Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg will visit East Palestine, Ohio, on Thursday, Feb. 23—nearly three weeks after a Norfolk Southern train derailed there leaking toxic chemicals into the community.
Earlier this week, Buttigieg demurred on announcing a specific date and time for a visit, telling reporters only that he was planning to do so “when the time is right.”
On Wednesday, however, the Department of Transportation confirmed that Buttigieg would be making the trip the following day.
“As the Secretary said, he would go when it is appropriate and wouldn’t detract from the emergency response efforts,” a department spokesperson told The Epoch Times. “The Secretary is going now that the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] has said it is moving out of the emergency response phase and transitioning to the long-term remediation phase.”…