Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) demanded in a letter to President Biden on Thursday that he fire Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for his handling of the train crash that deposited dangerous chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio last month.
In the letter, the Florida Republican said that Buttigieg’s response to the disaster exemplifies a “gross level of incompetence and apathy” that endangers the safety of the American people.
“For two years, Secretary Buttigieg downplayed and ignored crisis after crisis, prioritizing issues that had little bearing on the nation’s transportation infrastructure. “It is painfully obvious to the American public that Secretary Buttigieg has little regard for the responsibilities of the Secretary of Transportation,” Rubio says in the White House letter.
“This has never been more evident than during the previous two weeks. Secretary Buttigieg refused to accept the tragedy in East Palestine, Ohio, until his willful ignorance could no longer be sustained. Even after accepting the tragedy, he continues to avoid responsibility for the safety of our nation’s rail network. Rubio contends that the events leading up to the crash indicate a blatant lack of oversight and require the involvement of the nation’s top transportation authority.
On February 3, a freight train hauling 20 cars of dangerous chemicals from Pennsylvania to Illinois crashed in the little Ohio town. When a fire spewing hazardous smoke blazed, residents within one mile of the accident site were instructed to evacuate, while those further away were told to shelter in place.
The discharge of vinyl chloride, which has been proved to cause cancer at high exposure levels, and other chemicals into the air and ground has prompted grave worries for the future health of the local population.
Buttigieg did not make his first public remarks about the disaster until February 13, when he tweeted, in part, “I continue to be concerned about the effects of the Feb. 3 train derailment near East Palestine, OH, and the effects on families in the ten days since their lives were upended through no fault of their own.”
The former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, added that the Department of Transportation “has been supporting the investigation led by the National Transportation Safety Board” and that “teams from the Federal Rail Administration and Pipelines and Hazardous Materials were on-site within hours of the initial incident and remain actively engaged.”
Rubio’s letter went on to criticize Buttigieg for being “completely absent” throughout the 2021 supply-chain problem, vacationing in Portugal while a train strike loomed, and using private jets extensively.
Rubio closed his statement by begging Biden to demand “the immediate resignation of Secretary Buttigieg.”
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