WV County and City Seek to Recoup Costs of Hazmat Spill
Kanawha County and the City of Charleston, West Virginia have filed a civil suit against the parties responsible for the 2014 Elk River chemical spill. The action was filed in Kanawha County Circuit Court last week naming West Virginia American Water, Eastman Chemical Company and several affiliated parties.
The county and city seek to recoup the costs associated with their response to the emergency, including activation of the Kanawha County Emergency Operations Center. The chemical spill interrupted drinkable tap water to 300,000 people.
Commissioner Dave Hardy was quoted as saying: “The County has an obligation to the public to see to recover all costs relating to the Water Crisis. The responsible parties, not the taxpayers, should be held accountable and made to pay for the damages caused to our county and state.”
Curt, the news clip itself really minimizes the scope and magnitude of this catastrophic event that not only “knocked out” the water supply for more than 300K people for days, but did irreparable damage to the entire water distribution system. All because when notified on the spill, it was another 5 hours before the water company stopped withdrawing water from the contaminated Elk River.
Subsequently, contaminated water continued to be pumped through the system spreading the problem through the pipes and storage tanks and into every home and business. Since there was little to no scientific data available on the chemical, e.g., basic MSDS stuff, the chemical–used to wash mined coal before shipment–presented emergency managers with quite the challenge of developing an appropriate response plan without good technical information.
Two years later, the negative impact is still being lived with by many in the region.