Water Utility To Pay Out $151 Million Over Elk River Spill

It appears that a water utility and a chemical maker will pay $151 million to the residents and businesses of Charleston, WV, in a deal that would wrap up a major lawsuit over the Elk River chemical spill, a major water-contamination disaster.

A chemical facility owned by Freedom Industries leaked the coal-processing chemical 4-methylcyclohexane methanol (MCHM) into the Elk River nearly three years ago, leaving 300,000 people unable to use their tap water for about a week.

The targets of the class-action suit included West Virginia American Water and Eastman Chemical, the manufacturer of the crude MCHM.

“The agreement settles a class action lawsuit brought by at least 224,000 local residents and 7,300 business owners as well as hourly ‘wage earners’ whose places of employment were supplied by West Virginia American Water Co.,” NPR reported.

The water company said settling the lawsuit will enable it to move ahead and maintained that the suit was unfounded.

“West Virginia American Water said in a statement that the settlement will allow it to move forward without the distraction of ongoing litigation, and it noted that government investigations into the chemical spill have never found that the company violated any law during the water crisis,” The Wall Street Journal reported.

The company said in a statement, per the Journal: “We still firmly believe the suits brought against our company were without merit.”

Under the terms of the deal, West Virginia American Water Co. will pay $126 million and Eastman Chemical will pay $25 million, the Associated Press reported, citing Stuart Calwell, an attorney representing the plaintiffs.

“U.S. District Judge John Copenhaver approved the proposed deal [on October 31] after more than two hours of closed-door negotiations on the wording of the agreement,” the report said.

The chemical spill presented a public health threat. It left locals ill with nausea, rashes, vomiting, and abdominal pain, according to a review by West Virginia officials.

“In September the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, an independent federal agency charged with investigating chemical accidents, said the storage-tank operator Freedom Industries failed to internally inspect its corroding tanks before the accident, and that maintenance could have prevented the spill. The company declared bankruptcy shortly after the spill,” the Journal reported.

For similar stories visit Water Online’s Source Water Contamination Solutions Center.