EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — President Joe Biden is set to visit East Palestine, Ohio on Friday to ensure state and local officials "hold Norfolk Southern accountable."
The visit comes over a year after a Norfolk Southern train derailed and spilled hazardous chemicals that caught fire.
Biden's decision not to visit the site until now had become a subject of persistent questioning by reporters at the White House, as well as among residents in East Palestine. Some residents have said they felt forgotten as time passed, and they watched the president fly to the scenes of other disasters, including the wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui and hurricanes in Florida.
Biden arrived in Pittsburgh on Friday before traveling to the village of 5,000 at the invitation of its mayor and as the Environmental Protection Agency is on the verge of finishing an extensive cleanup paid for by the train company, Norfolk Southern. Republicans have blasted Biden for not visiting sooner and there are some enduring tensions in the community.
“The president has always said when the time is right and when it made sense for him to go, he would go,”“The president has always said when the time is right and when it made sense for him to go, he would go,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. “And so, that’s what he’s doing.”
Democrat Biden is venturing into Republican territory amid a reelection campaign. Aides say it's a chance for Biden to hear from the community, talk about his efforts to hold Norfolk Southern accountable and push for passage of a rail safety law. A number of administration officials have visited over the past year.
During Biden's visit, there will be a separate rally for former President Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner. Trump won nearly 72% of the vote in Ohio's Columbiana County, which includes East Palestine.
Mike Young, the rally's coordinator, described the grass-roots event as “anti-Biden.” He said he delivered water to the community after the disaster and the president should have been an immediate presence on the ground.
“The sentiment from residents has been: Where were you a year ago?" Young said. "Too little, too late. And now Biden shows up at election time.”
On Feb. 3, 2023, the village of over 4,700 residents, according to the 2020 U.S. Census, has forever changed. When the train derailed at approximately 8:45 p.m. that day, 11 of the rail cars contained hazardous materials — some with vinyl chloride.
Vinyl chloride, used to make the polyvinyl chloride hard plastic resin used in a variety of plastic products, is associated with increased risk of liver cancer and other cancers, according to the federal government’s National Cancer Institute. Federal officials said they were also concerned about other possibly hazardous materials.
First responders began a one-mile evacuation of the site, affecting more than 2,000 residents. A few days later on Feb. 6, 2023, the evacuation became mandatory and grew to two miles. Officials decided to do a controlled chemical release and burn from the rail cars, worried that some of them may explode because of pressure building and the chemicals inside. The chemicals were released into the air, including the vinyl chloride, and it lasted for several hours. The release promoted concerns from the residents of East Palestine over health and environmental effects.
Since then, officials have been working to ensure that the environment has been stable, that Norfolk Southern is being held accountable and provide relief to residents and business owners in the area.
Ahead of the president's trip to the Columbiana County village, Spectrum News 1 has compiled a list of the top stories about East Palestine: One Year Later.
Where is East Palestine one year later?
Over the past year, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has removed almost 37 million gallons of hazardous wastewater, collected over 100 million air monitoring tests and installed 20 monitoring stations that are sampling surface water in East Palestine streams.
In response, Norfolk Southern has established a family assistance center which has seen almost 12,000 families. The Ohio Department of Health provided $1.3 million to help start the East Liverpool City Hospital East Palestine Clinic.
National Transportation Safety Board to return to East Palestine in June
The National Transportation Safety Board will be in East Palestine on June 25 for its final board meeting relating to the 2023 train derailment and the events that followed.
NTSB board members plan to vote on final findings, probable cause and recommendations, according to a press release. There will also be a vote on any changes to the draft of the final report.
East Palestine residents plea for disaster declaration following train derailment
Victims from the small community along the Ohio-Pennsylvania border have traveled nearly 200 miles to call for help at the Ohio Statehouse.
"We need the governor to declare an emergency. We need funding," said East Palestine resident Jess Conard. "Unfortunately, now that the symptoms for health have increased in severity, we're having neurological symptoms like tremors and seizures, and there are still roughly 200 of our residents that are still displaced since February when the train actually derailed."
Norfolk Southern spending $4.3M on drinking water filters in East Palestine
Norfolk Southern is giving East Palestine nearly $4.3 million for a state-of-the-art water filtration system for the village’s drinking water. Scott Wolfe, water and wastewater superintendent for East Palestine, said the drinking water continues to be tested weekly and is still safe. These filters are precautionary.
"This is a contingency put in place by the EPA telling us 'hey, you got to put something there if something were to happen,'" Wolfe said. "The carbon is the treatment process for any chemical of concern."
Ohio lawmakers renew push for rail safety legislation
The Railway Safety Act would toughen regulations on the rail industry, such as requiring a two-person crew for certain freight trains, expanding oversight of trains carrying hazardous materials and increasing the maximum fines for railroads violating safety regulations.
The bill was championed by a bipartisan group of senators, including JD Vance and Sherrod Brown of Ohio and John Fetterman and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania.
Norfolk Southern announces details of plan to pay for lost home values
The new program will pay homeowners in East Palestine and the surrounding area about five miles around the derailment the difference between the appraised market value of their homes and the sale price. But accepting compensation through the program will require homeowners to forego property damage claims they might eventually collect as part of one of the lawsuits against the railroad.
DeWine announces additional loans for East Palestine businesses
Just two days before the one-year anniversary of the East Palestine train derailment, Gov. Mike DeWine announced additional financial support for two of the town's businesses.
Spectrum News 1 will have more about President Joe Biden's visit to East Palestine, Ohio as we receive information.