

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
To donate by check, phone, or other method, see our More Ways to Give page.


Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.

Freedom Industries has revised their estimate to approximately 10,000 gallons as the amount of Crude MCHM/PPH spilled on Jan. 9 into the local water supply, a mile and a half upstream from the intake pipes for the regional water utility, West Virginia American Waters.
"The number goes up and down, up and down, up and down. We don't know." --Mike Dorsey, W. Virginia DEP
Most recently reported at 7,500 gallons, the estimate was revised following an order by the DEP demanding Freedom Industries provide the methodology it was using to determine the quantity of the chemicals released.
However, the state still doesn't know how much of the mixture of crude MCHM and PPH--a second chemical which just last week was revealed as being included the spill--seeped from storage tanks through old concrete walls meant to contain such leaks, the Charleston Daily Mail reports.
"The number goes up and down, up and down, up and down. We don't know," DEP official Mike Dorsey said on Jan. 22 when the amount leaked was being reported as 6,251 gallons.
"Yesterday it was less, today it's more. That's all I really know about that. And are either of those numbers real? I don't know."
Freedom Industries told the DEP it had 110,375 gallons of the two chemicals combined on Jan. 8 in three different tanks. After the spill the company moved the rest of the chemical to a location it owns in Nitro, called Poca Blending LLC, where it "measured" 100,233 gallons in six tanks.
"The difference between the value from the morning of Jan. 9 and the value from Jan. 21 is 10,142 gallons. We therefore estimate that approximately 10,000 gallons of MCHM/PPH blend was released the morning of Jan. 9," Freedom Industries said in a response to the DEP order.
Reportedly, 1,272 gallons of the chemical mixture was collected by absorbent booms and other control devices at the spill site.
_____________________
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |

Freedom Industries has revised their estimate to approximately 10,000 gallons as the amount of Crude MCHM/PPH spilled on Jan. 9 into the local water supply, a mile and a half upstream from the intake pipes for the regional water utility, West Virginia American Waters.
"The number goes up and down, up and down, up and down. We don't know." --Mike Dorsey, W. Virginia DEP
Most recently reported at 7,500 gallons, the estimate was revised following an order by the DEP demanding Freedom Industries provide the methodology it was using to determine the quantity of the chemicals released.
However, the state still doesn't know how much of the mixture of crude MCHM and PPH--a second chemical which just last week was revealed as being included the spill--seeped from storage tanks through old concrete walls meant to contain such leaks, the Charleston Daily Mail reports.
"The number goes up and down, up and down, up and down. We don't know," DEP official Mike Dorsey said on Jan. 22 when the amount leaked was being reported as 6,251 gallons.
"Yesterday it was less, today it's more. That's all I really know about that. And are either of those numbers real? I don't know."
Freedom Industries told the DEP it had 110,375 gallons of the two chemicals combined on Jan. 8 in three different tanks. After the spill the company moved the rest of the chemical to a location it owns in Nitro, called Poca Blending LLC, where it "measured" 100,233 gallons in six tanks.
"The difference between the value from the morning of Jan. 9 and the value from Jan. 21 is 10,142 gallons. We therefore estimate that approximately 10,000 gallons of MCHM/PPH blend was released the morning of Jan. 9," Freedom Industries said in a response to the DEP order.
Reportedly, 1,272 gallons of the chemical mixture was collected by absorbent booms and other control devices at the spill site.
_____________________

Freedom Industries has revised their estimate to approximately 10,000 gallons as the amount of Crude MCHM/PPH spilled on Jan. 9 into the local water supply, a mile and a half upstream from the intake pipes for the regional water utility, West Virginia American Waters.
"The number goes up and down, up and down, up and down. We don't know." --Mike Dorsey, W. Virginia DEP
Most recently reported at 7,500 gallons, the estimate was revised following an order by the DEP demanding Freedom Industries provide the methodology it was using to determine the quantity of the chemicals released.
However, the state still doesn't know how much of the mixture of crude MCHM and PPH--a second chemical which just last week was revealed as being included the spill--seeped from storage tanks through old concrete walls meant to contain such leaks, the Charleston Daily Mail reports.
"The number goes up and down, up and down, up and down. We don't know," DEP official Mike Dorsey said on Jan. 22 when the amount leaked was being reported as 6,251 gallons.
"Yesterday it was less, today it's more. That's all I really know about that. And are either of those numbers real? I don't know."
Freedom Industries told the DEP it had 110,375 gallons of the two chemicals combined on Jan. 8 in three different tanks. After the spill the company moved the rest of the chemical to a location it owns in Nitro, called Poca Blending LLC, where it "measured" 100,233 gallons in six tanks.
"The difference between the value from the morning of Jan. 9 and the value from Jan. 21 is 10,142 gallons. We therefore estimate that approximately 10,000 gallons of MCHM/PPH blend was released the morning of Jan. 9," Freedom Industries said in a response to the DEP order.
Reportedly, 1,272 gallons of the chemical mixture was collected by absorbent booms and other control devices at the spill site.
_____________________