Pete Buttigieg blames Trump for Ohio train derailment amid criticism: 'We're constrained'
'We’re constrained by law on some areas of rail regulation,' Buttigieg tweeted
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg partially blamed the recent derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals on the Trump administration reversing a safety rule.
www.foxnews.com
15 Feb 2023 ~~ By Thomas Catenacci
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg shifted part of the blame for the recent derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals in Ohio on the Trump administration reversing a little-known safety rule.
Buttigieg noted Tuesday evening that his agency had taken a series of steps to improve rail safety through "historic investments," but said it was constrained by the Trump administration action. In 2018, the
Department of Transportation (DOT) withdrew a rule proposed three years earlier requiring trains carrying certain dangerous chemicals to utilize electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes, saying the technology's benefits were inconclusive.
"In the wake of the East Palestine derailment and its impact on hundreds of residents, we’re seeing lots of newfound or renewed (and welcome) interest in our work on rail safety, so I wanted to share more about what we’ve been doing in this area," Buttigieg tweeted.
~Snip~
The Trump administration rule change Buttigieg partially blamed came after Congress passed and former President Barack Obama signed the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act in December 2015.
The legislation established a new process, including independent study and testing, for the DOT to use in developing an updated regulatory impact analysis (RIA) related to the ECP brake provision, according to the Government Publishing Office. The DOT stated in 2018 that the ECP brake requirements weren't expected to be cost beneficial under any scenario assessed.
Commentary:
Biden had two years with a Democrat majority in the senate and the house and as done nothing but cause inflation, lost national credibility, and shortages of goods. This is all on Biden’s head, not Trump’s. And if Buttigieg actually did his job, he would have identified that issue on day 1 and opened his yap. Instead he claimed roads are racist blaming Whites, Then took a few months off to play mommy and go on vacation.
Let's try for a minute to be non-political and think about what Buttigieg said. He indicated being "constrained by law" then went on to assert that a "rule" was reversed by the prior Administration in 2018. Let's calmly assume these are substantially the facts. Now, let's fast forward to the current Administration. President Biden was quick to reverse "rules" established by "that Administration." Thereby with the stroke of a pen, why did they NOT do so with this "rule." Can this Administration EVER handle a situation without invoking "Trump" and the prior Administration?
While on the first day in office Biden shut down the pipeline, causing immense amounts of oil to be shifted to transportation by RAIL.
You would think someone just takin over the Dept. of Transportation would have looked into the safety aspects of doing that within the next two years.
Makes people wonder if when someone is appointed to work for the Biden Admin they are given a manual on how to blame others, mostly DJT, for their mistakes and trying to convince people by habitually lying to them. There is no section on telling the truth or taking responsibility for their incompetent mistakes. 
thehill.com
