Regulators Concerned About Buried Debris at Spill Site

West Virginia regulators are concerned about construction debris found buried at the site of a 2014 chemical spill.

Department of Environmental Protection project manager Dave Long tells the Charleston Gazette-Mail that a contractor found the debris in a fill area at the Freedom Industries site. He says the fill area was thought to contain rock.

The fill area was being investigated because of concerns that unconsolidated rocks would make it easy for contaminated water to flow underground and deeper into the soil.

Long says the construction debris could be an even more likely “path of least resistance” for contamination.

He says officials believe the debris was buried before Freedom acquired the site in 2001.

The spill in Charleston tainted tap water for 300,000 people.