Vice President JD Vance speaks during a visit to East Palestine, Ohio, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025. (Rebecca Droke/Pool Photo via AP

EAST PALESTINE — Commemorating the two-year anniversary of the disastrous train derailment in East Palestine, Vice President J.D. Vance vowed: “This community will not be forgotten, will not be left behind and we are in it for the long haul.”

Vance, a Cincinnati Republican who was a vocal advocate for East Palestine when he was a U.S. senator, criticized the administration of Democrat Joe Biden, who was president when the derailment occurred Feb. 3, 2023, calling it a “tragedy and a shame” that it didn’t do more to help, including with the environmental cleanup.

“I guarantee you that we’re going to finish the cleanup during this administration,” Vance said.

It’s not just the environmental issues, but the village’s economy that suffered because of the train derailment that resulted in the release of toxic chemicals.

Vance said he was hopeful East Palestine would “build back better and stronger and more prosperous than it was before this disaster happened.”

Vance didn’t announce any new programs or efforts for East Palestine during Monday’s visit.

“I just want the people to know President (Donald) Trump, me and the entire administration are committed to the people of East Palestine (that) their government does right by them and we’ll keep on working at it in the years to come.”

Vance was a frequent visitor to East Palestine in the months after the Norfolk Southern railroad disaster and a critic of the railroad company’s decision to have a controlled explosion of five rail cars full of toxic chemicals.

The derailment and controlled explosion caused the evacuation of thousands of residents of East Palestine and nearby communities.

Several residents have concerns about long-term health issues from the release of toxic chemicals into the air, soil and water.

Vance said Norfolk Southern made “promises to this community that it didn’t keep, and you can be damn sure that over the next six months, you’re going to hear a lot from the vice president of the United States and the entire administration if Norfolk Southern doesn’t keep their promises.”

A Norfolk Southern spokeswoman told the Associated Press that the railroad company has “made significant progress, and we aren’t done.”

Along with then-U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Cleveland Democrat, Vance introduced the Railway Safety Act of 2023 in response to the East Palestine derailment.

Vance said Monday the legislation died in Congress because Democrat Chuck Schumer, the former Senate majority leader, wouldn’t bring it up for a vote. But there weren’t enough Senate Republicans who publicly supported the bill for its passage, and it had even less support in the Republican-led House.

The bill had the backing of Trump, who visited East Palestine on Feb. 22, 2023, 19 days after the derailment as he was running for president. Vance’s news conference Monday was at the village’s fire station, where Trump spoke two years ago.

Vance said there will be some improvements made to the bill, and he believes with a Republican-led Congress and Trump’s support, “we have a better shot at” passage.

Vance was joined Monday by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin as well as Ohio’s two senators — Republicans Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted — and Gov. Mike DeWine, U.S. Rep. Michael Rulli, R-Salem, and others who represent the village, including state Rep. Monica Robb Blasdel, R-Columbiana, state Sen. Al Cutrona, R-Canfield, and Columbiana County Commissioner Mike Halleck.

Zeldin said the East Palestine recovery is a “high priority” for Vance and because of that, “I will make sure that for the EPA, it is the highest priority day in, day out. We’re doing everything in our power to make sure this is completed as quickly as possible.”

Vance also visited the derailment site and had a roundtable discussion with local officials Monday.

Sean Duffy, the federal transportation secretary who didn’t join Vance on the trip, said Monday that the Department of Transportation “will work to advance rail safety. As President Trump has pledged, we will ensure the people of East Palestine are not forgotten, and we will use every resource to prevent other communities from enduring what they experienced.”

Mark Wallace, president of the Teamsters Rail Conference, which represents a majority of unionized rail workers, said before Vance’s visit: “The nation just elected a leader who put the spotlight on rail safety two years ago. We ask that he continue to hold railroad executives’ feet to the fire in the pursuit of safer railroads. If we don’t enact safety reforms called for in the legislation Vance introduced, another East Palestine-type tragedy is likely to occur. ”

Rulli said: “The people of East Palestine deserve better. They deserve honesty, action and compassion, not excuses and political games.”

Katie Seewer, an Ohio Democratic Party spokeswoman, said: “J.D. Vance pretends that he delivered real change for East Palestine, but when the cameras are off, he’s nowhere to be seen. Ohioans see right through Vance’s attempts to ingratiate himself with the same folks that the new administration is screwing over every day.”

East Palestine last week reached a $22 million settlement with Norfolk Southern. Before that, the railroad company committed $25 million to improvements to the East Palestine City Park and about $13.5 million in other payments to the village.

An appeal is holding up a $600 million federal class-action lawsuit settlement with those impacted by the derailment. The settlement offered payments of up to $70,000 per household for property damage and up to $25,000 per person for injuries to those who lived within two miles of the derailment. There were lesser payments for those who live within 20 miles of the derailment site.

Norfolk Southern said the East Palestine derailment is expected to cost the company nearly $2.2 billion, with about half of that related to legal costs and settlements, including the pending class-action suit. Insurance is expected to cover at least $751 million of that.

DeWine had asked Biden in 2023 to grant a federal disaster declaration for East Palestine, which was denied.

Vance was asked about the declaration Monday.

“It may have been very helpful 18 months ago,” he said. “I don’t know if it is still helpful.”

Vance added: “We’re not in the same phase of this thing now that we were two years ago, thank God for that. We’re going to do right by the community. That answer may not be the same as it was 18 months ago, but we’re still going to do right by the community.”

Vance said he’ll talk with Zeldin and DeWine about the declaration and if there is a benefit, he’ll push for it.

Vance also said that there will be long-term testing of the air and water because “people have to be confident that they can invest in a business here, that they can build a business here, that they can raise a family here.”

DeWine said East Palestine was “resilient, it is tough and it is strong. It’s a great community, but it is a community that needs some assistance.”