Tag: Energy & Environment

Freedom Industries Hires Firm to Keep Emails, Data

The West Virginia company at the center of a January chemical spill is hiring experts to preserve emails and phone records for ongoing investigations.
 
Freedom Industries will pay Vestige Ltd. about $42,500 to maintain electronic evidence, which is needed for a U.S. Attorney’s Office investigation and other chemical spill inquiries.
 
Freedom attorney Steve Thompson says the data firm started collecting information around Feb. 1, when the U.S. Attorney’s Office was issuing grand jury subpoenas. Judge Ronald Pearson approved Freedom’s request in bankruptcy court Tuesday.
 
Thompson says some records are with former Freedom executives.

Court documents show the company’s environmental cleanup bill topped $911,000 in January. Freedom expected another $1.7 million in environmental costs from mid-February to mid-March.
 
Freedom’s Jan. 9 spill contaminated drinking water for 300,000 people for days.
 

'Titan' Storm Closes Schools, Causes Delays in W.Va.

Public schools across West Virginia are closed and some government offices are closing or delaying openings because of a winter storm.The storm began…

Public schools across West Virginia are closed and some government offices are closing or delaying openings because of a winter storm.

The storm began Sunday as rain and changed overnight to sleet and then snow. Winter storm warnings remain in effect through Monday evening for most of the state.
 
Fifty-three of West Virginia’s 55 county school systems are reporting closings, according to the state Department of Education’s website.

About a dozen flights at airports in Charleston and Beckley have been canceled.

The National Weather Service says up to a foot of snow is possible in parts of Nicholas, Webster, Pocahontas and Randolph counties. Other areas could see up to 8 inches.

The state Department of Transportation is warning residents to take caution while traveling if it’s necessary. Check road conditions in your area on the WV 511 website.

For information on power outages, check Appalachian Power’s and Mon Power’s websites for more.

State Government Closings & Delays:

State employees providing direct support relating to the current weather event should report at their regularly scheduled time.

Secretary of State’s Office Closed (Online services available)

Local Government Office Closings:

Braxton Co. Courthouse (2-hour delay)

Cabell County Courthouse

Jefferson County Government Offices

Fayette Co. Courthouse (Closing at noon)

Gilmer Co. Courthouse

Kanawha Co. Courthouse

Kanawha Co. Board of Education (Only essential personnel to report)

Kanawha Co. Public Libraries

Monongalia Co. Courthouse

Mason Co. Courthouse

New River Gorge Park Visitors Center

Putman Co. Courthouse

Wyoming County Courthouse

Wyoming County Circuit Court and Magistrate Court

University Closings:

West Virginia University (Classes, normal operations to resume Tuesday)

Marshall University

West Virginia State University

Shepherd University

University of Charleston

Davis & Elkins College

Concord University (Athens & Beckley campuses)

Southern WV Community and Technical College

Mountwest Community and Technical College

Other Closings:

Carnegie Hall in Lewisburg

Morgan County Recycling Center

Concord University Child Development Center

Huntington Mall

Rock Creek Park Foundation Open House – NPS (canceled)

Rockefeller Still Skeptical of W.Va. Water Safety

Sen. Jay Rockefeller is still skeptical about safety of drinking water for 300,000 Charleston-area residents. At an appearance Friday in Charleston, the…

Sen. Jay Rockefeller is still skeptical about safety of drinking water for 300,000 Charleston-area residents.
 
At an appearance Friday in Charleston, the West Virginia Democrat said he would not drink tap water when he is visiting the capital city, according to the Charleston Daily Mail.
 
Rockefeller made the comments on the same day Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin lifted a state of emergency. The now-lifted emergency declaration covered nine counties affected by the Jan. 9 spill of a coal-cleaning agent into the Elk River.
 
Health officials said the water was safe to use more than a month ago, but Tomblin kept the emergency declaration in force partially because of lingering odor from some taps and showers.
 
Rockefeller said of the safety of the water supply, “You can’t be sure.”

Governor Tomblin Lifts State of Emergency Seven Weeks After Elk River Spill

Governor Earl Ray Tomblin has lifted a state of emergency for nine counties in West Virginia that were affected by a chemical spill into the Elk River by Freedom Industries that tainted the drinking water supply of 300,000 residents.

Hours after a spill of the coal processing blend of MCHM and PPH was detected on January 9, nine counties surrounding the state’s capitol city of Charleston were placed under a state of emergency. Seven weeks and one day later, Tomblin has lifted the state of emergency. He’s directed state agencies to continue monitoring and responding to public health and safety concerns.

Immediately following the spill, restaurants and some local businesses were forced to close by order of the local health department. The CDC recommended that the water was appropriate for use at levels of MCHM below 1 parts per million.  This week, the federal agency was finally comfortable in saying it was safe. The state established its own testing threshold at 10 parts per billion.

West Virginia American Water began lifting the do not use ban four days after the spill and advised residents to follow a detailed flushing procedure. Some residents in the area continue to report an odor of black licorice in their water.

An independent in-home testing project is currently underway to determine odor thresholds for MCHM, as well as study the health risks associated with the chemical. Taxpayers in West Virginia are funding the nearly three quarter of a million dollar project.

Stream-Restoration Project Breathes New Life Into Buffalo Creek

The site of a 1972 disaster along Logan County’s Buffalo Creek is having new life breathed into it.
 

Buffalo Creek is rapidly becoming one of southern West Virginia’s most popular trout streams.
 
This week marks the 42nd anniversary of the collapse of an earthen dam along Buffalo Creek after heavy rain. It unleashed a flood that killed 125 people, injured 1,100 and left about 4,000 homeless.
 
The Charleston Gazette reports that a $750,000 stream-restoration project and other ongoing efforts have transformed the creek into a place where trout can thrive and anglers can fish.
 
The president of the Buffalo Creek Watershed Association calls the change dramatic. Perry Harvey says that after the flood, the creek had nothing growing in it, and it was littered with trash and debris.
 

FirstEnergy Plans Infrastructure Upgrades in W.Va.

FirstEnergy Corp. is planning $110 million worth of infrastructure upgrades in West Virginia this year. Ohio-based FirstEnergy said Thursday that the…

FirstEnergy Corp. is planning $110 million worth of infrastructure upgrades in West Virginia this year.
 

Ohio-based FirstEnergy said Thursday that the projects include transmission improvements, construction of new distribution lines, and replacement of underground cables, utility poles and other equipment.
 
FirstEnergy’s president of West Virginia operations, Holly Kauffman, says in a news release that the projects are designed to help reduce the number and duration of potential outages and to prepare for future growth.
 
FirstEnergy subsidiary Mon Power serves about 385,000 customers in 34 West Virginia counties.
 

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