CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Freedom Industries acknowledges it did a poor job of protecting the environment. U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin said the admission is the underlying theme of the company’s plea to federal charges of violating the Clean Water Act.
“Negligent operation of this facility which resulted in the discharge of MCHM into the waterways and ultimately causing the water crises,” Goodwin on MetroNews Talkline Monday.
The company becomes the fifth to plead guilty in connection with the fallout of the January 2014 release which contaminated the drinking water of nine counties.
Goodwin said the corporate plea was slightly different than those of former owners and executive officers of the plant. Their pleas were admitting to personal responsibility and failures, but company cannot do that specifically.
“Obviously you can’t throw a corporate entity in jail,” said Goodwin. “A representative of that entity will enter a plea on behalf of the company, acknowledgment of the it violated laws alleged to have been violated in the information.”
Goodwin said the federal investigation of the facilities proved nobody was paying much attention to security and safety in the storage of chemicals on the property.
“It really leaked like a sieve. It didn’t contain the spill at all,” Goodwin said. “It ran right down the bank and right into the Elk River, thousands and thousands of gallons of this material. That doesn’t just happen.”
Goodwin said with the plea, the company and those who have already pleaded have acknowledged the facility was in severe disrepair and they did nothing to fix it.
Still facing charges in the case are former Freedom President Gary Southern and former company official Dennis Ferrell. They are set to go on trial Oct. 6 in Charleston for similar crimes.