West Virginia officials were aware of the hazardous chemicals at Freedom Industries' facilities before Thursday's spill, a newly released document reveals.
West Virginia authorities were aware of the hazardous chemicals stored at Freedom Industries’ facilities long before Thursday’s chemical spill, a newly released document reveals.
According to the , Freedom Industries, the company at the center of the massive spill, filed the required “Tier 2” form with the state back in February informing officials that one million pounds of the coal-cleaning chemical 4-methylcyclohexanemethanol (MCHM) were being stored in tanks at the Etowah River Terminal along the now-polluted Elk River.
Under the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act, Freedom Industries was required to alert the state of the presence of hazardous chemicals at its facilities so authorities and emergency responders were aware of the potential risks.
“Obviously, the whole idea of the chemical inventory reports is to properly inform local emergency officials about the sorts of materials they might have to deal with,” chemical safety expert Fred Millar said, according to the Gazette. ”It’s just head-in-the-sand to be ignoring this type of threat.”
Officials seemed surprised to learn that MCHM was being stored in Freedom Industries’ facilities, and they did not appear to have an emergency plan in place to respond to the spill. “This was not a chemical we were familiar with,” West Virginia American Water Company spokesperson Laura Jordan told the Saturday.
At Friday’s press conference, West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Romblin called the spill “unacceptable,” and is continuing to advise residents not to use tap water. As many as 300,000 residents remain without potable water as officials continue to investigate how the leak occurred. The West Virginia Poison Center by Saturday morning logged nearly 800 calls from residents reporting symptoms of nausea, vomiting, dizziness, headaches, and skin irritation.