Thursday, January 9th Crude MCHM got into the water system last week when it leaked from a storage facility at Freedom Industries into the Elk River, about a mile and a half upstream from WVAWC’s intake. About 300,000 West Virginia residents and 9 counties have been affected by the recent water contamination.
Public officials have been cautious about casting blame until the crisis is over and there’s a full investigation, but here are some points to consider:
- Freedom Industries is responsible for the leak. It’s their tank or their property and it’s the company’s obligation to maintain the structural integrity of its facilities. The tank that leaked was more than 50 years old and the state DEP officials say the leak containment system was virtually non-existent.
- Freedom responded too slowly to the leak. A citizen reported a strong odor to the DEP around eight o’clock Thursday morning. DEP tracked it to Freedom Industries by 11:00 a.m., where employees were apparently unaware of the leak, despite a powerful smell.
- West Virginia American Water Company believed that its sophisticated filtration system would handle the spill, and only several hours later issued the do-not-use order after it became apparent the chemical was getting through.
- Freedom Industries tank farm does not require any specific permitting, beyond a standard license for rainwater runoff. “There was no environmental framework in place to stop the leak in the tank or the secondary containment,” DEP Secretary Randy Huffman stated.
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