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WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg vowed that his department will work with the administration and Congress to prevent future disasters similar to the Feb. 3 train derailment that led to a spill of toxic chemicals during a visit to East Palestine, Ohio, on Thursday.
“The best way to deal with an ecological disaster is to stop it from happening in the first place and that’s a big part of where my department comes in,” Buttigieg said at a press conference, adding that the Department of Transportation has laid out steps that the federal government wants Congress and the rail industry to take.
“I want them to know they’re not alone. That before, during and after the national attention, they’re gonna have support. They’re going to have support from us when it comes to holding Norfolk Southern accountable,” he said, in reference to the residents of East Palestine. “They’re gonna have support from the EPA when it comes to making sure they get accurate information about the safety of their air, water and soil.”
The secretary’s visit came weeks after the derailment and follows calls by Republicans for him to resign. Buttigieg took aim at those lawmakers during his trip, saying at the press conference that the people who are playing “political games” are the same people who have sided with the rail industry in watering down government regulations.
Buttigieg also called out former President Donald Trump, who visited the area on Wednesday, saying that Trump could help the region by expressing support “for reversing the deregulation that happened on his watch.” He was referring to the 2017 suspension of a requirement that trains carrying flammable liquids be outfitted with faster brakes.
“I heard him say he had nothing to do with it, even though it was in his administration,” Buttigieg said. “Maybe he could come out and say that he supports us moving in a different direction.”
Buttigieg met with community members, received an update from the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation on the disaster, and heard from Transportation Department investigators who were on the ground in the hours after the derailment.
Asked by a reporter whether he regrets waiting a week and a half to tweet about the derailment, Buttigieg said he should have responded sooner.
“I was taking pains to respect the role that I have and the role that I don’t have,” Buttigieg said. “But that should not have stopped me from weighing in about how I felt about what was happening to this community.”
The administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, Amit Bose, and the deputy administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Tristan Brown, joined Buttigieg during the visit.
The trip coincided with the NTSB’s release of a preliminary report Thursday about its investigation into the derailment, which involved the rail company Norfolk Southern. The train accident can be traced to an overheated wheel bearing that was 253 degrees hotter than the air temperature, the report said.
The NTSB said its investigation is ongoing and officials continue to focus on the wheelset and bearing; tank car design; derailment damage; a review of the accident response, including the venting and burning of the chemicals; as well as Norfolk Southern’s inspection practices.
Senate staff will also be briefed on the Ohio disaster later Thursday by relevant agencies, Commerce Committee spokesperson Tricia Enright told NBC News. Staff will hear from the Environmental Protection Agency, NTSB, Federal Railroad Administration, and Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. It’s unclear if any senators will attend as many are in their home states during the recess or traveling abroad.
Buttigieg laid out a set of actions Tuesday that he said the administration, the rail industry and Congress could take immediately to boost rail safety across the country, the department said, which includes allowing the Transportation Department “to give out much stiffer penalties for rail safety regulations violations and reversing a delay to the rail industry’s deadline to use more robust rail cars carrying hazardous materials.”
The secretary has also directed staff at the Federal Railroad Administration “to speed up work on its final rule requiring at least two crew members on trains, a requirement long resisted by the rail industry and some Members of Congress,” according to the department.
Republicans have called on Buttigieg to resign after the train derailment, claiming he had been slow to react to the disaster. Buttigieg tweeted last week that his department’s ability to regulate the rail system is “constrained by law” because of a braking rule withdrawn by the Trump administration.
“Happy to discuss timing of our Ohio visit – but starting to think some in Washington want that to be the main focus so that there aren’t too many questions about rail safety regulation, who is for and who is against. We will hold the line on railroad safety and accountability,” Buttigieg tweeted Wednesday night.
In a statement Wednesday, a Transportation Department spokesperson said the timing of Buttigieg’s visit coincided with the EPA’s “moving out of the emergency response phase and transitioning to the long-term remediation phase.”
The White House sought to place blame for the spill on Republicans and Trump.
“Congressional Republicans and former Trump Administration officials owe East Palestine an apology for selling them out to rail industry lobbyists when they dismantled Obama-Biden rail safety protections as well as EPA powers to rapidly contain spills,” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said.
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