Vance Visits East Palestine, Two Years after Toxic Train Derailment
Vance assured the town’s resident that the President loves this community and that “it will not be forgotten.”

On February 3, 2023, a Norfolk Southern freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border.
The derailment involved 38 rail cars, including 11 tank cars containing hazardous materials, which led to a fire and the release of toxic chemicals into the air, soil, and local waterways.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation determined that the cause of the derailment was a defective wheel bearing that overheated and failed. The crew did not receive adequate warning to stop the train before the bearing failure led to the derailment.
In the immediate aftermath, thousands of residents were forced to evacuate due to the hazardous chemical release1. The incident raised significant concerns about environmental contamination and potential long-term health effects for the local community.
It took Biden a full year before he visited the site of this massive environmental disaster.
Shortly after the incident, Biden’s minions assured area residents everything was fine. However, evidence from other sources suggested there were serious ongoing problems.
At the time, then-Senator JD Vance (R-OH) checked out a creek in the impacted area . . . and suggested that if the tap water were safe to drink, perhaps Biden’s EPA head Michael Regan should be willing to drink it.
Now, on the second anniversary of that dreadful accident, Vance returned as Vice President.
Vance was greeted on the tarmac by local and state leaders including Senator Jon Husted, Ohio Attorney General David Yost, Congressman Michael Rulli and Vivek Ramaswamey.
…Vance arrived in East Palestine about 12:45 p.m. where he was greeted by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and other local officials.
East Palestine Fire Chief Keith Drabick and Mayor Trent Conaway spoke with Vance near the derailment site before they made their way to the fire station where Vance took to the podium just before 2 p.m.
Vance said he talked to President Trump about his upcoming visit and said that the President loves this community and that “it will not be forgotten.”
“President Trump, me, and the entire Administration are committed to ensure to the people of East Palestine that the government does right by them, and we will be working in the months and the years to come,” Vance said.
President Trump and I have never forgotten the people of East Palestine, and we will never stop fighting for the cleanup effort in this community to be completed.
We are with you for the long haul. pic.twitter.com/wg5vHmvDXM— Vice President JD Vance (@VP) February 4, 2025
Meanwhile, a lawsuit alleging for the first time that people died because of the disastrous 2023 East Palestine train derailment has been filed.
The new lawsuit that will be made public later on Monday contains the first seven wrongful death claims filed against Norfolk Southern railroad — including the death of a 1-week-old baby. It also alleges the railroad, and its contractors botched the cleanup while officials at the EPA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signed off on it and failed to warn residents about the health risks. Many of the other parties in the lawsuit cite lingering, unexplained health problems along with concerns something more serious could develop.
“Our clients want truth. They want transparency,” attorney Kristina Baehr said about the roughly 750 people she represents. “They want to know what they were exposed to, which has been hidden from them. They want to know what happened and why it happened. And they want accountability.”
The lawsuit provides some examples of the lingering effects on families, but it doesn’t include details about the deaths.

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Comments
It is amazing how uncaring the Democrats have been to citizens in non-minority communities, like East Palestine and western NC, and how attentive they have been to illegal aliens, sadly, even diverting money away from citizens and towards the invaders.
President Trump will right the ship.
The fact that those idiot Democrats dropped the ball on this so badly here speaks volumes about WHY they are so incredibly unpopular with the voters.
Ty Mailman.
To my way of thinking, they didn’t just drop the ball, they tossed it away, like a hot potato. The reason is clear, just look at the demographics. Great (painful) article Leslie, ty too.
Beyond the rank incompetence displayed by the vile Biden-Harris Administration, Dhimmi-crat media and other Dhimmi-crats, in the aftermath of this tragedy, lies appalling and outrageous callousness, similar to what we saw in the aftermath of the Carolina hurricane devastation.
The residents of these communities are deemed by Dhimmi-crats to be unworthy of federal aid, prompt federal action and sympathy, because they are predominantly conservatives and supporters of the GOP.
It should have been an easy win for Democrats to flood the area with politicians pretending to care about the locals.
But with a vegetable called Joementia as President and a VP utterly incapable of any kind of empathy and a transport czar who’s only qualification was that he took it up the arse that made any kind of outreach to the locals impossible.
I’m not even sure I fully comprehend the changes that are taking place. The Biden Administration did everything it could to sweep the problem under the rug, to ignore it. The same holds true with hurricane devastation and other disasters. Their “solution” was “Throw a trivial amount of money at a problem then pretend everything is solved.”
The Democrats seek power because they want power. They want the perks, the prestige, and the ability to force people to do what they want. Trump seeks power because he wants to fix things. For him power is a means to an end, not the end itself.
No wonder the Democrats are doing so badly. Without power what are they?
We’re barely 2-weeks into Trump’s term and Vance has already capably demonstrated what a miserable loser Pence was. The competence on display from Trump and the team he’s chosen to surround himself in this 2nd term is embodied by Vance. What Team Trump is doing is analogous to a head coach who scripts his 1st 15-plays and runs up and down the field in the 1st quarter because the opposition is simply overwhelmed. They’ve clearly spent a lot of time on how they’ll execute and satisfy their campaign promises in a way no GOP president has since Reagan…maybe ever.
I love that Trump is stepping up. Hero law firms, not so much. A solution helping all affected parties that bypasses the shysters would be best.
Dead silence about FDA and CDC. We live in interesting times. Waiting for Dept of Ed news.
Maybe there will be a media blitz for attention for the 2028 Presidential candidate. This could be fun. Rubio and Vance in the news everyday.
As I recall, they intentionally burned that toxic mix of chemicals. I bet they did so in an attempt to lower cleanup costs. People responsible should be held accountable. It would also be interesting ot see if this is more fallout from Affirmative/DEI.
What made me most sick about this article is the picture of the useless OH governor getting his face on camera behind Vance.
Mayor Pete loves trains!!