Biden praises community, announces new NIH grants in first East Palestine visit

President Biden praised the East Palestine, Ohio, community during a visit to the town Friday, saying it was “absolutely amazing” what it rose to following the 2023 train derailment that caused a toxic chemical spill.

The president also condemned what he described as the “corporate negligence” that led to the derailment, which caused a train operated by Norfolk Southern Railway to spill toxic chemicals including vinyl chloride, a compound used in production of plastics. 

Saying the town had “been through hell,” Biden praised local and federal officials’ “Herculean” efforts in the wake of the crash.

The president conceded “there’s a lot more to do,” and vowed that the government would continue to support the community and “hold Norfolk Southern accountable. … What they cannot make whole, the government will make whole.”

“While there are acts of God, this was an act of greed that was 100 percent preventable,” Biden said, accompanied by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan and Mayor Trent Conaway. “We were pushing railroads to take more precautions, to deal with braking, to do a whole range of things that were not dealt with. Norfolk Southern failed its responsibility.”

A spokesperson for Norfolk Southern said it had promised “from the beginning” to “make it right in East Palestine.”

“With major site remediation completed and the investment of more than $104 million in the East Palestine community, we’re keeping our promises,” the spokesperson said. “We’ll continue to partner with elected officials, residents, and local leaders to keep making measurable progress, and on our shared focus to help East Palestine thrive for the long-term.”

Biden also announced six new National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants to top American universities to analyze the crash’s short and long-term impacts of the crash, and reiterated his endorsement of bipartisan legislation that would tighten railway safety protocols. The president also called on the Senate to pass a tax package that already cleared the House, which would ensure locals’ compensation from Norfolk Southern is not treated as taxable income. 

The president emphasized local and national unity in his remarks, saying “in moments like this, let’s remember who we are—we’re the United States of America, for God’s sake. We have obligations to one another. There’s nothing beyond our capacity when we do it together, and we’re going to stay here and do it together for as long as it takes.”

Regan, who spoke after Biden, said that since the crash, the EPA has removed 176,000 tons of contaminated soil, while Conaway praised the community’s resilience and called for the passage of the railway safety bill. 

Although both Regan and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited the town in the immediate wake of the crash, Biden did not visit the town until this week, shortly after the anniversary of the event. While no one was injured or killed in the derailment, locals have expressed concerns about longer-term health and environmental hazards and appealed to the president to declare an emergency. Biden did not respond to reporters’ questions on the scene about why he did not visit the site in 2023.

This story was updated at 6:54 p.m.