Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) told host Matthew Boyle in an exclusive interview on SiriusXM\u2019s Breitbart News Saturday that the East Palestine train disaster is not evidence of a problem with the free market, given that \u201cthese railroad companies have gotten in bed with big government.\u201d Meanwhile, the Biden administration is currently making it more difficult to clean up the area in the small Ohio town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese railroad companies have gotten totally in bed with big government,\u201d Vance said. \u201cMost recently, three months ago, they were bailed out by the government in the form of the feds coming in, Joe Biden and others coming in and settling the labor union issue that the railroads have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo you cannot tell me that this is the free market when you\u2019ve gotten in bed with big government and are begging for big government privileges,\u201d the senator continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vance added that the Republican Party is \u201con the side of the firefighters and the police officers responding to these disasters, not the big train companies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn East Palestine right now, there are thousands of tons of toxic dirt,\u201d the senator added. \u201cFrom this train derailment, you had the chemicals seeping into the soil, so we have to dig that stuff out, that contaminated soil, and get it out of there to proper facilities to dispose of it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere are mounds of toxic dirt literally sitting on the ground in East Palestine. You know why? Because Joe Biden\u2019s administration is making it harder to get that stuff to the proper disposal sites,\u201d Vance revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe just cannot forget about these people,\u201d the senator added. \u201cIf this town is not cleaned up in the right amount of time, this is a disastrous failure of government; a disastrous failure of every institution in our country that should be looking after vulnerable people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vance also noted that \u201cthere are all these knock-on effects\u201d from the Ohio train disaster, such as \u201cfarmers who can\u2019t sell their hay, can\u2019t sell their chicken eggs, because people are terrified that East Palestine is too contaminated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere are small businesses that are completely hemorrhaging,\u201d he added. \u201cThink of what happened during COVID, but just happening to one small town where pretty much everything got shut down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As for what to do in order to prevent these types of disasters, Vance noted that he has presented a bipartisan bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not trying to create a new regulatory regime here, but we do want the trains to pay when they cause this problem. I think that\u2019s totally fair and appropriate,\u201d the senator said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to making train companies pay, the bill also \u201cprovides proper notice to the first responders when they go in to fight fires in these environments\u201d so that \u201cthey actually know what they\u2019re dealing with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a big problem in East Palestine,\u201d Vance said. \u201cThese guys \u2014 we\u2019re talking about a nearly all volunteer fire department \u2014 they went in to fight the fire in East Palestine and they had no idea that they were dealing with toxic chemicals. We have to change that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bill also creates an incentive so that \u201cthese rails are installing safety detectors along the rail line,\u201d the senator said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe train was starting to disintegrate,\u201d Vance said of the train operated by Norfolk Southern that derailed in East Palestine last month. \u201cThe joint bearings were starting to disintegrate before it even crashed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSomebody should have caught on to that and recognize the problem before it led to this catastrophic train derailment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n