Buttigieg says he plans to visit site of Ohio train derailment

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg mentioned on Tuesday he plans to go to East Palestine, Ohio, the positioning of a prepare derailment and chemical spill. Nevertheless, he didn’t lay out a timeline for his go to.

“I used to be mayor of my hometown for eight years. We handled a number of disasters, pure and human, and one of many issues I seen in a short time is that there is two sorts of people that present up when you’ve that type of catastrophe expertise— people who find themselves there as a result of they’ve a selected job to do and are there to get one thing performed and people who find themselves there to look good and have their image taken,” Buttigieg mentioned on ABC’s Good Morning America.

Buttigieg famous that individuals from his division have been on the bottom since hours after the crash on Feb. 3. He additionally mentioned the Nationwide Transportation Security Board wants room to do their job and examine the reason for the crash.

“Once I go, it is going to be about motion on rail security,” Buttigieg mentioned.

Buttigieg penned a sharply-worded letter to the prepare’s operator, Norfolk Southern, this week. He mentioned he will probably be asking Congress to lift the cap on fines for violating security laws. He. famous Tuesday that the cap is $250,000, which he mentioned is “mud” for firms like Norfolk Southern, which had an working earnings of $4.8 billion in 2022.

“I count on that Norfolk Southern and different railroads will take motion now, not later, to deal with public security considerations and higher forestall future disasters,” Buttigieg wrote.

The CEO of Norfolk Southern wrote an open letter to East Palestine final week, saying the corporate is dedicated to making sure that the world recovers and thrives.