If the one major accomplishment President Joe Biden’s administration keeps consistently touting is infrastructure improvements, it would help if the nation’s infrastructure didn’t, you know, happen to fail at the selfsame time the president was touting the improvements.
The word “infrastructure” appeared six times in Biden’s State of the Union speech on Feb. 7, according to the White House transcript — which doesn’t seem like much, until you remember it’s not the easiest word for Uncle Joe to pronounce these days. (It usually comes out as “inferestrre.”)
According to Biden, America is “coming back because we came together to pass the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the largest investment in infrastructure since President Eisenhower’s Interstate Highway System.”
“Already, we’ve funded over 20,000 projects, including at major airports from Boston to Atlanta to Portland.
“These projects will put hundreds of thousands of people to work rebuilding our highways, bridges, railroads, tunnels, ports and airports, clean water, and high-speed internet across America.”
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Just don’t tell these to residents near railroad tracks in Enoree, South Carolina. Or East Palestine, Ohio. Or Splendora, Texas.
That’s because, on the day the president’s account tweeted out this pat-on-the-back, news from train derailments in each of those three communities made headlines.
Our infrastructure law is strengthening bridges from coast to coast. pic.twitter.com/iFSRmCLpKB
— President Biden (@POTUS) February 13, 2023
The most serious, at least from what we currently know, is the East Palestine derailment, where 50 cars from a Norfolk Southern Railway train derailed on Feb. 4.
So, sure, old news — except for the fact many of the cars were carrying toxic chemicals and sent the poison into the air and local waterways.
The Environmental Protection Agency assured residents that the water was safe to drink. Now, let me ask you a question: Do you buy those assurances after watching this video?
Residents had initially been told to evacuate and some of the chemicals had been burned off, but the federal government was giving its utmost assurances to the local residents. Color me unconvinced, even without hundreds of dead fish in the river.
Meanwhile, in Enoree, South Carolina, a CSX Transportation train derailed on Monday afternoon.
Officials are responding to a train derailment in Enoree on Monday afternoon.
CSX Transportation are also on the scene.
https://t.co/wWx0M3TvRn— Russian Market (@runews) February 13, 2023
While the derailment was minor in comparison to what happened in Ohio — no injuries were reported, according to WHNS-TV in Greenville, South Carolina– it was still a sobering counterpoint to Biden’s happy talk about how American infrastructure was improving by the second.
However, in Splendora, Texas, the situation was considerably more tragic after a train derailed at roughly 7:30 a.m. Monday, according to KHOU-TV in Houston.
In that derailment, the station reported, the driver of an 18-wheeler was killed.
“Splendora Police Department said the train was heading south when the big rig crossed the tracks and was hit. The 18-wheeler was dragged half a mile down the tracks,” KHOU reported.
“Police said there are no guard arms or lights at this crossing where the crash took place, but that the driver of the truck should have had a clear line of sight to see the train coming.”
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While there were no chemicals spilled from the train, spilled diesel from the truck needed to be cleaned up by hazmat crews. Authorities said the cleanup could take up to 15 hours.
All of which is to say that, if Biden wanted to pick a day to brag about the leaps and bounds being made by his infrastructure spending, Tuesday wasn’t the day to do it.
But then again, this is Joe Biden, after all. His solution: Just spend more!
