At Least 200K Gallons Of Various Chemicals Still At Freedom Industries Site, Awaiting Cleanup

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Freedom Industries still needs to remove at least 200,000 gallons of chemicals and other materials from the site of the Elk River chemical leak and hasn't hired a contractor for the demolition work, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection. The DEP is satisfied the company is moving forward with an order to empty its chemical tanks by Saturday and start tearing down its facility on the Elk River by the same day.

The state discovered thousands of gallons of chemicals leaking from a faulty storage tank owned by Freedom on Jan. 9. An unknown amount seeped into the Elk River, eventually contaminating the drinking water of 300,000 West Virginians.

In late January the DEP ordered Freedom to take more than a million gallons of chemicals out of the 17 tanks at the site, known as the Etowah River Terminal, by March 15. The company also needed to begin tearing down the facility by the same date. It's "safe to say at least 200,000 gallons" of chemicals and "heel" remained at the site as of Wednesday evening, DEP spokesman Tom Aluise said in an email.

Heel is the material that remains at the bottom of tanks that can't be removed through normal draining processes, according to a DEP news release. Some of the tanks have capacities in the range of 300,000 gallons, so there can be considerable heel, Aluise said.

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