ST. ALBANS, W.Va. — Federal and state investigators are looking into a suspected chemical leak at the Kanawha County location for the company that’s transported MCHM for Freedom Industries.
Officials with the state Department of Environmental Protection confirmed those investigations, focused on Diversified Services of St. Albans, on Friday. That confirmation came a day after dozens of investigators were seen on the Diversified property taking water samples among other things.
Those with the DEP said a “sheen” from an unidentified chemical was found in a drainage system near the company’s facility. That drainage system runs into a tributary of the Kanawha River. No public water intakes are in the immediate downstream area.
It was not immediately clear how much material made it into the drainage system or how long the release may have occurred. Complaints, though, about a “licorice smell” near the facility were called into the DEP’s tipline starting in January.
On the federal side, officials with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are involved.
Diversified Services has been told to install containment measures for the drainage system.