Associated Press Published

West Virginia to Study Elk River Fish Life After Chemical Spill

Freedom Industries

  The state will survey fish life in the Elk River after a massive chemical spill polluted the waterway in January.

The U.S. Geological Survey’s National Fish Health Laboratory in Leetown will aid the state Division of Natural Resources in the project next week.

The Freedom Industries spill contaminated the drinking water supply for 300,000 people for days.

The state Division of Natural Resources says no fish kills were observed after the spill. The survey will look at possible health impacts on fish from the disaster.

The division will perform a similar fish study on the Kanawha River. That survey is part of a statewide fish health assessment project with the U.S. Fish Wildlife Service’s Northeast Fishery Center in Lamar, Pennsylvania.