Nearly a week after Freedom Industries last spoke publicly, the company broke its silence Thursday evening, proposing a theory that its \"Crude MCHM\" chemical leak was caused, in part, by a broken water pipe uphill from its property, according to a source close to the company who demanded anonymity.<\/p>\n
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Nearly a week after Freedom Industries last spoke publicly, the company broke its silence Thursday evening, proposing a theory that its \"Crude MCHM\" chemical leak was caused, in part, by a broken water pipe uphill from its property, according to a source close to the company who demanded anonymity. <\/p>\n
The source said water from the broken pipe flowed under the tank farm, then froze during the recent cold temperatures and expanded, puncturing the tank from below. <\/p>\n
\"It looks like somebody took a sharp object and stuck it through the bottom,\" the source said. <\/p>\n
He said that even though the tanks were surrounded by a concrete retaining wall, they were sitting on gravel, so the chemical leak seeped through the gravel, into the ground and under the wall. <\/p>\n
State officials have described the retaining wall as shoddy and in need of repair. A representative with the Chemical Safety Board, which is inspecting the site, said Thursday that the tank sits on a concrete pad and the soil that surrounds the pad. <\/p>\n
West Virginia American Water replaced a leaking water line along Barlow Drive on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to a water company spokeswoman. Barlow Drive is where Freedom's tank farm is located. <\/p>\n
The leak of Crude MCHM, a coal-processing chemical, contaminated the Elk River and the drinking water of 300,000 residents of the Kanawha Valley. <\/p>\n
The Freedom source also attributed blame to what he called a very old terra cotta culvert that runs beneath Freedom's property and helped provide an avenue for the water to collect beneath the tank. <\/p>\n
\"No one is saying that this is absolutely how it happened,\" he said, \"but there are photos of the inside of the tank that clearly show the upward puncture.\" <\/p>\n
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Freedom breaks silence, blames leak on freeze<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nearly a week after Freedom Industries last spoke publicly, the company broke its silence Thursday evening, proposing a theory that its \"Crude MCHM\" chemical leak was caused, in part, by a broken water pipe uphill from its property, according to a source close to the company who demanded anonymity. CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Nearly a week after Freedom Industries last spoke publicly, the company broke its silence Thursday evening, proposing a theory that its \"Crude MCHM\" chemical leak was caused, in part, by a broken water pipe uphill from its property, according to a source close to the company who demanded anonymity. Continue reading