West Virginia Chemical Spill

Following The Money On The WV Chemical Spill

May 4, 2014 Staff, www.daily.represent.us Educate! Coal, Energy, Environment, West Virginia Chemical Spill

West Virginia may be the indicator of where our nation is headed — the ‘canary in the coal mine’ if you will. West Virginia has had 5 major industrial accidents in the past 8 years. . . Joe Manchin, a governor who has publicly pressured the federal Environmental Protection Agency to curb enforcement, ran for the US Senate in 2010. At his back was the American Chemistry Council, a leading industry group for big coal. The council spent over $225,000 on advertisements promoting Manchin. That’s big money anywhere, but in a small state like West Virginia, that’s the kind of spending that wins an election.

Volunteers Provide Safe Water in West Virginia

March 16, 2014 James Fassinger, Organize! West Virginia Chemical Spill

It’s been more than two months since Freedom Industries spilled 10,000 gallons of toxic 4-methylcyclohexane methanol (MCHM) and an unknown amount of a polyglycol ether, known as PPH, into the Elk River, a tributary of the Kanawha River, in Charleston, West Virginia. On January 9, 2014, nearly 300,000 residents from nine counties in the vicinity of Charleston were left without drinking water after the spill occurred just upstream from the main West Virginia American Water municipal intake and treatment center. State officials issued a “do not drink” order late in the day.

WVA Families Reject Bills For Toxic Water

February 10, 2014 George Chidi, www.rawstory.com Resist! Environment, Food and Agriculture, West Virginia Chemical Spill

The chemical spill in West Virginia has left thousands of people near Charleston with licorice-scented tap water that they’re afraid to use, despite the assurances of government and their water company. West Virginia American Water promised customers a credit on their bills for the water homeowners needed to use to flush their pipes of contamination. But when many received their January bills, the credit was no where to be found, ThinkProgress reported. And some bills showed hundreds of gallons of water use that homeowners claimed as impossible even with the flushing, given how circumspect their water use had been since the January 9 contamination of the Elk River with 10,000 gallons of Crude MCHM. So, about a hundred people marched Saturday to the offices of West Virginia American Water to present the company with invoices for the water they’ve had to buy on the open market, along with their ancillary expenses.

West Virginia Chemical Spill Even Worse Than Reported

January 29, 2014 Lauren McCauley, www.commondreams.org Educate! Environment, Food and Agriculture, West Virginia, West Virginia Chemical Spill

The amount of chemicals spilled from a West Virginia coal processing plant into the Elk River is even greater than previously reported, according to a statement issued by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection late Monday. Freedom Industries has revised their estimate to approximately 10,000 gallons as the amount of Crude MCHM/PPH spilled on Jan. 9 into the local water supply, a mile and a half upstream from the intake pipes for the regional water utility, West Virginia American Waters. Most recently reported at 7,500 gallons, the estimate was revised following an order by the DEP demanding Freedom Industries provide the methodology it was using to determine the quantity of the chemicals released. However, the state still doesn’t know how much of the mixture of crude MCHM and PPH—a second chemical which just last week was revealed as being included the spill—seeped from storage tanks through old concrete walls meant to contain such leaks, the Charleston Daily Mail reports.

Over 200 West Virginians At State Capitol Demand Answers

January 19, 2014 Deborah Dupre, www.beforeitsnews.com Resist! Coal, Energy, Environment, Food and Agriculture, West Virginia, West Virginia Chemical Spill

Some 200 angry but peaceful West Virgnians gathered on the steps of the state capitol building in Charleston Saturday in the cold to send one main message to their elected leaders: “We want answers.” Carrying signs, such as “Prosecute the Poisoners” the group called the protest out of desperation in light of the chemical spill state of emergency. A leaked chemical, “Crude MCHM” from Freedom Industries tank has poisoned 100,000 homes and impacted 300,000 people. People are sick. People are injured. They want answers that officials say they do not have. ‘People are sick, animals are sick. The water is now a blue goo at one friends house,” explains Missi-Tracy Pauley on Facebook. “Where are the rights our men and women fight for? Where are the promises the elected officials gave? Where are their morals?"

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