated because of health risks from the fumes and were not allowed to return home until five days later. News 5 returned again and again, talking to residents for over a year. You can find our coverage here.
