September 10, 2014
A bankruptcy judge is concerned that a chemical company may abandon the site of a massive January spill without cleaning it up. Judge Ronald Pearson expressed the concern in an order filed last Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Charleston. …
September 10, 2014
West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin plans to use administrative fixes instead of a special session to adjust a law regulating above-ground storage tanks. On Monday, Tomblin’s top environmental official spelled out a three-tiered system for how tank owners can …
September 4, 2014
A utility is opposing a $2.9 million bankruptcy settlement that would fund projects to benefit 300,000 people whose water was contaminated in January. West Virginia American Water says Freedom Industries shouldn’t use money from its insurance proceeds to pay for …
August 25, 2014
An airport and a chemical producer want claims dismissed in a lawsuit partly targeting them over a January chemical spill. In U.S. District Court in Charleston, Yeager Airport filed a motion last week to dismiss claims in the wide-spanning lawsuit. …
August 12, 2014
When coal-cleaning chemicals seeped into West Virginia’s biggest water supply in January, the city of Cincinnati had a decision to make 200 miles downstream. As the city feared, a sheet of contaminants cruised down the Elk River, into the Kanawha …
July 21, 2014
At least $2.9 million could fuel studies in a proposed settlement between West Virginia businesses and residents and the company that contaminated their water supply. The deal between lawyers for Freedom Industries and businesses and people who sued Freedom was …
June 26, 2014
A federal lawsuit blames a Charleston airport runway project for the January chemical spill that left 300,000 residents without clean water for days. The lawsuit says Yeager Airport’s completed runway extension never safeguarded against stormwater runoff. In court papers filed …
June 24, 2014
For the West Virginia company that sullied 300,000 people’s drinking water to start the year, slip-ups like not reading emails and leaving the company chemical headquarters unattended have produced problems for months. Contractor troubles, miscalculations and missteps have kept state …
June 20, 2014
The West Virginia Supreme Court has slashed by more than half the multimillion-dollar damages a jury levied against a Charleston nursing home in connection with a former resident’s death. In a 76-page divided opinion released, the justices reduced the penalty …
June 16, 2014
Industry groups are jittery that if state regulators require the wrong type of permit, companies could be subject to citizen lawsuits under a new environmental law that regulates storage tanks. State regulators disagree, and are convinced the new aboveground tank …