The West Virginia chemical spill

The Complete Guide To 

Everything That’s Happened 

Since The Massive Chemical 

Spill In West Virginia

BY KILEY KROH

Think Progress.

9 February, 2014

It’s been one month since a leak was discovered at a chemical storage facility operated by Freedom Industries on January 9, spilling an estimated 10,000 gallons of crude MCHM — a chemical mixture used in the coal production process — into the Elk River and the water supply for 300,000 West Virginians.

Despite assurances from federal and state officials that the water is safe, residents and experts remain concerned as the black licorice smell characteristic of crude MCHM is still being detected in homes and schools.

“The scariest part is that we really just don’t know what’s going to happen,” 21-year-old Charleston resident Kellie Raines told ThinkProgress. “All of us are using the water now and we’re okay now but in 30 years — I’m young, I don’t want to in 30 years realize that I have cancer because of this water.”

Here is a look at the major events that have shaped this ongoing crisis:

The Leak Is Detected

January 9: Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin declares a state of emergency after Freedom Industries reported to state officials that one of its chemical storage tanks had been leaking. The company could not say when the leak started or how much had spilled into the Elk River. More than 300,000 people were ordered not to drink or use the water for anything other than flushing the toilet. The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources said symptoms of exposure include “severe burning in throat, severe eye irritation, non-stop vomiting, trouble breathing or severe skin irritation such as skin blistering.”

The scariest part is that we really just don’t know what’s going to happen.

January 10: A press conference held by West Virginia American Water revealed more disconcerting questions than answers, namely that the company and state officials were completely unfamiliar with the spilled chemicals and that no standard process existed for testing the toxicity of the chemicals in water. Without sufficient information, the company was unable to say just how dangerous the diluted chemical is to drink or breathe.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is called in to deliver clean water as residents descended on local stores, creating a scene of “chaos” according to one clerk. Wal-Mart went as far as calling in local police to guard a water delivery.

U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin announces his office has “opened an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the release.”

Spill Is Worse Than Estimated

January 12: The spill appears to be much larger than initially estimated, with state environmental officials saying they believe up to 7,500 gallons of crude MCHM leaked into the Elk River.

While Gov. Tomblin called the leak “unacceptable” and opened the door for potential changes in state oversight law, the governor continues to emphasize that the spill was not a coal industry incident. “This was not a coal company, this was a chemical supplier, where the leak occurred,” Tomblin said at a press conference. “As far as I know there was no coal company within miles.”

The Charleston Gazette reports that three years ago, a team of experts with the U.S. Chemical Safety Board “urged the state of West Virginia to help the Kanawha Valley create a new program to prevent hazardous chemical accidents.” The proposal was ignored by state officials.

CREDIT: FOO CONNER/@IWASAROUND

January 13: West Virginia American Water begins lifting the ‘do not use’ ban by zone, giving residents the green light to begin flushing their systems.

Placing Blame

January 14: At a Capitol Hill press conference, U.S. House Speaker John Boehner tells reporters that the federal government shouldn’t do more to protect citizens against future disasters. “We have enough regulations on the books. What the administration ought to be doing is doing their jobs. Why was this plant not inspected since 1991?” What Speaker Boehner failed to mention is that MCHM is one of 64,000 chemicals in use in the U.S. that were grandfathered in to the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), meaning there are no requirements that anyone prove whether or not they are safe.

We’re not saying it’s safe. West Virginia American Water is saying it’s safe. We are taking their word for it.

In the days after the spill, Charleston area residents tell ThinkProgress that they noticed the licorice-like smell characteristic of crude MCHM weeks before Freedom Industries reported the spill to authorities.

January 15: Freedom Industries is cited yet again by the DEP, this time receiving five violations after moving the chemical to a second site that also failed to meet safety standards.

After Ban Is Lifted, More Health Concerns Arise

Residents continue to arrive at local hospitals with symptoms consistent with crude MCHM exposure, as the safety of the water and long-term health impacts remain a mystery. “We’re not saying it’s safe,” Rahul Gupta, health officer for the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department, told the Charleston Daily Mail. “West Virginia American Water is saying it’s safe. We are taking their word for it.”

More than two days after the state began lifting the water use ban, the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources issues a one-page advisory for pregnant women, based on guidance from the CDC, recommending “out of an abundance of caution” that “pregnant women drink bottled water until there are no longer detectable levels of MCHM in the water distribution system.” Previously, the CDC had said levels of the chemical below 1 part per million was considered safe, but refused repeated requests from the Charleston Gazette regarding the basis for that recommendation.

Freedom Industries Files For Bankruptcy

January 17: Despite the fact that crude MCHM is comprised of six chemicals, the Charleston Gazette reports that a key corporate study used by the CDC to set the 1 ppm safety threshold only tested the main ingredient, 4-MCHM. Thus, nine days after the spill began, residents are still left questioning the safety of their water. “If crude MCHM is truly what leaked, it’s possible that we don’t even know which of this ‘cocktail’ is most harmful,” environmental consultant Evan Hansen told ThinkProgress. “We could have set a threshold based on the wrong one. We may be testing the wrong one.”

On the same day, Freedom Industries files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, raising major questions over how the company will be held fully responsible for the damage caused by the spill and contamination of the water supply.

CREDIT: AP PHOTO/TYLER EVERT

January 18: Everyone affected by the spill is given the ‘all clear’ to use and drink their tap water as the ban is lifted for the final two percent of customers.

Hospitals report an uptick in chemical-related admissions. According to the Charleston Gazette, health officials said 20 people had been admitted to the hospitals, 411 had been treated and released from the emergency room, and 2,302 had called the poison control center as of January 18, a significant increase from just a few days prior.

Governor Can’t Say Whether Water Is Safe

January 20: While lingering questions about the safety of the water remain, Gov. Tomblin says it’s up to residents to decide whether or not they use the water. “It’s your decision,” Gov. Tomblin told reporters at a press conference. “I’m not going to say absolutely, 100 percent that everything is safe,” he continued. “But what I can say is if you do not feel comfortable, don’t use it.”

Tomblin continues to emphasize the 1 ppm safety threshold, as does West Virginia American Water Company president Jeff McIntyre, who went as far as to drink tap water in front of reporters to underscore his point.

If crude MCHM is truly what leaked, it’s possible that we don’t even know which of this ‘cocktail’ is most harmful. We could have set a threshold based on the wrong one. We may be testing the wrong one.

January 21: Twelve days after reporting the initial spill, Freedom Industries discloses to state and federal regulators that an additional chemical, PPH, spilled into the water but declared that the exact identity of the substance is “proprietary,” the Charleston Gazettereported. The CDC “noted that data about the potential health effects of the chemical ‘PPH’ are — like the information on Crude MCHM — ‘very limited.’”

January 22: In the same day that members of the Senate Natural Resources Committee took up legislation to regulate above-ground chemical storage, they also moved forward with a measure that would weaken water protection. “The legislation is a coal industry-backed move to rewrite the way West Virginia calculates its limits for aluminum,” according to the Charleston Gazette.

Freedom Industries claims all leaked substances have now been disclosed.

Freedom Industries Admits To Another Chemical

January 24: The Associated Press reports that Freedom Industries knew about the additional chemical that had leaked into the water on the first day of the spill and didn’t report it to authorities, according to Steve Dorsey with the state’s Department of Environmental Protection. Dorsey told the AP that Freedom informed its employees of the second chemical via email on the first day of the spill, but failed to tell authorities for 12 days.

Two dozen West Virginia scientists write to the EPA and the CDC, calling on the two agencies to allow their scientists to speak to the press and the public without interference.

Rafael Moure-Eraso, Chairman of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, told state legislators that their investigation into the spill could take up to a year. “These chemicals are created in the industry to be reactive and to do chemical work. Even in small quantities, they affect human beings, they have the potential to affect human beings and we should be worried about it,” Moure-Eraso said. “Definitely, they should not be in drinking water period, at any level.”

Amount Of Chemicals Spilled Raised Again

January 25: The Department of Environmental Protection orders the Freedom Industries site to be dismantled and all materials disposed of no later than March 15.

Even in small quantities, they affect human beings, they have the potential to affect human beings and we should be worried about it

January 27: Freedom Industries now says about10,000 gallons of a blend of crude MCHM and PPH leaked from their chemical plant into the Elk River, an increase from a previous estimate of 7,500 gallons and initial government estimates of no more than 5,000 gallons.

January 29: Scott Simonton, a Marshall University environmental scientist and member of the state Environmental Quality Board, told a state legislative panel that he had found formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, in local water samples. “It’s frightening, it really is frightening,” Simonton said. “What we know scares us, and we know there’s a lot more we don’t know.”

Governor Asks For More Bottled Water

January 30: As residents remain wary of drinking the tap water, Gov. Tomblin asks West Virginia American Water for an additional 13 tractor-truckloads of bottled water, bringing the company’s contribution to 33 truckloads of water.

January 31: Contractors hit an underground pipe at the Freedom Industries tank farm, “releasing more Crude MCHM and, with it, more of the strong, black-licorice odor into the surrounding air,” the Charleston Gazette reported. Local officials said the chemical mixture was held within a “cutoff trench” and did not make it into the Elk River.

An environmental enforcement boat patrols in front of the chemical spill at Freedom Industries.

CREDIT: FOO CONNER/@IWASAROUND

February 1: According to documents and interviews obtained under the state’s public records law, the Charleston Gazette reports that the DEP never reviewed two key pollution-prevention plans for the Freedom Industries site. “DEP officials say that, because the Freedom tank farm’s previous owners had received a DEP water pollution permit decades ago, the site was exempt from a 2004 requirement to provide the plans to the DEP.”

February 4: CNN reports that a federal grand jury has begun its criminal investigation into the spill, issuing the first round of subpoenas.

Chemical Smell Closes Schools

February 5: Two schools were dismissed after reports of the black licorice smell characteristic of crude MCHM. One teacher reportedly fainted, and “several students and employees complained of lightheadedness and burning eyes and noses.”

At a high-profile press conference featuring representatives from multiple state and federal agencies, Gov. Tomblin said that while he can’t tell people its 100 percent safe, he is using the water and has been drinking it “for the last couple weeks,” despite continuing to order bottled water to the state.

Dr. Tanja Popovic, director of the CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health, defended the agency’s 1 ppm calculation, saying of the water, “You can bathe in it, you can drink it. You can use it however you’d like.”

Popovic later clarified to the Charleston Gazette that “we’re not really talking about whether water is safe, we’re talking about is the water appropriate for use given the information we know about MCHM.”

Pennsylvania press reports that 3,500 gallons of crude MCHM will be shipped from Freedom Industries site to their state, though officials there likely won’t be told how or where the chemical will be stored.

February 6: Health officials receive complaints from 14 Kanawha County schools after the licorice-like smell characteristic of crude MCHM continues to be detected after the buildings were classified as ‘non-detect’ and allowed to reopen.

Marc Glass, principal with the environmental consulting firm Downstream Strategies, said in an interview with ThinkProgress that the fact that people continue to detect some component of the crude MCHM mixture by its smell shows “our analytical capabilities have limitations.” Therefore, ‘non-detect’ doesn’t mean the water is chemical-free.

February 8: Residents protest West Virginia American Water for continuing to bill them for water while safety remains an unanswered question.

Another W VIrginia chemical spill

West Virginia’s Freedom Industries suffers another chemical spill

Weeks after spilling about 10,000 gallons of chemicals into West Virginia's Elk River, chemical maker Freedom Industries reported another toxic leak Thursday at their facility in Charleston. Yet none of the material has reached the river, officials said.

RT,

1 February, 2014

Contractors for Freedom Industries hit an underground pipe with an excavator Thursday night, unleashing water and the same crude MCHM chemical that leaked from the company’s tank farm into the Elk River on Jan. 9. The earlier incident ultimately spoiled drinking water for around 300,000 nearby residents.

An undetermined amount of material spilled into a cutoff trench on Thursday, staying away from the river, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection said. Though just as an earlier spill weeks ago, the leak released a black-licorice odor into the air.

The rupture happened around 19:00 EST Thursday evening before containment, according to the department’s director of emergency response and homeland security, Mike Dorsey.

"It wasn't so much of an incident," Dorsey said, the Charleston Gazette reported. "None of the stuff got into the river."

Dorsey described the amount of the coal-cleaning chemical MCHM - a moniker for 4-methylcyclohexanemethanol - that was involved as "a trickle."

"It was tens of gallons," Dorsey said, "not hundreds or thousands of gallons."

Cleanup crews from Diversified Services, a contractor for Freedom Industries, were in the process of enlarging the cutoff trench when the pipe was inadvertently hit. The affected pipe was not listed on a map of Freedom’s grounds, according to WCHS.

Meanwhile, the fallout from the Jan. 9 leak continues, as it was reported by AP this week that Freedom Industries, which recently filed for bankruptcy, withheld from officials for days after the spill the existence of another harmful chemical known as stripped PPH, a “serious” skin and eye irritant.

On Friday, the Charleston Gazette reported that five schools in the leak’s surrounding counties were found to have high levels of MCHM in their water supply. The detected levels are below the threshold that the federal Centers for Disease Control has said is safe for everyone but pregnant women to consume, though they are above the state’s “non-detect” level. The West Virginia National Guard conducted the water tests this week at all 69 schools in Kanawha County as well as schools in nearby counties.

The Gazette also reported Friday that state and federal agencies charged with responding to the original Elk River leak have had their budgets cut in recent years. Insiders connected with the agencies posit those cuts have hampered their ability to prevent and respond to incidents like the leak in West Virginia.

This week three US Senators introduced new legislation aimed at preventing future chemical spills of the sort that have impacted West Virginia.

The new bill, presented on Tuesday, would seek to streamline oversight of chemical facilities, as well as facilitate regular inspections by state officials and ensure response procedures are in place in the event of an accident, reported Reuters.

"This commonsense bill makes sure all chemicals are appropriately monitored and protects the safety of the water we consume and use every day," Senator Barbara Boxer said in a statement.

"No West Virginian or American should have to worry about the contamination of their water supply from a chemical spill."

West Virginia chemical spill

Elk River leak included another chemical

By Ken Ward Jr.

WVGazette,

21 January, 2014

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Federal and state investigators learned Tuesday that an additional chemical that wasn't previously identified was in the tank that leaked Jan. 9 at the Freedom Industries tank farm, just upstream from West Virginia American Water's regional drinking water intake.

The company told investigators that the Crude MCHM that leaked also contained a product called "PPH," according to state and federal officials.

State officials said late Tuesday that, after consulting with West Virginia American Water Co., they believe the water company's Elk River plant would likely have removed the chemical from drinking water during its normal treatment process. Additional testing of some of the original water samples from the first days after the incident is being conducted to confirm that, officials said.

"We have to go back and confirm things and make sure we're doing our due diligence for public health," said Gen. James Hoyer of the West Virginia National Guard, who has a team that's been heading water testing efforts following the leak.

Laura Jordan, spokeswoman for West Virginia American Water, said Tuesday night that the company "described in detail our water treatment process with state chemical experts, who ascertained that our current treatment process would likely have removed this chemical.

"We are also testing water samples collected last week to further confirm this and will share those results when available," Jordan said in an emailed statement.

Amy Goodwin, spokeswoman for Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, said state public health officials had contacted the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier in the day for assistance in understanding the chemical's potential health effects but had not heard back from the CDC as of Tuesday evening.

A Freedom Industries data sheet on the chemical says it can irritate the eyes and skin and is harmful if swallowed. The sheet lists the material as less lethal than Crude MCHM but also says no data are available on its long-term health effects.

Mike Dorsey, director of homeland security and emergency response for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said he learned about the additional chemical's presence in the tank that leaked at about 10 a.m., just before a routine daily meeting with various agencies and Freedom Industries about the situation at the site.

Dorsey said Freedom Industries President Gary Southern asked to speak with him privately, told him about the chemical being in the tank, and handed him data sheets on the material, which Dorsey referred to as polyglycol ethers.

"He said, 'I'm going to have a terrible day today,<t40>'<t$>" Dorsey said.

Dorsey said Southern told him the company previously had been adding the PPH to its Crude MCHM mixture and had stopped doing so. Southern said he didn't realize that the company had resumed adding the PPH to the mixture, Dorsey said.

Dorsey said there were about 300 gallons of PPH in the tank that leaked. It's not clear how much of that material leaked out of the tank or how much reached the river.

Dorsey said he was "extremely disappointed" to be learning only Tuesday -- 12 days after the leak -- about the presence of PPH in the tank that leaked.

Goodwin said that when Tomblin was told of the new information, the governor said that company's behavior was "totally unacceptable."

Crude MCHM is a coal-cleaning chemical made by Eastman Chemicals Co. It is stored and sold by Freedom Industries out of its facility just north of downtown Charleston.

While some reports have used the term "Crude MCHM" and the chemical "4-methylcyclohexanemethanol" interchangeably, the 4-MCHM is actually only one of seven components of Crude MCHM.

Eastman Chemical's material safety data sheet, or MSDS, says the chemical 4-methylcyclohexanemethanol makes up 68 to 89 percent of Crude MCHM. The Eastman MSDS also shows that Crude MCHM includes six other ingredients: 4-(methoxymethyl)cyclohexanemethanol, water, methyl 4-methylcyclohexanecarboxylate, dimethyl 1,4-cyclohexanedicarboxylate, methanol and 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol.

The Gazette learned about the presence of an additional chemical in the Freedom mixture from a source, and then confirmed some of the information with the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, which is investigating the leak.

Later on Tuesday evening, the Tomblin administration made a team of state officials available to provide additional details.

Daniel Horowitz, managing director of the CSB, said, "we were told about another component in the mixture that had been added to the Crude MCHM, a product called 'PPH' consisting of polyglycol ethers, at about 5.6 percent."

Horowitz said that according to an MSDS provided by Freedom Industries, the additional product "has low oral toxicity."

"We are reviewing the information now and [the CSB] team may further comment," Horowitz said.

Later, Horowitz said that the CSB's information came from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and referred calls to EPA. Officials from EPA did not respond to requests for comment

Former West Virginia Miner: We've Been Dumping Those Chemicals In The Water For Decades

Business Insider,

21 January, 2014

When up to 7,500 gallons of toxic 4-methylcyclohexane methanol (MCHM) spilled into the Elk River in West Virginia, leaving 300,000 people without tap water for around a week, former miner Joe Stanley was well prepared. He hadn’t been drinking the water for years.

Stanley, 64, worked at West Virginia’s Marrowbone Coal Mine from 1981 to 1996. His employer was Massey Energy, the same company responsible for the Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster in2010 that killed 29 miners and which was bought out in 2011.

Stanley says he lost his job after a conflict with management, when he, as union president, demanded an inquiry into certain chemicals that were being used in the mine. He claims that mine workers, particularly electricians and pinners, were getting sick.

Decades later, the truth is hard to determine; however, we’re more interested in his bleak outlook on pollution.

“I watched the coal industry poison our water for years. Now they’re telling us not to drink the water? We’ve been dumping this stuff into unlined ponds and into old mines for years,” he says. “This MCHM was just one of the chemicals we were told was highly toxic but that we dumped into old mine shafts and slurry ponds, and it’s been seeping into the groundwater for years. As soon as we’re out of that mine it immediately fills with water. And where does it go from there? I don’t know, you’re guess is as good as mine.”

“I haven’t drank the water here in years, and I suggest you do the same,” he says, pausing and then pointing at us. “Don’t drink the water. Just don’t do it.”

There’s plenty of evidence to support Stanley’s suspicions.

An Environmental Protection Agency assessment last year identified 132 cases where coal-fired power plant waste has damaged rivers, streams and lakes, and 123 where it has tainted underground water sources, according to an AP investigation by Dina Cappiello and Seth Borenstein. Nearly three quarters of the 1,727 coal mines in the U.S. have not been inspected in five years to see if they are following water pollution laws, according to the same investigation, which cites these and other alarming findings about coal pollution.

Those numbers don’t even include pollution by companies in related industries, like Freedom Industries, the chemical company behind this month’s spill.

Even West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin has expressed uncertainty about water quality after the MCHM spill.

“It’s your decision,” Gov. Tomblin told reporters at a press conference on Monday. “If you do not feel comfortable drinking or cooking with this water then use bottled water. I’m not going to say absolutely, 100 per cent that everything is safe. But what I can say is if you do not feel comfortable, don’t use it.”

Yet bringing up environmental concerns is a good way to make enemies in coal-dependent West Virginia, as Stanley knows.

“I’ve had threats, sure,” he says. “But I’ve got some friends and they look out for me.”

As an illustration of what he’s been up against Stanley grabs a sign that says “SAVE COAL, END THE EPA.” A campaign sign for leading local Republican Senate candidate Pat McGeehan, that kind of outlook wins a lot of votes in this region.

The W Virginia chemical spill

"Those condition exist all over the country and the world. There are too many people and not enough land or resources to locate all these poison factory safely. Rolling heads treats a symptom, not the problem"

---Mike Ruppert

Chemical Leak Into West Virginia River Far Larger Than Previously Estimated

Think Progress,

12 January, 2014

As over 300,000 people in West Virginia face a fourth day without water, state environmental officials are now estimating that as much as 7,500 gallons of a chemical used to process coal — Crude MGHM — may have spilled into the Elk River. That number is a substantial increase from early estimates of 2,000 to 5,000 gallons.

The chemical leak, first reported Thursday, was at a facility owned by Freedom Industries along the Elk River, just 1.5 miles upstream from a major intake used by the largest water utility in the state, West Virginia American Water.

At a press conference Saturday afternoon, Jeff McIntyre, president of West Virginia American Water Company, said that it would likely still be “several days” before tap water in the nine counties affected would be safe for anything besides flushing toilets.

The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention has set the standard of 1 part per million as a safe concentration of Crude MGHM in drinking water. Levels of the chemical must remain below this threshold for over 24 hours of testing before the water company can begin flushing the system.

At a press briefing Saturday evening, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s (D) office released the first results of the now round-the-clock water sampling efforts. While some tests are coming in below the safe threshold, the system is still far from clean. Eight out of 18 recent test results tested above 1 part per million. Some of the earliest tests showed concentrations as high as 3 parts per million.

“The reason the numbers are going down is we believe less of the material is getting into the water,” said Mike Dorsey, the chief of homeland security and emergency response at theState Department of Environmental Protection. “We have cut of the source of the leak, the tank. There is still material under the concrete and the soil. We’ve taken aggressive measures on the shore line below the site.”

A team from the Chemical Safety Board will arrive in West Virginia on Monday to begin the long process of assessing the cause of the spill. The CSB is an independent federal agency with the authority to investigate industrial chemical accidents. The agency issues recommendations for prevention of future accidents.

To date, FEMA has brought in 1.4 million liters of water for residents. An additional 1.6 million liters are expected to come in over the course of the weekend.

The New York Times reported Saturday that at least 122 people have gone to local hospitals complaining of nausea, vomiting, and skin and eye irritation.

WV: Freedom Industries Has 

Ties to Koch Brothers

Daily Kos,

11 January, 2014

Very briefly ...

If news reports have left you with the impression that Freedom Industries - the company that has contaminated the water supply serving 300,000 people (and who knows how much wildlife) in nine West Virginia counties - is a rinky-dink Charleston operation, that might be because the media isn't mentioning its influential ties.

In 2008, Freedom Industries was specially selected by Georgia-Pacific Chemicals as a distributor of G-P's Talon brand mining reagents for West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, Minnesota, Kentucky and Michigan.  

Georgia-Pacific Chemicals is, of course, a subsidiary of Georgia-Pacific, which was acquired by Koch Industries in 2005.  

"We are excited to offer our customers inventive products like Talon that push past the status quo in coal recovery to bring profit and productivity benefits to mining preparation plants," said Joshua Herzing, director of business development for Freedom Industries. "Georgia Pacific's longstanding technical expertise and R&D capabilities combined with the industry knowledge, skill and reputation of Freedom Industries will provide an excellent platform for growth and development of new technology to meet existing and future customer demands. We are proud to be part of Georgia-Pacific's strategy as a global supplier of mining reagents in multiple market segments."

There's lots more to the story, People.