Who really believes industry will police itself to protect the environment? Only Republicans!
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Inspectors found that, like the Charleston facility where the leak originated, the Nitro site lacked appropriate secondary containment. In Charleston, a porous containment wall allowed the chemical to ooze into the Elk River. (photo: Steve Helber/AP)
Company in W.Va. Chemical Spill Cited at Second Site
17 January 14
he company responsible for the chemical spill in West Virginia moved its chemicals to a nearby plant that has already been cited for safety violations, including a backup containment wall with holes in it.
As a result, state officials may force the company to move the chemicals to a third site.
Inspectors on Monday found five safety violations at Freedom Industries' storage facility in Nitro, about 10 miles from the spill site in Charleston. The spill contaminated the drinking water for 300,000 people, and about half of them were still waiting for officials to lift the ban on tap water.
The West Virginia Bureau for Public Health issued a statement Wednesday evening advising pregnant women not to drink the water "until there are no longer detectable levels" of 4-methylcyclohexane methanol, a chemical used in coal processing. The statement said it was making the recommendation "out of an abundance of caution" after consulting with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Department of Environmental Protection on Friday ordered Freedom Industries to move all of its chemicals to the Nitro site.
According to a report from the department, inspectors found that, like the Charleston facility, the Nitro site's last-resort containment wall had holes in it. The report described the site's wall as "deteriorated or nonexistent."
Freedom Industries said the building's walls acted as a secondary containment dike, but state inspectors disagreed. The walls had holes in them near the ground level, and they led out to a stormwater trench surrounding the structure's exterior, the report said.
Department spokesman Tom Aluise said the ditch eventually drains into the Kanawha River. The
Nitro facility isn't on a riverbank, like the other facility.
The facility had no documentation of inspections of the Nitro site. Nor did it have proof of employee training in the past 10 years, the report said.
Aluise said the state could force Freedom to move the chemicals to a third site, or build secondary containment structures at the Nitro facility. He said the department would issue an administrative order Thursday morning detailing what corrective action will be required. Asked what possible penalties would be brought against the company, Aluise responded in an email: "Yet to be determined."
The report only specified that Freedom Industries has 20 days to provide a written response detailing corrective action.
Members of Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's administration said they were aware of no problems with the Nitro facility during a Tuesday evening press briefing, even though the violations were discovered during an inspection Monday.
"My understanding, DEP has checked that facility and there is no issue with the storage there," Jimmy Gianato, director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, said Tuesday night.
Tomblin also put faith in the agency during the Tuesday briefing.
"I'm sure that DEP is keeping a close eye on where that material is," Tomblin said.
The report was made available to the public Wednesday.
It's unclear whether the state had inspected the Nitro facility before Monday. The facility violated its stormwater permit, but that doesn't require routine inspections, Aluise said.
A spokeswoman for Freedom Industries said the company didn't want to comment. Keith Beneker, the Nitro plant manager, did not answer a phone call.
The Charleston facility flew under the regulatory radar because it only stored, not produced, chemicals, state officials have said. State inspectors were able to assess the Nitro facility under the order to move the chemicals.
During the 7,500-gallon spill Thursday, a cracked containment wall allowed the chemical to ooze into the Elk River. Freedom Industries then moved the remaining 70,000 gallons of that chemical to Nitro.
Under the agency order issued Friday, the company still has to move almost 1 million gallons of other chemicals from the Elk River location to another site, Aluise said. The materials include calcium chloride and glycerin.
FOCUS: David Sirota | Pentagon & NSA
Officials: Assassinate Edward Snowden
David Sirota, PandoDaily
Sirota writes: "How can Americans who witness executive-branch crimes feel comfortable or even physically safe blowing the whistle on said crimes?"
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David Sirota, PandoDaily
Sirota writes: "How can Americans who witness executive-branch crimes feel comfortable or even physically safe blowing the whistle on said crimes?"
READ MORE
NSA Collects Millions of Text Messages Daily
in 'Untargeted' Global Sweep
James Ball, Guardian UK
Ball reports: "The National Security Agency has collected almost 200 million text messages a day from across the globe, using them to extract data including location, contact networks and credit card details, according to top-secret documents."
READ MORE
James Ball, Guardian UK
Ball reports: "The National Security Agency has collected almost 200 million text messages a day from across the globe, using them to extract data including location, contact networks and credit card details, according to top-secret documents."
READ MORE
Obama to Call
for Overhaul of NSA's Phone Data Collection Program
Mark Lander and Peter Baker, The New York Times
Lander and Baker report: "President Obama will require intelligence agencies to obtain permission from a secret court before tapping into a vast trove of telephone data, but he will leave the data in the hands of the government for now, an administration official said."
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Mark Lander and Peter Baker, The New York Times
Lander and Baker report: "President Obama will require intelligence agencies to obtain permission from a secret court before tapping into a vast trove of telephone data, but he will leave the data in the hands of the government for now, an administration official said."
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Wal-Mart Case Seen As Key Test in Struggle Over Labor
Rights
Carlyn Kolker and Kevin Drawbaugh, Reuters
Kolker and Drawbaugh report: "A challenge by the U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to Wal-Mart Stores Inc's treatment of striking workers is likely to become a critical symbol of labor unions' attempts to organize the many non-union workplaces in the United States in the face of stiff resistance from management."
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Carlyn Kolker and Kevin Drawbaugh, Reuters
Kolker and Drawbaugh report: "A challenge by the U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to Wal-Mart Stores Inc's treatment of striking workers is likely to become a critical symbol of labor unions' attempts to organize the many non-union workplaces in the United States in the face of stiff resistance from management."
READ MORE
Company in W.Va. Chemical Spill Cited at
Second Site
Jonathan Mattise, Associated Press
Mattise reports: "The company responsible for the chemical spill in West Virginia moved its chemicals to a nearby plant that has already been cited for safety violations, including a backup containment wall with holes in it."
READ MORE
Jonathan Mattise, Associated Press
Mattise reports: "The company responsible for the chemical spill in West Virginia moved its chemicals to a nearby plant that has already been cited for safety violations, including a backup containment wall with holes in it."
READ MORE
House Republicans Are Pushing a Bill That
Would Force the IRS to Audit Rape Victims
Tara Culp-Ressler, ThinkProgress
Culp-Ressler writes: "House Republicans are currently advancing the 'No Taxpayer Funding For Abortion Act,' or HR 7, a measure that would impose sweeping restrictions on abortion coverage that could make the procedure less affordable for Americans across the country."
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Tara Culp-Ressler, ThinkProgress
Culp-Ressler writes: "House Republicans are currently advancing the 'No Taxpayer Funding For Abortion Act,' or HR 7, a measure that would impose sweeping restrictions on abortion coverage that could make the procedure less affordable for Americans across the country."
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Environmental Groups Say Obama Needs to Address Climate
Change More Aggressively
Juliet Eilperin and Lenny Bernstein, The Washington Post
'A group of the nation's leading environmental organizations is breaking with the administration over its energy policy, arguing that the White House needs to apply a strict climate test to all of its energy decisions...'
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Juliet Eilperin and Lenny Bernstein, The Washington Post
'A group of the nation's leading environmental organizations is breaking with the administration over its energy policy, arguing that the White House needs to apply a strict climate test to all of its energy decisions...'
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