Buttigieg Brags About ‘Infrastructure’ Bill As Ohio Citizens Decry WH Response To Train Derailment
Citizens of East Palestine, Ohio during a Wednesday night town hall questioned the Biden administration’s response to the February 3 train derailment that resulted in hazardous chemical gasses being unleashed throughout the surrounding area and into the atmosphere.
After the derailment, authorities decided that a “controlled burn” of the chemicals was appropriate, supposedly in order to prevent a much larger explosion from occurring. The decision caused a massive chemical fire, with plumes of black smoke seen for miles around, Valiant News reported.
“Where’s Pete Buttigieg?” shouted one town hall attendee.
“I don’t know. Your guess is as good as me,” East Palestine Mayor Trent Conway. “Yesterday was the first time I heard anything from the White House.”
Just one day prior to the East Palestine town hall, Biden administration Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg published his first set of remarks about the disaster.
His statement came nearly a week after the town was plagued with the chemical catastrophe that has been likened to America’s modern “Chernobyl.”
“In the wake of the East Palestine derailment and its impact on hundreds of residents, we’re seeing lots of newfound or renewed (and welcome) interest in our work on rail safety, so I wanted to share more about what we’ve been doing in this area,” Buttigieg claimed.
The Transportation Secretary then bragged about “historic investments on rail safety” from Biden’s $1.5 trillion infrastructure law, which notably failed to prevent the Ohio train derailment despite the massive spending package being focused on “climate change mitigation, resilience, equity and safety” for water systems, roads, bridges, and railway systems, Valiant News reported.
“We are making historic investments on rail safety through funding in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, work that accelerates this year and continue in the years to come,” Buttigieg said.
“The infrastructure law created a new program that provides $3 billion dedicated to eliminating at-grade rail crossings to reduce crashes and save lives. We will announce awards for the first round of projects this summer,” he added.
This news and commentary by Andrew White originally appeared on Valiant News.
