CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Investigators with the U.S. Chemical Safety Board began overseeing the removal Thursday afternoon of part of the above ground storage tank that leaked thousands of gallons of the chemical MCHM into the Elk River in Charleston Jan. 9.
The leak, which touched off a water emergency for residents in parts of nine counties, came from an old tank. It’s still not known when the problem developed with the tank.
The CSB spent several days on the Freedom Industries property in the days following the leak. The lead investigator said at that time they would be back to remove part of the tank. Investigator Johnnie Banks said testing would resume in a controlled environment.
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin previously ordered all of the tanks from the Freedom site removed. Some of that work has started.