Officials with Freedom Industries met with the company's creditors in federal bankruptcy court on Tuesday and answered questions about the company's insurance coverage and assets and liabilities.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Officials with Freedom Industries met with the company's creditors in federal bankruptcy court on Tuesday and answered questions about the company's insurance coverage and assets and liabilities.

Freedom, which contaminated thousands of West Virginians' water with a chemical leak into the Elk River on Jan. 9, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Jan. 17. Chapter 11 allows a company to reorganize and continue operating, but during a hearing last week, Freedom's attorney said the company would soon shut down.

After the hearing, Freedom President Gary Southern said company officials were dedicated to cleaning up from the leak and trying to find its employees other jobs.

"This has been an extremely traumatic event for everybody to deal with, particularly our employees," Southern said outside the Robert C. Byrd U.S. District Courthouse in Charleston.

"We're absolutely committed to the people of the state of West Virginia in terms of our remediation of the facility and our employees, with whom we're working extremely hard to find them new positions for those that will be displaced as a result of the bankruptcy," Southern said. "That is the forefront of our focus and will continue to be so until we meet all of our obligations."

During the meeting Tuesday, Southern and the company's chief financial officer, Terry Cline, testified that chemicals had been removed from the property. In an agreement with the state Department of Environmental Protection, Freedom has agreed to dismantle its site on Barlow Drive on or before March 15.

There are about 240 unsecured creditors to which Freedom owes money. Many of the unsecured creditors are those who filed lawsuits against the company before its bankruptcy filing. There are at least 30 lawsuits against Freedom.

Attorneys representing creditors wanted more information about the company's insurance coverage at Tuesday's hearing. Also, a bankruptcy trustee questioned financial documents the company produced last week.

Reach Kate White at kate.wh...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1723.

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Freedom officials, creditors meet in bankruptcy court