Pete Buttigieg Visits East Palestine, Ohio to Investigate Train Derailment and Toxic Chemical Spill

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg traveled to East Palestine, Ohio, on Thursday to view the site of a recent train derailment that led to a spill of toxic chemicals into the community. The derailment, which occurred earlier this month, involved 38 Norfolk Southern train cars, 11 of which were carrying hazardous materials that subsequently ignited. This fueled fires that damaged an additional 12 non-derailed railcars.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released a preliminary report on Thursday, which revealed that five of the derailed train cars were carrying 115,580 gallons of vinyl chloride. These five cars “continued to concern authorities because the temperature inside one tank car was still rising,” indicating a polymerization reaction which could result in an explosion.

Buttigieg is meeting with community members, receiving an update from the NTSB’s investigation on the disaster and hearing from Transportation Department investigators who were on the ground in the hours after the Feb. 3 derailment. He is joined by the administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, Amit Bose, and the deputy administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Tristan Brown.

The NTSB is still investigating the cause of the derailment, and the Transportation Department is working to ensure that the community is safe and that the environmental impact of the spill is minimized. The department is also working to ensure that similar disasters are prevented in the future.