Six Indicted in Connection with January Chemical Spill in West Virginia - East Idaho News
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Six Indicted in Connection with January Chemical Spill in West Virginia

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Getty 121714 FreedomIndustries?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1418865914474Photo by Tom Hindman/Getty Image(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Justice announced on Wednesday that Freedom Industries and six former executives of the company have been charged with federal crimes linked to the January 2014 Elk River chemical spill in West Virginia.

“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,” Attorney General Eric Holder said. “They put an entire population needlessly at risk.”

Former Freedom President Gary Southern, owners and officers including Dennis Farrell, William Tis, Charles Herzing, consultant Robert Reynolds and tank farm plant manager Michael Burdette were charged on Wednesday.

According to the DOJ, those charged engaged in misconduct that included the failure to maintain a containment area around the facility’s tanks; failure to make necessary repairs to ensure the effectiveness of the containment area; failure to properly inspect a tank containing the chemical MCHM; failure to develop and implement a spill prevention, control, and countermeasures plan; and failure to develop and implement a stormwater pollution prevention plan and groundwater protection plan.


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