This went far beyond drinking water ~ the area was advised to not use/touch the water in any way ~ no baths/showers, no washing dishes or clothes, etc ~ if this doesn't convince people on the critical importance of regulation, it's likely nothing will ~ ~ there are "live links" to more/corroborating information in the original ~ Sooz

‘State of emergency’ in West Virginia
01/13/14 08:43 AM—Updated 01/13/14 09:47 AM
By Steve Benen

It’s been four days since a coal-processing chemical leaked into the Elk River, leaving 300,000 residents in West Virginia’s Kanawha Valley without water service. A nine-county area is still under a “state of emergency,” and Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin (D) cannot yet give locals a timeline of when conditions will return to normal.

The governor did say last night, however, that test results “are trending in the right direction,” adding, “I believe that we are at a point where we can say that we see light at the end of the tunnel.”

The crisis began Thursday when a business called Freedom Industries – that’s actually the company’s name – accidentally leaked 4-methylcyclohexane methanol from a ruptured storage tank near the Elk River. The chemical, known as MCHM, is used to wash coal. Government agencies have rushed to respond, addressing the spill and shipping bottled water to the area for local residents.

But because officials in West Virginia were aware of the hazardous chemicals being stored at the facilities, coupled with the fact that the storage tanks were not inspected regularly, it’s probably time for a broader conversation about the importance of government regulations.


If recent history is any guide, once the crisis is resolved, the policy debate will fall into a familiar pattern: conservatives and their industry allies will insist that government regulation of free enterprise must always be resisted.

But in this case, it was the private sector that caused the calamity; it’s the public sector helping put things right; and it’s government regulations that can help prevent similar crises in the future.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/state-emergency-west-virginia

Bill Freedom Industries for all costs and fine them a healthy chunk to boot. They need to "self-regulate" a whole lot better.
At the first sign that they won't comply seize their assets and put them on the auction block for full restitution to the taxpayers.

I'm guessing if John Boehner understood what he himself is saying, he'd ... shut up ~ while there are certainly facts unknown right now, this company should NOT EVER be allowed to skate over this spill ~ NOT EVER ~ Sooz

Boehner on W. Va. ‘We have enough regulations on the books’
01/14/14 12:52 PM—Updated 01/14/14 12:53 PM
By Steve Benen


Last week, a company called Freedom Industries accidentally leaked a dangerous chemical into the Elk River, leaving 300,000 residents of West Virginia’s Kanawha Valley without water service. Lax government regulations appear to have had a direct role in the emergency.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) doesn’t quite see it that way. Here’s how he responded to a reporter’s question this morning about the disaster in West Virginia (via Sabrina Siddiqui).


Oh, I see. West Virginia faced a crisis caused by a toxic chemical spill at least in part because the Obama administration didn’t do enough to regulate Freedom Industries. This from the Republican leader who complains almost daily that the Obama administration is doing far too much to regulate the nation’s businesses.

Seriously?

Note, Boehner hints that he has no idea what he’s talking about. He doesn’t know that regulations are currently in place to prevent crises like this, but he’s “entirely confident” that the safeguards already exist. Why? Because he apparently has a hunch. Just don’t bother to ask questions about the details.

The New York Times, on the other hand, reported yesterday on the regulatory breakdown that contributed to the problem.


But don’t worry, West Virginians, the Speaker of the House is certain that existing regulations are “enough.” The safeguards that are already in place will probably keep you and your family safe – he’s “entirely confident” about it.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/we-have-enough-regulations-the-books#break

And the cast of "bad guys" lengthens ~ ~ Sooz

Want to commit crimes against humanity?
Go ahead but incorporate first. That way it's no one's fault and the taxpayer picks up the tab.

You nailed it, oskar ~ this is truly, extraordinarily, deeply disgraceful ~ ~ Sooz

Fri Jan 17, 2014 at 11:16 AM PST.
"Freedom" to socialize the losses: chemical company declares bankruptcy
by Horace Boothroyd III

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Freedom Industries, the company that fouled thousands of West Virginians' water with a chemical leak last week, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy today.

This company lacks the assets to clean up their own messes. So have filed for bankruptcy.

A real winner here.

To all this can be added the fact that Freedom Industries was cofounded by an individual named Carl Lemley Kennedy II. As the Charleston Gazette has reported, Kennedy filed for personal bankruptcy in 2005 after he was hit with federal charges of tax evasion and failure to remit employee withholding taxes. He is reported to have admitted to diverting more than $1 million that should have gone to the Internal Revenue Service.

Kennedy's involvement in Freedom Industries, the Gazette notes, does not seem to have been affected by the fact that he had once pleaded guilty to selling cocaine in connection with a scandal that involved the mayor of Charleston. The paper quotes the current mayor, who is said to have known Kennedy since the 1980s, as an "edgy guy."

Another remarkable aspect of the story reported by the Gazette is that Freedom Industries was struggling in 2009, and its Elk River facility was able to go on functioning only after the Army Corps of Engineers dredged that portion of the river using federal stimulus funds.

To summarize: a tax evader and drug dealer helped to establish a largely unregulated chemical company that benefitted from the federal stimulus but apparently did little in the way of preventive maintenance and set the stage for large-scale drinking water contamination.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/01/17/1270475/--Freedom-to-socialize-the-losses-chemical-company-declares-bankruptcy?detail=facebook

Yabbut... isn't all this SOP in West VA and other red states?

Are you insinuating that polluted water makes them vote red against their own interest like clean water regulation etc?

Excellent news ~ but the next step is conviction ~ Sooz

Wednesday, Dec 17, 2014 9:01 PM UTC
Justice for West Virginia: Ex-Freedom Industries execs indicted over chemical spill
Four charged with federal pollution violations following the massive environmental disaster.
Lindsay Abrams

Four former executives at the company responsible for West Virginia’s chemical spill have been indicted for Clean Water Act violations, the Associated Press reports.

This is the second time this month that Gary Southern, the company’s former president, has been charged in connection to the spill, which contaminated the drinking water of 300,000 West Virginians this past January — the FBI arrested him last week on charges of bankruptcy fraud, wire fraud and lying under oath. Wednesday’s indictment implicates Southern, ex-president Dennis P. Farrell, William E. Tis and Charles E. Herzing. The latter three owned the company up until December 2013.

Freedom environmental consultant Robert J. Reynolds and tank farm plant manager Michael E. Burdette were also charged on separate Clean Water Act violations.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder didn’t pull any punches about Freedom’s wrongdoing, which he said put the population “needlessly at risk.”

“Just a mile upstream from Charleston’s primary source of drinking water, the conditions at the Freedom Industries facility were not only grievously unacceptable, but unlawful,” Holder said in a statement. “As these actions make clear, such conduct cannot, and will not, be tolerated. These law enforcement actions send an unambiguous message: that compliance with environmental safety standards is an obligation, not a choice.”

“This spill was completely preventable,” U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin added. ”And this spill happened to take place in my district, but it could have happened anywhere. If we don’t want it to happen again, then we have to make it crystal clear that those who will commit violations like this are held accountable.”

http://www.salon.com/2014/12/17/justice_for_west_virginia_ex_freedom_industries_execs_indicted_over_chemical_spill/