Company responsible for W. Virginia chemical spill files for bankruptcy

Published time: January 17, 2014 20:53
Edited time: January 17, 2014 21:32

Freedom Industries on Barlow St on the banks of the Elk River is seen on January 10, 2014 in Charleston, West Virginia.(AFP Photo / Tom Hindman)

Freedom Industries, the company responsible for the methanol leak that contaminated the water supply in a West Virginia town, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to a new report.
The company’s Board of Directors convened at a special meeting on Friday to file a voluntary petition for bankruptcy protection, according to WVNS-TV in West Virginia. Notes taken at the meeting obtained by the Wall Street Journal indicate that Freedom Industries estimates the company debt is currently at approximately $10 million, although the inevitable clean-up costs, lawsuits, and other fees incurred because of the spill will add to that burden.
Approximately 300,000 people throughout nine counties near Charleston, West Virginia have been under a “do not use” tap water order since January 9. The mandate was put in place because a coal-cleaning chemical, known as 4-methlycyclohexane methanol, seeped into the Elk River.

Known as 'buffalos', water tanks from Northern PA were arrive at a steady pace at West Virginia American Water on January 10, 2014 in Charleston, West Virginia.(AFP Photo / Tom Hindman)

The bankruptcy document claimed that some sort of object appeared to have pierced an already-leaking storage tank, releasing so much of the chemical into the river that some witnesses said they saw it pooling in ditches along roadsides.

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Major chemical leak causing panic in West Virginia

RT America


   

Published on Jan 10, 2014

Thousands of gallons of dangerous chemicals have been leaking from a facility managed by Freedom Industries in Charleston, West Virginia, and hundreds of thousands of people in the vicinity are being impacted as a result. The governor has declared a state of emergency in nine counties there, and federal agencies have since been dispatched to help make sense of the accident. RT's Meghan Lopez reports live from West Virginia to weigh in on the status of the chemical leak hours after it was first discovered.

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Examiner.com

Chemical leak threatens 100,000 in West Virginia

Charles SimminsHealthcare Examiner

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January 9, 2014

West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin declared a state of emergency in several West Virginia counties Jan. 9, after a chemical leak contaminated the drinking water supply for about 100,000 in the Charleston area. West Virginia American Water was notified that a chemical used in coal mining had leaked into the Elk River upstream from its main water intake. The water supply feed all or parts of nine West Virginia counties.
The Charleston Daily Mail reports that county officials began tracking a strong licorice smell early Thursday morning. It was traced to a facility owned by Freedom Industries, the Etowah River Terminal. A storage tank was leaking and the containment system around the tank failed to hold the chemical. It leaked into the Elk River, the source of drinking water for many West Virginians. The Daily Mail says that the leak was stopped about two hours after it was discovered.

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