State lawmakers are getting an
earful from residents who want accountability and action after spending days
without usable tap water following the Jan. 9 chemical leak along the Elk River
in Kanawha County
Fifty people spoke for an allotted
two minutes each at the State Capitol during Monday night’s public hearing in
the House of Delegates on SB 373.
It’s a bill that, if approved,
would establish regulations for above ground storage tanks, like the tank at
Freedom Industries that leaked an estimated 10,000 gallons of crude MCHM and
PPH.
The House Health and Human
Resources Committee was the first scheduled House stop for the bill the full
Senate unanimously approved last week.
The bill was proposed at the State
Capitol in the weeks after the Freedom Industries’ chemical spill that
contaminated tap water for West Virginia American Water Company customers who
get their water from the Kanawha Valley Water Treatment Plant.
It would require all above ground
storage tanks to be registered with the state, meet certain standards for
safety and undergo annual inspections.
Company-hired engineers would
conduct the yearly inspections. However, at sites sitting less than 25
miles upstream from a treatment facility’s water intake, officials with the
state Department of Environmental Protection would conduct a
separate inspection each year.
Additionally, if the legislation is
approved, public water systems would be required to have established emergency
plans for future chemical spills.
The 2014 Regular Legislative Session continues through Saturday,
March 8.
