During Monday’s conference, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg spoke out about racial disparities within construction. He claimed that construction sites do not employ local workers from minority communities and are instead outsourcing to White people.

Buttigieg encouraged attendees to join their contractors and community college to create a workforce that reflects the community during the National Association of Counties Conference.

Buttigieg stated that there are too many stories of infrastructure in which a neighborhood, often one of color, sees the project coming to them. However, the people who work on the project’s hard hats, the well-paid jobs, don’t seem to have come from the same area.

He said that Americans could reduce the wealth gap in the country by “tearing up those barriers” at the delivery level.

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In April, Buttigieg raised eyebrows when he stated that “there is racism physically built into highways.”

April Ryan asked Buttigieg in November how he would “deconstruct racism that was built into the roads.”

“I am still amazed that some people were shocked when I pointed out the fact that if a highway was constructed for the purpose to divide a White neighborhood or if an underneathpass was constructed so that a bus carrying predominantly Black and Puerto Rican children to a beach in New York was too low for it pass by, that clearly reflects racism,” Buttigieg replied during the press briefing.

Buttigieg did not mention Monday’s train that carried vinyl chloride (a deadly colorless gas) and was operated by Norfolk Southern Railroad. It was derail in Columbiana County Ohio on February 3.

To assist with evacuations and prevent people from coming near the wreckage, the National Guard was activated. Officials also attempted to control the spread of toxic materials.

The toxic chemicals were controlled to be burned and phosgene was released into the air. This gas is highly poisonous and was used in World War I as a weapon.

Monday was a day when the Biden administration, along with state officials, assured residents of eastern Ohio that their air quality is safe after releasing toxic chemicals in controlled quantities.

Officials and independent experts claimed that the data proved the air was safe and that the controlled burning had been done properly. However, residents and experts expressed concern about the situation. They also noted that the train was carrying other toxic chemicals along with vinyl chloride.