EAST PALESTINE, Ohio - U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg arrived in East Palestine early Thursday to survey the site of the February 3 Norfolk Southern derailment, fire, and chemical spill.

Buttigieg is being accompanied by other officials, including those from the National Transportation Safety Board which is expected this morning to release the preliminary findings into what may have caused the crash that led to an evacuation of the village and some surrounding areas.

Also along is the team from US Department of Transportation that has been at the site since the derailment.

According to Buttigieg’s office, the Secretary is going now that the U.S. EPA has said it is moving out of the emergency response phase and transitioning to the long-term remediation phase.

Buttigieg has told the Norfolk Southern CEO that USDOT will hold the railroad accountable for any safety violations, and said he expects the rail carrier will drop previous resistance to certain regulations, and instead step up to support DOT’s effort to seek expanded rail safety regulations. 

Among Buttigieg’s efforts is a demand railroads provide proactive advance notification to state emergency response teams when they are transporting hazardous gas tank cars through their states instead of expecting first responders to look up this information after an incident occurs. 

Pointing out that Norfolk Southern made more than $4 billion last year, Congress is being called upon to increase maximum fines that USDOT can issue to rail companies for violating safety regulations up from the current maximum fine of $225,455.

The Department of Transportation plans to advance the train crew size rule and begin a safety inspection program focusing on routes over which trains with large volumes of hazardous material travel.