http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201402210078

The Charleston Gazette
February 21, 2014
Freedom Industries to shut down 'sooner rather than later'
By David Gutman

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- What has seemed inevitable for weeks was made official today: Freedom Industries will soon be finished as a company.

Mark Freedlander, a lawyer representing Freedom, told U.S. Bankruptcy Court Friday morning that the company responsible for contaminating the water of 300,000 West Virginians will wind up its affairs -- including environmental remediation -- and then begin sending all its customers to its former competitors.

That will happen "sooner rather than later," Freedlander said.

All of Freedom's remaining chemical inventory will be sold in a matter of days, he said.... MORE

After generations of exploitation, it's really tough not to be disgusted.

Thanks for posting about it.

Do you think if 300,000 Americans had been poisoned in Boston or Chicago or LA, for instance, it would generate such apathy? We both know the answer to that one.

The state should have set up a website with a map of the area affected.

Then they should have selected a cross section of things stores, homes, schools all across the map.

They should have tested those every few days or once a week or whatever and those results would have been posted on the map.

They should have also tested the river by the intake pipe.

Then people would have been able to look at the map see the readings and watch the chemical gradually dissipate.


I believe that since the Governor is originally from Logan County, which is a big coal area he believed that they should handle it like things are usually handled down there.

That is the politicians say that we are coming together as West Virginians in the face of tragedy, they send some state people in to look like they are doing something, they get some legislators or appoint some panel to make sure it doesn't happen again, and then as soon as people turn their heads it goes back to status quo.

The problem is when you have something happen in the Kanawha Valley, there are people who used to work in chemical plants there.
The amount of people with college educations is probably twice or 3 times as high as in Southern WV where big coal is boss.
The income level of the population is way higher.

People in coal country, a lot of them, just simply feel there's nothing they can do and accept a level of injury and poisioning as the price
of jobs. Although in reality with mountaintop removal and strip mining there is really not that amount of jobs anymore. People in Charleston know about chemicals, they have money and education and they are not as willing fatalistic as the people in coal country, so the governor miscalculated.

Here is an unemployment rate map, by county:

http://www.bls.gov/ro3/wvlaus.htm

I wish I could provide more of the article but I'm limited as per the rules. Nice to see a local Democrat introduce this bill!

The Martinsburg Journal
Martinsburg, West Virginia
http://www.journal-news.net/page/content.detail/id/605001/Bill-would-enforce-Clean-Water-Act.html?nav=5006

Bill would enforce Clean Water Act
February 22, 2014
By Erika Elaine Wells (ewells@journal-news.net)

CHARLESTON - A bill has been introduced to allow West Virginia citizens to take matters into their own hands regarding failure to protect the state's water supply.

Delegate Stephen Skinner, D-Jefferson, introduced a bill, HB4572, to create the "Citizen Enforcement of Clean Water Act" on Monday. The law allows citizens to sue any person or entity, including the government, to enforce regulations to protect natural resources.

"This is to empower the people rather than have them wait on government," Skinner said. "Generally, it is a way to get enforcement in West Virginia where we don't see enforcement, particularly in southern West Virginia."

<snipping>

The bill includes provisions to allow citizens to intervene in actions by the state; provides that exhaustion of remedies is not required; and sets forth loose interpretation of the legislation to encourage citizen participation....