Rep. Davidson to Newsmax: After Silence on Train Crash, Buttigieg Has ‘Got to Go’
Rep. Davidson to Newsmax: After Silence on Train Crash, Buttigieg Has ‘Got to Go’
(Newsmax/”Wake Up America”)
By Sandy Fitzgerald | Tuesday, 14 February 2023 01:42 PM EST
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s silence on the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, leading to a forced burn of vinyl chloride and has created concern about pollutants reaching the waterways, is further proof that he was “hired for all the wrong reasons,” Rep. Warren Davidson said on Newsmax Tuesday.
“He’s worried about all the wrong things and frankly, he was hired for all the wrong reasons and that’s where we need real pros to run these lanes, people that actually know the business,” the Ohio Republican said on Newsmax’s “Wake Up America.” “‘Mayor Pete’ is not the guy that knows transportation.”
And, he said, Buttigieg’s two-year performance record should speak for itself.
“The guy’s gotta go,” Davidson added, noting that Buttigieg did not speak publicly about the derailment that happened 10 days ago, until he tweeted Monday night after hearing a televised interview with Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio.
Residents in East Palestine were informed Monday, during a village council meeting, that tests so far show their water is safe to drink, but Mayor Trent Conaway stressed that the response to the disaster remains in the early stages, reports The Morning Journal in nearby Lisbon, Ohio.
But Davidson noted that the “least-bad” option was to have a controlled burn of the vinyl chloride from the train, rather than to risk a massive explosion.
“There’s a whole procedure for chemical engineers to go through,” said Davidson. “My understanding is that they followed those protocols and they said the least-bad option was to have a controlled burn.”
But still, there are questions about whether enough people were evacuated, the congressman said.
“They were up against the clock, and terms of a risk assessment to what happens if this reaches a temperature where you have a massive explosion,” said Davidson.
Buttigieg has come under fire from other Republicans for his lack of attention to the Ohio situation, including for his appearance at the National Association of Counties Conference to discuss topics such as racial equity in the field of construction.
