Congressional Republicans are opening a probe of the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment and hazardous chemical spill, including Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg's response.
In a letter to Buttigieg Friday, House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Republicans said they were opening an investigation into the Feb. 3 derailment of a 150-car Norfolk Southern freight train in the town of East Palestine that resulted in a massive fire and controlled release and burn off of hazardous chemicals, including vinyl chloride.
"This incident is an environmental and public health emergency that now threatens Americans across state lines,"the letter, signed by 21 Republican committee members, said. "Despite the DOT's responsibility to ensure safe and reliable transport in the United States, you ignored the catastrophe for over a week."
Buttigieg visited the site Thursday, a day after GOP 2024 presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump toured the site and brought supplies to the town of about 5,000 residents.
"The American people deserve answers as to what caused the derailment, and DOT needs to provide an explanation for its leadership's apathy in the face of this emergency," the letter continued.
In response, The Hill reported that Buttigieg posted on Twitter that the incident was more in the jurisdiction of the National Transportation Safety Board than the DOT.
"I am alarmed to learn that the Chair of the House Oversight Committee thinks that the NTSB is part of our department," The Hill reported he wrote on Twitter. "Still, of course, we will fully review this and respond appropriately."
As President Joe Biden's administration seemed to struggle responding to the disaster, Biden made a surprise visit to Ukraine where he announced an additional $500 million in aid for the war effort against Russia there.
Back in Washington on Friday, Biden told reporters that he still has no plans to visit the Ohio town, but praised his administration's response for "being on the ground" there within two hours of the derailment.
"At this moment not [planning to visit East Palestine]," Biden said in a video posted on Twitter. "I posted a whole video [on Zoom]. "I had a long meeting with my team and what they were doing. We were there after two hours after the train was down."
He said he spoke with "every major figure"in Pennsylvania and Ohio regarding the crash.
"The idea that we are not engaged is simply not fair," he said. "In addition, there was not a request made even before I was heading over [to Ukraine]."
The letter said the committee "was deeply concerned" about DOT's "slow pace in resolving this matter."
The members asked Buttigieg to provide a number of documents to the committee by March 10.
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