Biden’s EPA ORDERS Norfolk Southern to clean up contamination from East Palestine train derailment

President Joe Biden‘s EPA has ordered Norfolk Southern to clean up the contaminated mess caused in East Palestine, Ohio, following the February 3 train derailment. 

In a statement, the EPA said that if the train company does not comply with the order, the agency will do the work and bill Norfolk Southern triple the cost, reports CNN.

Norfolk Southern has already been leading the clean-up effort but now will have to do so according to a plan laid out by the federal government. 

‘EPA’s order will ensure the company is held accountable for jeopardizing the health and safety of this community,’ EPA administrator Michael Regan said in a statement on Tuesday. ‘Let me be clear: Norfolk Southern will pay for cleaning up the mess they created and for the trauma they’ve inflicted on this community. 

Former President Donald Trump is using the disaster to make a rare campaign trail appearance, announcing Saturday that he would visit the Ohio community. ‘Great people who need help, NOW!’ Trump posted to Truth social. Trump will head to East Palestine Wednesday.

President Joe Biden’s EPA has ordered Norfolk Southern to clean up the contaminated mess caused in East Palestine, Ohio, following the February 3 train derailment

Ohio was historically a presidential swing state, but in recent years it’s become more red, especially during the Trump political era.

Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., was among the MAGA mouthpieces who shamed Biden for making the trip to Ukraine Monday.

‘Of course Joe Biden is in Ukraine and not Ohio …,’ Trump Jr. tweeted. ‘Because screw Americans.’

The new order comes after EPA Administrator Michael Regan visited the eastern Ohio town and drank tap water alongside the state’s Republican Governor Mike DeWine. If the EPA is forced step in, the agency has the authority to offer cleaning to any and all private homes and businesses that it sees fit. 

The Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg will also finally make an appearance in East Palestine.  

‘I am planning to go and our folks were on the ground from the first hours,’ he insisted to Good Morning America on Tuesday when asked why he has not visited East Palestine in the 18 days since the derailment.

He did not give a timeline for when he will make it to the ground of the disaster.

Buttigieg, as well as President Joe Biden have been on the receiving end of intense backlash for not visiting the small town of 4,700 as Biden chose to travel overseas ahead of the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Tuesday morning that he will finally visit the site of the train derailment that released hazardous material into East Palestine, Ohio earlier this month

President Joe Biden meets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday. One of the founders of the Russian School of Mathematics blamed Zelensky for the death toll amid the ongoing war

Norfolk Southern said in a statement Friday that it was ‘committed to coordinating the cleanup project and paying for its associated costs,’ saying the company wanted to ensure that East Palestine’s residents and natural environment ‘not only recover but thrive.’

While the company’s CEO Alan Shaw visited the stricken town this past weekend.  Shaw told reporters that he was there to ‘support the community.’

DailyMail.com has reached out to Norfolk Southern to comment on this story. 

Despite repeated assurances that air and water testing has shown no signs of contaminants, residents of the town along the Pennsylvania state line have complained about lingering headaches and irritated eyes and some have said they are afraid to return to their homes. 

Buttigieg suggested that former President Donald Trump’s upcoming trip to Ohio on Wednesday is just a photo-op

Chemicals that spilled into nearby creeks killed thousands of fish, and a smaller amount made it into the Ohio River. 

While officials said the contamination posed no threat, cities in Ohio and West Virginia that get their drinking water from the river were monitoring a slow-moving plume and a few temporarily switched to alternative water sources. 

Gov. DeWine said a medical clinic opening early this week to evaluate residents and analyze their symptoms will include a team of experts in chemical exposures being deployed to eastern Ohio.