RFK Jr. and JD Vance Team Up to Investigate East Palestine Disaster
The NIH will launch “a five-year, $10 million research initiative to address health outcomes stemming from this calamity."
This article originally appeared on the Daily Caller News Foundation and was republished with permission.
Guest post by Robert McGreevy
President Donald Trump’s administration announced an investigation Thursday into potential health effects on the citizens of East Palestine, Ohio, from the 2023 Norfolk Southern train derailment.
Vice President JD Vance announced the new investigation alongside Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Jay Bhattacharya.
“We’re finally going to study the effects of these chemicals and finally get to the bottom of what effect this terrible train crash and the ensuing consequences had on the people of East Palestine,” Vance said in a video he posted on X.
The NIH will launch “a five-year, $10 million research initiative to address health outcomes stemming from this calamity,” Kennedy Jr. announced.
The program will include epidemiological research, public health tracking and surveillance of community members’ health, he said.
“I want to thank Vice President Vance for not forgetting about the people of East Palestine,” Kennedy Jr. concluded.
Vance also chided former President Joe Biden for not working with him on the issue while he was an Ohio Senator.
“As much as I tried as a United States Senator to work with the Biden administration, they refused to do anything to actually study the effects of these long term exposures on the people of East Palestine,” Vance said.
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A Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 3, 2023, triggering a fire and evacuation. The train was reportedly transporting hazardous materials such as vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate, ethylene glycol and benzine residue.
Following the derailment, authorities conducted a controlled burn of the toxic vinyl chloride, releasing it into the air to avoid what they warned would be a catastrophic explosion.
Then-National Transportation Safety Bureau (NTSB) Chairwoman later admitted that the burn was unnecessary during an exchange with then-Senator JD Vance in a March 2024 Senate testimony.
NTSB officials said the firm operating the train and contractors failed to notify authorities on the ground that the vinyl chloride’s producer and shipper said venting and burning the substance was not required, USA Today reported.
“It was stabilized well, well before the vent and burn,” she told Vance. “Many hours before.”
“This town very well may have been poisoned to facilitate the rapid movement of freight, or at the very least, it was poisoned for reasons that we can’t identify,” Vance responded.
One year after the crash, three East Palestine residents claimed many still couldn’t drink the town’s tap water due to chemical contamination.
Norfolk Southern agreed to a $600 million settlement with victims of the derailment in April 2024, which included residents of East Palestine.
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