(DCWatchdog.com) – President Joe Biden has yet to visit the site of the toxic chemicals disaster in East Palestine, Ohio, and the people there don’t understand what he is waiting for, Ohio’s Governor Mike DeWine has declared.
On February 3, a large freight train derailed near East Palestine, a town of almost 5,000 people. The ensuing fires, controlled explosions, toxic spills, and pollution have greatly affected the local population.
At the same time, the Biden administration has been slammed for failing to respond adequately to the catastrophe, which one expert likened to the aftermath of a nuclear explosion.
A month after the train derailment, Ohio’s Republican Governor, Mike DeWine, spoke on Fox News, insisting that the president should still go to East Palestine.
The governor was asked whether he felt “offended” that Biden had not been to the disaster site.
“He should come. There is no doubt about it. The president needs to come. The people want to see the president. He should be there,” DeWine said.
He said he had been to East Palestine four times and discussed the catastrophe with Biden “several times.”
The last time was when the latter was in Poland to declare America’s support for Ukraine, which has been the victim of Russia’s aggression for over a year.
Ohio’s governor also said Biden hadn’t told me why he hadn’t yet gone to East Palestine.
“The president needs to come. It’s just important,” DeWine stressed, as cited by The New York Post.
He sought to reassure the locals about the state and federal relief efforts.
“Our people have been on the ground since, you know, two hours after it started. I will say that, you know, the EPA was there. They were there about the same time our people got there. We have our health department, our EPA there. So we are there,” the governor declared.
He also said there were no doubts that decontaminating the creeks and streams in the affected area would take a long time.
“We’re doing everything we can to monitor the air, we’re monitoring the water,” DeWine pointed out, as cited by The National Review.
“As far as the drinking water and the creeks, I think we need to make a distinction. Drinking water is coming from wells way down the ground. We’re testing the five wells that provide water for the people in the village… We tested again yesterday [and] the results were good,” he elaborated.
With East Palestine residents complaining of recurring or worsening health issues after the hazardous materials spill, the town has had high-profile visitors such as former President and 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump and environmental activist Erin Brockovich.
Biden’s Transportation Secretary, Pete Buttigieg, also visited the site three weeks after the train wreck. Still, he has been severely criticized for his actions before, during, and after his visit.
