US Sen. Bob Casey visits Darlington Township after Ohio train derailment
DARLINGTON TOWNSHIP, Pa. (KDKA) - U.S. Sen. Bob Casey visited Darlington Township, Beaver County on Monday to hear concerns about the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
"They need to be heard. It's not enough to just hear them, we've got to act," said U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA).
Darlington Township residents' lives changed in a terrible way after a Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in nearby East Palestine on Feb. 3.
On Monday morning, Casey stopped at the Darlington Township municipal building and listened to concerns from township leaders. He also got a tour of the Darlington Township Volunteer Fire Department, and firefighters told him how they've been affected by the derailment.
Casey told them what he thinks needs to be done to help the entire community.
"What's important is what we do today. There are still real concerns about soil and water and basic safety, and we have to continue to push every level of government to do their part and make sure Norfolk Southern is held accountable for what took place," he said.
Casey, U.S. Sen. John Fetterman and Rep. Chris Deluzio recently urged Norfolk Southern to provide basic help to more Darlington Township residents after there were reports of Pennsylvanians being turned away at the family assistance center in East Palestine.
"We asked to make sure that in at least three zip codes, that people got the help that they need. And the response that they gave us was that, even though the response was reasonably on time, 'they did not meet the expectations that I had,'" Casey said.
He said Norfolk Southern should also support a new bipartisan bill he proposed with multiple other U.S. senators called the Railway Safety Act of 2023. They want the law to go into place to try to improve safety protocols and to prevent future train derailment disasters.
"Just getting the safety requirements in place ahead of time, forcing rail companies to do what they should do but don't want to do," Casey said.
He said they have to move the bill quickly and try to approve it this year.
