Backlash After Buttigieg Blames Trump For Hampering Train Safety Amid Ohio Train Derailment Fallout

Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg faced sharp criticism after he appeared to cast some of the blame for the Ohio train derailment onto former President Donald Trump because the Department of Transportation (DOT) under the former president nixed an Obama-era regulation on advanced train brake systems.

The derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 3 of a freight train carrying hazardous chemicals sparked a blaze, releasing toxins into the air and forcing evacuations.

Buttigieg’s office did not address the incident for days, with the Transportation secretary breaking his silence on Feb. 14, saying he was “concerned about the impacts” of the derailment, which also led to contaminants entering the Ohio River, killing several thousand fish.

Buttigieg also took aim at the Trump-era DOT for axing a rule on the use of electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes.

“We’re constrained by law on some areas of rail regulation (like the braking rule withdrawn by the Trump administration in 2018 because of a law passed by Congress in 2015), but we are using the powers we do have to keep people safe,” Buttigieg said in a tweet.

The Transport Secretary’s tweet drew a flurry of reactions on social media, many critical.

“This is an absolutely insane thing to tweet,” wrote Jack Kennedy of Barstool Sports, in a tweet.

This is an absolutely insane thing to tweet https://t.co/ovMFB4t13Y

— Kenjac (@JackKennedy) February 15, 2023

“This is the state of the Biden administration: Blame Trump for something that happened exclusively under their watch,” wrote Canary CEO Dan K. Eberhart in a tweet.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) took to Twitter to remark: “It’s 2023 @PeteButtigieg. Stop blaming Trump.”

ECP Rule

As part of Trump’s cutting regulations that he said slowed the economy, the DOT in 2018 withdrew an Obama-era rule that was opposed by railroads requiring trains carrying certain hazardous chemicals to use ECP brakes.

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