Monthly Archives: January 2014

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Published: Friday, 17 Jan 2014 | 4:33 PM ET

Specialty chemicals maker Freedom Industries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Friday, eight days after a leak from one of the company's storage tanks contaminated drinking water for hundreds of thousands of West Virginia residents.

A chemical used to process coal spilled into the Elk River in Charleston last week, prompting the state's governor to declare a state of emergency and ban the use of drinking water. More than 200 people have visited emergency rooms with nausea.

Ty Wright | The Washington Post | Getty Images

Workers walk behind the fence at the Freedom Industries building in Charleston, West Virginia on Saturday, January 11, 2014.

As a result of the leak, vendors have demanded Freedom pay in cash, draining the company of financing and prompting it to seek bankruptcy, according to documents filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Charleston, West Virginia.

"Likewise, the defense of the numerous suits filed against the debtor will exhaust the debtor's liquidity," Freedom said in a court filing. The bankruptcy filing will put a stay on more than 20 lawsuits filed against the company over the spill.

The company filed an emergency motion seeking court authority to borrow an initial $4 million from WV Funding LLC.

The company estimated it had up to $10 million in both assets and liabilities, according to the filings.

The case is In re Freedom Industries Inc, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of West Virginia, No. 14-20017

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Freedom Industries seeks bankruptcy

Residents and businesses in West Virginia have filed nearly two dozen lawsuits against Freedom Industries, the company that owns the storage container responsible for leaking chemicals into the Elk River on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014. State officials issued a ban on water consumption for the next five days.

Freedom Industries Inc., the company responsible for a chemical spill that poisoned drinking water for more than 300,000 people in West Virginia, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Friday afternoon.

The company submitted a petition at 1:25 p.m. to the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, said Matthew J. Hayes, clerk of the court.

The petition lists estimated assets ranging from $1 million to $10 million, and estimated liabilities also ranging from $1 million to $10 million, Hayes said.

[READ: West Virginia Chemical Spill Company Slapped With Violations]

Chapter 11 allows a company to continue operating as it reorganizes.

Freedom Industries did not immediately return a call for comment Friday afternoon. The filing was first reported by The Charleston Gazette

The company has been hit with at least 22 lawsuits from residents and business owners since last Thursday, when state officials discovered that one of the company's storage containers near the Elk River had ruptured, leaking at least 7,500 gallons of a coal-processing agent into the waterway about a mile north of a water treatment plant.

[ALSO: As Water Flows Again in W.Va., Lawsuits Begin to Pour In]

The spill forced officials to institute a water ban for nine counties, barring residents and businesses from using the water for anything other than fighting fires or flushing toilets.

Read this article:
Freedom Industries, Company Behind W.Va. Spill, Files for Bankruptcy

The Board of Directors of Freedom Industries decided during a special meeting Jan. 17 to file a voluntary petition for bankruptcy protection.

Freedom Industries is the company responsible for the leak of 4-methylcyclohexane methanol, a coal cleaning chemical that leaked into the Elk River Jan. 9 causing a "do not use" order for some 300,000 people in parts of nine Southern West Virginia counties who are customers of West Virginia American Water.

U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin said the filing does not change anything from his perspective, in terms of a federal investigation.

The petition explains that Freedom Industries is in the business of producing specialty chemicals for the mining, steel and cement industries. Its assets are listed as between $1 million and $10 million.

The petition goes on to describe the Jan. 9 "incident," explaining that "facts surrounding the incident are subject to pending investigation by Freedom and various regulatory and other governmental authorities."

"It is presently hypothesized that a local water line break adjacent to the Charleston Facility may have or contributed to the ground beneath a storage tank at the Charleston Facility to freeze in the extraordinary frigid temperatures in the days immediately preceding the Incident," the filing reads. "The debtor and investigative authorities have taken note of the hole in the affected storage tank that appears to have come from an object piercing upwards through the base of the affected storage tank.

"Investigations by multiple agencies are ongoing with full cooperation by the debtor."

The filing states that the company has at least 200 creditors, and its top creditors are owed $3.66 million. The list of the company's 20 largest creditors includes D Car LLC of Evansville, Ind. listed as having a $561,518.75 claim against Freedom Industries, FloMin Coal Inc., an Atlanta company listed with a $648,221.70 claim against Freedom along with Eastman Chemical Co., a Philadelphia company with a claim total of $127,474.83 according to the filing and Archer Daniels Midland of Duluth, Ga. listed with a $428,768.12 claim against Freedom.

Gary Southern, president of Freedom Industries, signed the filing. The corporate ownership statement lists Chemstream Holdings Inc. as a corporation that directly or indirectly owns equity interests in Freedom Industries.

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Freedom Industries Files Bankruptcy

Freedom Bankruptcy Filing

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- The company related to the chemical leak that caused hundreds of thousands of people in West Virginia to go without water filed for bankruptcy Friday.

According to court records, Freedom Industries Inc., located along Barlow Drive, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

West Virginia American Water customers in parts of Cabell, Boone, Putnam, Kanawha, Lincoln, Logan, Clay, Jackson and Roane counties were put under a "do not use" ban on January 9 after a chemical at Freedom Industries in Charleston leaked into the Elk River.

In the federal documents, Freedom Industries had to describe the nature and location of the dangerous condition.

Freedom Industries writes "facts surrounding the incident are subject to pending investigation by Freedom and various regulatory and other government authorities."

The company goes on to say "it is presently hypothesized that a local water line break adjacent to the Charleston facility may have or contributed to the ground beneath a storage tank at the Charleston facility to freeze in the extraordinary frigid temperatures in the days immediately preceding the incident. The Debtor and investigative authorities have taken note of the hole in the affected storage tank that appears to have come from an object piercing upwards through the base of the affected storage tank. Investigations by multiple agencies are ongoing with full cooperation by the Debtor."

Later Friday, a state DEP spokesman said a company's bankruptcy status does not absolve it of its environmental remediation obligations.

The substance released from the tank has been referred to as methylcyclohexane methanol or MCHM. MCHM is used by customers of Freedom to treat coal and reduce the amount of ash during the coal preparation process, according to the documents.

In the document, Freedom Industries said it contacted the water company.

Link:
Freedom Industries Files Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

Workers inspect the Freedom Industries storage facility in Charleston, W.Va.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The company, which is based in Charleston, W. Va., where the spill occurred, estimated it has assets of between $1 million and $10 million, but that it has liabilities within the same range.

The company's filing doesn't provide extensive details on last week's spill. The document says it's "presently hypothesized" that the break of a local water line near the Charleston facility may have contributed to the freezing and rupture of a chemical storage tank that then leaked into the Elk River.

The chemical in question -- methylcyclohexane methanol, or MCHM -- is used by Freedom's customers to treat coal during the coal preparation process. The disaster resulted in a state of emergency in nine West Virginia counties, causing the loss of water supplies for roughly 300,000 residents and the shuttering of a number of businesses in the affected area.

A bankruptcy filing could protect Freedom's assets in the case of court judgments against it.

A person who answered the phone at Freedom Industries on Friday declined to comment.

Related: New health hazard, same story in West Virginia?

The news came Friday as West Virginia authorities announced that thousands more water customers have been given the green light to resume using tap water following the spill.

The end of the "do not use" order for residents in the West Virginia communities of Eskdale, Leewood, Ohley and Elkview means more than 220,000 of the approximately 300,000 people originally affected by the incident have been cleared to resume using tap water.

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W. Va. company in spill files for bankruptcy