U.S. Senator, J.D. Vance paid a visit to the village of East Palestine to visit with residents and local leaders regarding the recent train derailment disaster.

During his visit, the senator held a press conference and told local media that he believes representatives from Norfolk Southern should have shown up to an informational session conducted in the East Palestine High School gymnasium Wednesday evening.

In a statement released Wednesday, Norfolk Southern said the reason they weren't showing up was concerns of "growing physical threats" to its employees."

However, Senator Vance says it would have done Norfolk Southern "a lot of good" to have attended the session and that he believes those concerns to be unwarranted.

"These are nice people, these are good people. The idea that they're going to get beat up if they walk into East Palestine I think is not true. So I think it would do Norfolk Southern a lot of good to have at least a representative on the ground directly answering the community's questions," Vance said.

Additionally, the senator criticized Norfolk Southern claiming that their priorities aren't cleanup of the village, but getting trains back up and running.

"What I have heard from multiple people is that the accident happened, and by Tuesday, there were replacement rails. This is the day after the controlled burn. ... You cannot dig out and clean up an area if it's covered by railroad tracks and there are trains going over it," Vance said.

Vance told local media outlets that he will be taking these concerns to Norfolk Southern right after the press conference.

Vance also spoke on the water quality in the village stating that he visited Leslie Run Creek and what he saw there "really is worrying."

"I can't imagine being a member of this community seeing dead fish, dead worms, dead crawdads in the community that you live in, where your children play in that creek. That is a problem and it goes to the fact that Norfolk Southern has got to do the cleanup and has got to do it as quickly as possible," Vance said.

Vance went on to state that he had placed a stick in the creek and chemicals "bubbled out of the ground."

"If you're a resident of this community, how do you have confidence in the drinking water and the safety of the waterways when chemical is bubbling up in your own creek," Vance stated.

Vance advised residents to continue getting their water tested and to continue to drink bottled water until they're confident the water is safe to drink.