‘Not A Good Policy’: Biden Yet To Appoint Leader To Key Transportation Agency, Despite Train Derailment Disaster
Alexa Schwerha on February 20, 2023
- President Joe Biden has yet to appoint an administrator to lead the Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, which is charged with regulating transportation of hazardous materials.
- The department is currently being led by Deputy Administrator Tristan Brown, who will visit the site of the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment on Wednesday, an agency spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
- “This has been an unfortunate trend for the last two administrations. Both the Trump and Biden Administrations have left many agencies under the auspices of a deputy or acting administrator,” Brigham McCown, the agency’s administrator under President George W. Bush, told the DCNF.
President Joe Biden has yet to appoint a leader to a key Department of Transportation (DOT) agency tasked with regulating the transportation of hazardous chemicals, despite a train derailment in eastern Ohio that released a toxic plume over the town, Bloomberg reported.
The DOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has been led by Deputy Administrator Tristan Brown, according to Bloomberg. The report comes more than two weeks after a Norfolk Southern train carrying several toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, prompting officials to conduct controlled burns to avoid an explosion.
“This has been an unfortunate trend for the last two administrations. Both the Trump and Biden Administrations have left many agencies under the auspices of a deputy or acting administrator,” Brigham McCown, the agency’s administrator under President George W. Bush, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “This is not a good policy and reflects a lack of understanding of the importance of having a Senate-confirmed official at the helm of critical safety agencies. For example, the USDOT lacks FAA, PHMSA, and NHTSA administrators. These are three critical safety agencies regulating the aviation, automobile, and energy/hazmat industries.”
The agency is responsible for regulating train car design and conducting inspections and is part of the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation into what caused the initial derailment, Bloomberg reported. It also sent officials to the eastern Ohio town hours after the derailment and Brown will visit the site on Wednesday with Federal Railroad Administration Administrator Amit Bose, an agency spokesperson told the DCNF.
“The Secretary and the Administration have confidence in PHMSA’s current leadership, which has been one of the most productive in advancing new safety requirements in the agency’s history,” the spokesperson said.
Chris Sigler, an East Palestine resident, previously told the DCNF that there was an “uneasiness” in the town after the derailment and that sharing of “factual information” is important to ensuring East Palestine receives aid.
“Everybody’s worried, myself included and my wife and family members, and everybody’s just worried about the lasting effects of this,” he said.
Both the administration and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg faced criticism for their slow response to the derailment, as it took ten days for the Buttigieg to issue a statement about the disaster on Twitter.
McGowan told the DCNF that Brown is capable, but may have “been held back by other senior officials who do not understand the importance of being on-site” following the derailment.
“I believe Mr. Brown would have had more authority as a Senate-confirmed official to say, this is my program, and the general needs to be in the field with their people to see firsthand what is happening,” McGowan said. “You can only get so much from a telephone call. That said, it’s unfortunate that neither the Secretary of Transportation nor the Administrator of the EPA has traveled to the site. They both should have been on-scene long before now to understand the situation better and to act accordingly. Sitting in an office 500 miles away doesn’t give you the complete picture. Nor is it reassuring to those affected.”
Biden was also slammed by critics Monday for visiting Kviv, Ukraine and not East Palestine, Ohio. Former President Donald Trump, however, confirmed he will visit the scene on Wednesday to meet with residents.
“We are a tight-knit community and we are all very scared about what the future holds and no one is really giving answers,” Bree Hall, an East Palestine resident, previously told the DCNF. “The railroad won’t give answers. It’s kind of brushed off by Governor DeWine, the severity of it, and I’m not sure if it’s because we’re a poor community that it doesn’t really matter, if maybe we were a more affluent community maybe more people would take notice, but we matter. East Palestine matters and I just wish more people would take it serious.”
The White House did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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