Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) demanded that President Joe Biden ask for the resignation of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg over his handling of the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment.

While focusing on the train derailment as an example of Buttigieg's "gross level of incompetence and apathy," Rubio alleged that it was only the latest example of a two-year pattern.

"For two years, Secretary Buttigieg downplayed and ignored crisis after crisis, while prioritizing topics of little relevance to our nation's transportation system," Rubio wrote in a letter to Biden.

Residents of East Palestine—the Ohio town where a train freighting toxic chemicals derailed this month, triggering health concerns and a national outcry—were hoping to get some answers at a town hall Wednesday night. But the rail company behind the incident didn’t show up. Norfolk Southern cited its concerns about “the growing physical threat to our employees and members of the community” in its rationale for skipping the event, while emphasizing that it was “committed” to addressing residents’ concerns.

A public meeting that was meant to ease fears about a toxic chemical spill in an Ohio town only heightened anger when the rail firm at the heart of the disaster failed to show up.

Representatives of the Norfolk Southern railway company, whose train carrying the chemicals derailed 13 days ago causing a huge fire, cited security concerns when they pulled out.

After the derailment, emergency crews performed a controlled release of vinyl chloride from five railcars that were at risk of exploding.

A controlled burn of the train cars involved in the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment on February 3 has some people concerned about the release of toxic chemicals into the air.

The Norfolk Southern Railway train was transporting many toxic chemicals, so officials decided to conduct a controlled burn of the cars a few days after the derailment to release the chemicals under controlled conditions and to prevent an explosion, which would have sent shrapnel flying into residential areas and potentially released toxic chemicals in an uncontrolled way.

Five days after a train carrying vinyl chloride derailed and exploded near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, crews ignited a controlled burn of toxic chemicals to prevent a much more dangerous explosion.

Thousands in East Palestine, a town of about 5,000 people, evacuated, and officials warned the controlled burn would create a phosgene and hydrogen chloride plume across the region. Phosgene is a highly toxic gas that can cause vomiting and breathing trouble, and was used as a weapon in the first world war.

A number of East Palestine residents have reached out to consumer advocate Erin Brockovich with environmental concerns following the Ohio train derailment, she said in an interview with NewsNation.

Brockovich told NewsNation she’s received at least 100 emails about Ohio so far, with some of the residents telling her the fish in local bodies of water are dying.

An Ohio mayor had strong words for rail operator Norfolk Southern Railway, promising that he would hold the company accountable as East Palestine residents returned home for the first time since a train hauling chemicals derailed and later sent up a toxic plume of smoke last week. 

Trent Conaway, East Palestine's mayor, acknowledged that his community remains frustrated due to lingering odors and promised the village is "not just taking the word" of Norfolk Southern Railway and has Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) representatives involved in air testing. 

President Biden on Friday morning signed a measure that will impose a labor agreement for rail workers that his administration brokered in September, averting a nationwide disruption of rail service ahead of the holiday season. 

"The bill I'm about to sign ends a difficult rail dispute and helps our nation avoid what without a doubt would have been an economic catastrophe at a very bad time in the calendar," Mr. Biden said before signing the legislation. 

The U.S. House of Representatives plans to vote Wednesday to block a potential rail strike after President Joe Biden warned of the dire economic consequences of a rail disruption that could happen as early as Dec. 9.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said lawmakers will vote Wednesday to impose a tentative contract deal struck in September on a dozen unions representing 115,000 workers.

"I don't like going against the ability of unions to strike but weighing the equities, we must avoid a strike," she said Tuesday after a meeting with Biden.

After meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said Congress would take up a bill to avert a rail strike.

Biden has called on railway workers to accept a labor contract brokered by the White House in September, warning that a strike threatens “crippling” disruption. The president has said Congress should urgently pass legislation forcing workers to adopt the deal.