Freedom Industries says it is still trying to figure out how much of a chemical spilled in the Elk River, contaminating the water supply to much of a nine-county region.
“Freedom Industries is still working to determine the amount of 4-methylcyclohexanemethanol, or Crude MCHM, a chemical used in processing coal, that has been released,” said company president Gary Southern in a prepared statement released Friday afternoon.
“The first priority was safety, containment and cleanup,” Southern said.
The spill, which occurred about one mile from the intake for the West Virginia American Water Company, led to a decision to tell an estimated 200,000 state residents not to use their water for anything other than flushing the toilet and putting out fires.
Southern’s statement suggests the leak is not yet contained. “Our team has been working around the clock since the discovery to contain the leak to prevent further contamination,” he said.
Here is the entire statement.
“Since the discovery of the leak, safety for residents in Kanawha and surrounding counties has been Freedom Industries’ first priority. We have been working with local and federal regulatory, safety and environmental entities, including the DEP, Coast Guard, Army Corp of Engineers and Homeland Security, and are following all necessary steps to fix the issue. Our team has been working around the clock since the discovery to contain the leak to prevent further contamination. At this point, Freedom Industries is still working to determine the amount of 4-methylcyclohexanemethanol, or Crude MCHM, a chemical used in processing coal, that has been released, as the first priority was safety, containment and cleanup.
Freedom Industries is in the process of setting up an Incident Command Center on site. As more factual information is made available, we will keep you updated.”