Although there’s no longer wall-to-wall coverage in East Palestine, Ohio, residents of the small town still have to struggle with the horrific disaster’s aftermath.

The February train derailment resulted in a fire and release of hazardous chemicals into the environment.

East Palestine residents feel ‘abandoned and forgotten’ after the disaster.

Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) told Fox News host Sean Hannity that residents still worry about contaminated water and Joe Biden hasn’t visited the town.

The Washington Examiner reports:

Vance claimed on Tuesday that the people of East Palestine feel “abandoned and forgotten” in the wake of the February incident. Biden stated on March 2 that he would visit East Palestine “at some point.”

“I was there just a couple weeks ago, and let me tell you, people feel abandoned and forgotten because their own government, their own president, who promised to show up didn’t show up and they really feel it,” Vance said on Fox News’s Hannity. “When you compare what is happening in East Palestine and Maui, you see a guy, who promised, he ran for president saying that he would bring decency and empathy back to the Oval Office. Well, Donald Trump showed up in East Palestine and Joe Biden never did and he has not showed up anywhere else either.”

Vance’s comment on Biden not showing “anywhere else” comes a little more than a week after Biden visited Maui, Hawaii, where wildfires have killed over 100 people and devastated several communities.

The Ohio senator added that he believes that Biden does not care about the people of East Palestine, calling Biden “a guy who ran for president to be called Mr. President.” Vance also said that the government is not helping residents when it should be conducting indoor air quality testing and cleaning up East Palestine’s creeks and waters.

According to Fox News national correspondent Garrett Tenney, the East Palestine toxic train derailment clean up faces mounting delays. 

Tenney explained the clean up was supposed to be complete in June, but the latest timeframe predicts the clean up won’t finish until 2024.

He reported the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is causing the delays.

“Initially the EPA said that this would be done by June, then it was July, then it was August, and now as you mentioned, it’s not expected to be done until sometime next year,” Tenney said.

“Those delays are not because of Norfolk Southern Railways. They’re because of the EPA. The EPA, how long it is taking the agency to run tests and approve plans to actually get the work done. 200 families are still unable to return to their home,” he added.

WATCH:

Here’s a Rumble backup courtesy of our friends at The Gateway Pundit:

The EPA wrote in August:

  • EPA has approved a workplan to allow Norfolk Southern to treat hazardous wastewater on-site to remove vinyl chloride and other contaminants. This treated wastewater will be disposed of off-site as a non-hazardous waste.
  • Excavation of contaminated soil is underway at the South Ditch area and in Car Scrapping Area 4 on the south side of the tracks.
  • Sheet piling installation is ongoing as needed along the South Ditch to stabilize the tracks for excavation of contaminated soils.
  • Sediment sampling in Sulphur Run and Leslie Run is complete. The data will be used to assess impacts from the derailment.
  • Surface water sampling continues. In addition to surface water sample collection, fish surveys are also being performed in Leslie Run.
  • Contaminated soil, debris, and any wastewater or water used to decontaminate trucks before leaving the site continue to be removed for off-site treatment and disposal.

Read the full East Palestine update from the agency HERE.

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