A group of Tucker County residents are asking the Intermediate Court of Appeals for help learning about a proposed power plant in their community. Also, we hear the second part of our look back at reporting from Point Pleasant columnist Mary Hyre as she went from writing about the "Mason County Monster" to the Silver Bridge collapse in a little more than a year.
Photos & Video: Demolition of Freedom Industries Site Begins
Share this Article
Freedom Industries contractors began the demolition process at the site of a January chemical leak that tainted the water supply of 300,000 West Virginians. Contractors knocked out a wall and ripped piping materials from the tanks Tuesday.
Freedom Chief Restructuring Officer Mark Welch said four tanks will remain up to store stormwater and waste at the site until their contents are removed. He said, at that point, the contents will be removed and those tanks will be torn down at the end of the process.
Welch says Tank No. 396, which is the tank that stored MCHM and leaked into the river on January 9, will be demolished sometime next week.
Here are some images of the site just before and during the initial phases of the demolition process:
Credit Dave Mistich / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
/
West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Tank No. 396 at Freedom Industries is the one where the January 9 leak occurred. Part of the tank wall was removed so it could be inspected from the inside, according to Freedom Industries Chief Restructuring Officer Mark Welch.
Credit Dave Mistich / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
/
West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Credit Dave Mistich / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
/
West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Credit Dave Mistich / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
/
West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Freedom Chief Restructuring Officer Mark Welch stands next to the tanks that will soon be demolished.
Credit Dave Mistich / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
/
West Virginia Public Broadcasting
The containment wall where MCHM made its way through and into the Elk River.
Credit Dave Mistich / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
/
West Virginia Public Broadcasting
A view from the bank below the tank farm. Below my feet is the stormwater trench that overflowed on June 12 and 13.
An opening of the stormwater trench below the hill of the tank farm, where an overflow occurred on June 12 and 13. Mark Welch called this the “last resort” for catching storm or groundwater at the site.
Credit Dave Mistich / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
/
West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Contractors from Independence Excavating attach a sheer to a backhoe in preparation of demolition at the site.
Credit Dave Mistich / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
/
West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Credit Dave Mistich / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
/
West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Credit Dave Mistich / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
/
West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Demolition of the tanks begins on Wednesday morning.
Credit Dave Mistich / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
/
West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Credit Dave Mistich / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
/
West Virginia Public Broadcasting
The logo / slogan of contractors Independence Excavating reads: “Earth now, Moon later.”
Credit Dave Mistich / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
West Virginia is the third most forested state in the country. It is estimated the forestry industry generates more than $3 billion annually for the state and directly employs more than 30,000 people with thousands more employed indirectly in trucking and manufacturing.
On Wednesday, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear joined 21 states and the District of Columbia in challenging the program’s termination in Federal Claims Court.
Gov. Patrick Morrisey said Tuesday the state's two national parks would be open during the month of October, even if the government shutdown continues that long.