CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The U.S. Chemical Safety Board announced plans Thursday to remove sections of three storage tanks at the Freedom Industries site in Kanawha County where the Jan. 9 chemical leak took place.
“The CSB is in the process of collecting data on the tanks and extracting samples of the tank for testing,” CSB spokesperson Hillary Cohen told MetroNews. “Investigators will be at the site to supervise and assist performing this work the week of April 21 – specifically on the 24th.”
The board’s investigative team spent a few weeks at the site following the MCHM leak that caused a water emergency in parts of nine counties. The chemical leaked from one of the tanks but three on the site stored MCHM.
CSB lead investigator Johnnie Banks told MetroNews Jan. 15 how the off-site inspection of the tanks would be done.
“We hope to put it under close scrutiny and examine the area where we suspect the failure occurred. We want to put it under electro microscope and determine the failure mode,” Banks said in the previous interview.