SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
(Photo: EJP Photo/cc/flickr)
Week After West Virginia Chemical Spill, Company Files for Bankruptcy
Freedom Industries, the company behind the chemical leak last week in West Virginia's Elk River, filed for bankruptcy on Friday, the Charleston Gazettereports.
Jan 17, 2014
Freedom Industries, the company behind the chemical leak last week in West Virginia's Elk River, filed for bankruptcy on Friday, the Charleston Gazettereports.
Roughly 7,500 gallons of the coal-cleaning chemical 4-methylcyclohexane methanol (or MCHM), leaked from a hole in a storage tank into the river, polluting the water supply of 300,000 West Virginians, exposing the lack of a response plan in case of a spill, lack of regulations, fallibility of safety claims and potentially significant health risks.
The Gazette reports that the company owes over $2.4 million in unpaid taxes to the IRS dating back to at least 2000, and "owes $3.66 million to its top 20 unsecured creditors."
Bloomberg notes that "Companies facing legal costs and damages following accidents may use U.S. bankruptcy law to protect assets," while the Gazette adds filing Chapter 11 allows a company to "reorganize and continue operating"
Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway (MM&A), the railway behind the deadly Lac-Megantic derailment, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy weeks after the disaster, leaving many to wonder who would be held accountable.
_________________
On January 20th, it begins...
Political revenge. Mass deportations. Project 2025. Unfathomable corruption. Attacks on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Pardons for insurrectionists. An all-out assault on democracy. Republicans in Congress are scrambling to give Trump broad new powers to strip the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit he doesn’t like by declaring it a “terrorist-supporting organization.” Trump has already begun filing lawsuits against news outlets that criticize him. At Common Dreams, we won’t back down, but we must get ready for whatever Trump and his thugs throw at us. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. By donating today, please help us fight the dangers of a second Trump presidency. |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Freedom Industries, the company behind the chemical leak last week in West Virginia's Elk River, filed for bankruptcy on Friday, the Charleston Gazettereports.
Roughly 7,500 gallons of the coal-cleaning chemical 4-methylcyclohexane methanol (or MCHM), leaked from a hole in a storage tank into the river, polluting the water supply of 300,000 West Virginians, exposing the lack of a response plan in case of a spill, lack of regulations, fallibility of safety claims and potentially significant health risks.
The Gazette reports that the company owes over $2.4 million in unpaid taxes to the IRS dating back to at least 2000, and "owes $3.66 million to its top 20 unsecured creditors."
Bloomberg notes that "Companies facing legal costs and damages following accidents may use U.S. bankruptcy law to protect assets," while the Gazette adds filing Chapter 11 allows a company to "reorganize and continue operating"
Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway (MM&A), the railway behind the deadly Lac-Megantic derailment, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy weeks after the disaster, leaving many to wonder who would be held accountable.
_________________
Freedom Industries, the company behind the chemical leak last week in West Virginia's Elk River, filed for bankruptcy on Friday, the Charleston Gazettereports.
Roughly 7,500 gallons of the coal-cleaning chemical 4-methylcyclohexane methanol (or MCHM), leaked from a hole in a storage tank into the river, polluting the water supply of 300,000 West Virginians, exposing the lack of a response plan in case of a spill, lack of regulations, fallibility of safety claims and potentially significant health risks.
The Gazette reports that the company owes over $2.4 million in unpaid taxes to the IRS dating back to at least 2000, and "owes $3.66 million to its top 20 unsecured creditors."
Bloomberg notes that "Companies facing legal costs and damages following accidents may use U.S. bankruptcy law to protect assets," while the Gazette adds filing Chapter 11 allows a company to "reorganize and continue operating"
Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway (MM&A), the railway behind the deadly Lac-Megantic derailment, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy weeks after the disaster, leaving many to wonder who would be held accountable.
_________________
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.