Democrat Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer reportedly wants to hand $15 million in taxpayer dollars to disgraced rail company Norfolk Southern even after its derailment debacles earlier this month.
GOP Michigan Rep. James DeSana revealed that as much as $15 million could be sent to Norfolk Southern Railway Company via a $750 million proposal in corporate welfare money from the Whitmer administration.
The Midwesterner reported:
The Whitmer administration has already given “$210 million in state incentives,” and “$772 million in tax abatements,” according to the Detroit News, for the project that couples Ford with Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd., or CATL, a communist Chinese-controlled company.
DeSana issued a statement condemning Whitmer’s corporate welfare handout, asserting it is “particularly egregious” given Norfolk Southern’s recent catastrophes.
“Norfolk Southern has had two dangerous train derailments in the Midwest this month – one in Michigan and another that leaked hazardous chemicals that are still causing serious concerns for families in Ohio,” said DeSana. “Yet Gov. Whitmer is asking us to ignore all that and hand over taxpayer dollars to help Norfolk Southern grow in Michigan.”
Another Michigan conservative who agrees with DeSana is former gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon.
“Millions in MI taxpayer dollars should not be going to Norfolk Southern while investigations into the company’s two recent derailments – one resulting in an environmental crisis – are ongoing,” she posted online.
Millions in MI taxpayer dollars should not be going to Norfolk Southern while investigations into the company’s two recent derailments – one resulting in an environmental crisis – are ongoing. https://t.co/OehB9SsYdO
— Tudor Dixon (@TudorDixon) February 22, 2023
Republican state Rep. Andrew Fink also echoed the sentiments, saying that until a full probe of the Norfolk Southern derailments in Ohio and Michigan has officially concluded, he cannot even begin to support a discussion of potentially “appropriating $15,000,000 to expand their operations in Michigan.”
Democrat Rep. Philip Skaggs justified the handout as a function of intelligent infrastructure spending.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has received a lot of flack over his slow response to the event, took a trip to East Palestine, Ohio not long after it was visited by former President Trump. During his time there, Buttigieg was confronted by American journalist Savanah Hernandez, who pressed him to answer criticisms expressed by many Americans over his tepid response to the catastrophic derailment faced by the town.
I confronted Pete Buttigieg once again on being 3 weeks later after he tried to dance around questions on slow federal response.
I then asked if he thinks 1,000 train derailments per year was okay with him, since that was his initial response to the East Palestine derailment pic.twitter.com/x0W4dMyXSq
— Savanah Hernandez (@sav_says_) February 23, 2023
