About two weeks ago, a storage tank owned by mining chemical manufacturer Freedom Industries spilled 7,500 gallons of chemicals—4-Methylcyclohexane Methanol (MCHM) and polyglycol ether (PPH)—into the Elk River in Charleston, W.Va. These compounds flowed downstream into the West Virginia American Water Company and Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin subsequently ordered nine counties to not drink or shower with their tap water. The ban on tap water affected 300,000 people, closing schools and businesses in Charleston.
Freedom Industries did not disclose PPH’s presence in the water supply until Jan. 22, over a week after the spill occurred. West Virginia’s Department of Environmental Protection has since ordered Freedom Industries to disclose all substances that were spilled. This delay highlights the lack of transparency that has become a theme in the chemical manufacturing industry.
Dozens of lawsuits have been filed against Freedom Industries by businesses that lost revenue due to lack of water access. In an attempt to evade these lawsuits, Freedom Industries has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy but has not yet received this freeze due to its failure to disclose enough financial information.
While the EPA has recommended stricter regulation and supervision of companies’ waste discharge into water sources for months, politicians at the state and national level have expressed little concern about the spill and have not called for reform of the industry. Rather, members of Congress have scolded environmental groups who have spoken out about the spill for overreacting.
These legislators’ main goals in this region focus on preserving the coal and chemical industries because they are central to West Virginia’s economic prosperity, providing approximately 90,000 jobs. Regardless, plant integrity and water quality should be held just as high as job security. Congress must add new levels of regulation to coal companies and their storage tanks to prevent these spills in the future.
House Speaker John Boehner, meanwhile, has claimed that existing regulations are adequate and is actually using this environmental disaster as an opportunity to call for less regulation of water quality. In doing so, Boehner ignores the fact that shoddy regulations and oversight caused the chemical spill in the first place.
The public should not misconstrue Freedom Industry’s efforts to avoid bankruptcy and save face as genuine concern for the people of West Virginia. Rather than accept the disregard the chemical and coal industries have shown for human well-being, Congress and the Obama administration should heed the warnings of the EPA and properly enforce its environmental regulations.
