Freedom Industries Releases Statement after Chemical Leak

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- The company at the center of a chemical leak, which led to a state of emergency for several West Virginia counties has released a statement.

Early Friday afternoon, Gary Southern, President of Freedom Industries released the following statement: Since the discovery of the leak, safety for residents in Kanawha and surrounding counties has been Freedom Industries first priority. We have been working with local and federal regulatory, safety and environmental entities, including the DEP, Coast Guard, Army Corp of Engineers and Homeland Security, and are following all necessary steps to fix the issue. Our team has been working around the clock since the discovery to contain the leak to prevent further contamination. At this point, Freedom Industries is still working to determine the amountof 4-methylcyclohexanemethanol, or Crude MCHM, a chemical used in processing coal, that has been released, as the first priority was safety, containment and cleanup.

Freedom Industries is in the process of setting up an Incident Command Center on site. As more factual information is made available, we will keep you updated.

At this time, officials say there is no timeline for when the water ban, put in place for residents in parts of nine counties, will be lifted.

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Freedom Industries Releases Statement after Chemical Leak