'We will not forget you' Vance delivers remarks in East Palestine on two-year anniversary of derailment

Vice President J.D. Vance paid a visit to the Village of East Palestine to mark the two-year anniversary of the fiery train derailment in the village.
During his visit, Vance told residents they are not forgotten and introduced the village to the new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin. Zeldin said this was his first stop as the EPA's new administrator.
"I know how much of a priority that this is for Vice President Vance. And because it is such a priority for him, I will make sure that for the EPA it is our highest priority day in day out doing everything in our power to make sure this is completed as quickly as possible," Zeldin said.
Vance went on to praise several local officials in the village including Mayor Trent Conaway and Fire Chief Keith Drabick, as well as the village's firefighters.
"I think that this community will build back stronger, and part of that is because of the leadership of [Mayor Conaway] and of course the great firefighters. I know that a lot of you took it upon yourself to make sure this community thrived and survived in the wake of that disaster," Vance said.
"Whether you're a United States Senator or the Vice President of the United States [Chief Drabick] tells you exactly what he thinks you need to hear," Vance continued.
Vance was also joined by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine who says he looks forward to working with Zeldin and the Trump administration on continuing efforts to clean up the village following the derailment.
"This is a community that is resilient, is tough [and] is strong. It is a great, great community, it is a great place to raise a family. ... But it is also a community that continues to need some assistance, and we certainly are going to be doing that," DeWine said.
Looking ahead, Vance promised the Trump administration would be honest and transparent with how much longer that cleanup process would take and criticized the Biden administration claiming it was not transparent during Vance's time as a U.S. Senator. That claim is misleading, since while the EPA did have oversight over the cleanup under the Biden administration, Norfolk Southern has always been in charge of the effort.
"I would say, 'well, when is the cleanup going to be done,' and they'd give me a date, and I'd call a couple weeks after that date and I'd say 'is the cleanup done' and they'd say 'no, it's going to take another few months,' Vance said.
"I'm not saying everything's going to go perfect because it never does, but we're always going to be honest and transparent with the people here," Vance continued.
Vance also promised to continue long term testing on the village's air, water and wells, but did not offer any new funding or initiatives for doing so. Since the derailment, many residents have relied on independent testing out of their own pockets.
"People have to be confident that they can invest in a business here, that they can build a business here, that they can raise a family here. That's going to take the long-term commitment of [not only] the Environmental Protection Agency, but the whole administration, and that's certainly something that people here can expect and they'll have," Vance said.
On the topic of the Rail Safety Act, which was introduced by Vance and Sherrod Brown during their time as U.S. Senators, Vance claimed the legislation was in a place where it would have passed the Senate, but Chuck Schumer, who was the Senate's Majority Leader at the time refused to bring it up for a vote. While this is true, it's also misleading, as it neglects to mention that key Republicans refused to support the bill, particularly Ted Cruz of Texas and John Thune of South Dakota.
Vance said he believes the legislation would have a better chance at passing with Republicans in charge of the Senate, but that could be a tall order since Thune is now the Senate Majority Leader, meaning he would not only need to bring the bill to the floor for a vote, but he'd have to change his mind and support it himself.
"I think things are a little bit different this time, and we're going to make sure we get this right," Vance said.
21 News asked Vance about assurance for residents that any future health concerns would be addressed and further health studies would be conducted following potential cuts from the Trump administration to agencies such as the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Institute of Health (NIH).
Vance responded by defending potential government cuts. His response can be found below.
"Cutting ridiculous bureaucracy actually facilitates providing important services to people here on the ground. We all know that we have a government that wastes too much money, frankly where there's a lot of fraud built into how our government spends money."
"And one of the things that does is waste taxpayer dollars, but the other thing that it does is it ensures that the money that we have in our resources at the federal government don't end up going to the people who actually deserve it."
"And so President Trump's desire to bring some efficiency back to the federal government, that's not going to be bad for the people of East Palestine. It's actually going to ensure that the resources we spend on health actually go to the people on the ground, rather than bureaucrats."
Vance did not explain how that funding would work, though. Last week, the Trump administration sent agencies scrambling after ordering an immediate halt to all funding, including that which was already allocated. This included money for health research at the CDC and NIH, as well as orders that some health data be scrubbed from public view and communication between agencies be curtailed. While that order has since been rescinded, the White House press secretary has reiterated that reimplementing the freeze is still a priority of the administration.