The mayor of East Palestine, Trent Conaway, has criticized President Joe Biden for traveling to Ukraine instead of visiting Ohio’s toxic train derailment site. Biden’s surprise visit to Kyiv on Monday to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has angered the mayor, who accused the President of abandoning his domestic responsibilities. Conaway spoke out against Biden during an interview on Fox News, calling his decision to visit Ukraine “the biggest slap in the face” and claiming that the President does not care about the people of Ohio. The mayor was also angered by reports that Biden had been giving away millions of dollars in aid to Ukraine while neglecting the Ohio disaster. The Biden administration has been under intense scrutiny over its response to the train derailment that occurred on February 3 in East Palestine. The accident caused a toxic spill, leading to the evacuation of about 5,000 residents. Federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, were dispatched to the scene to assist with the disaster. Despite the efforts of the federal agencies, Conaway and other locals have criticized the response to the disaster, calling the resources on the ground insufficient. The residents fear that their air and drinking water may be contaminated due to the chemicals, including vinyl chloride, that were involved in the derailment. During a briefing on Tuesday, Conaway clarified his position, saying that he would not turn anyone away, including Biden, if they wanted to visit the community. However, he emphasized that he did not want the situation to become a “political pawn game” and that he simply wanted to go back to living his life the way it was before the derailment. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro has also commented on the situation, calling for accountability and public servants who are “putting politics aside to get things done for the citizens of these two great communities.” Shapiro emphasized that this was not a place for conspiracy theories or political games and that the people of Ohio and Pennsylvania deserved answers. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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