On Feb. 3, 2023, a Norfolk Southern freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed after a railcar's wheel bearing overheated, causing a fire. Three days later, officials conducted a "controlled release" of several tank cars that were filled with vinyl chloride, a toxic and flammable gas that can cause certain cancers, to prevent an explosion.

The Village of East Palestine and Norfolk Southern have announced a $22 million settlement resolving all of the village’s claims arising from a disastrous train derailment near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border in 2023.

We are in it for the long haul in East Palestine,” Vance, a former US senator from Ohio, said in remarks from the town’s fire station.