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This October, the Adaptive Climbers Festival will gather in Kentucky’s Red River Gorge for the fifth year. In 2023, Folkways Reporter Emily Chen-Newton covered the event for Inside Appalachia. Since then, the Adaptive Climbers Festival has grown. Organizers say they’re nearly at capacity, with 300 climbers, caregivers and volunteers. Ahead of the festival, the campground has made accessibility improvements. Volunteers with the ACF have also been sprucing up the trails.
Photos & Video: Demolition of Freedom Industries Site Begins
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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
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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
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Credit Dave Mistich / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Credit Dave Mistich / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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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
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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
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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
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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
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Credit Dave Mistich / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Credit Dave Mistich / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Demolition of the tanks begins on Wednesday morning.
Credit Dave Mistich / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Credit Dave Mistich / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
The logo / slogan of contractors Independence Excavating reads: “Earth now, Moon later.”
Credit Dave Mistich / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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