Comment period begins Monday on DEP-Freedom agreement

A 30-day public comment period begins Monday on a proposed consent order that could lead to the clean-up of the Freedom Industries tank farm site in Charleston. The state Department of Environmental Protection agreed to the consent order last week.

Freedom is bankrupted and has been since soon after the Jan. 9 chemical leak that dumped thousands of gallons of MCHM from the Freedom site into the Elk River and touched off a water emergency for 300,000 people in parts of nine West Virginia counties. The company is under order to remediate the site but wants to do so under the DEP’s Voluntary Remediation Program. In order to do that, it needs a consent order to allow it to bypass other DEP-issued orders that have come since the Jan. 9 incident.

“This consent order will supersede all of those outstanding orders. It basically spells out the actions going forward,” state DEP Director of Communications Kelley Gillenwater said. “Those actions are mainly cleaning up the site.”

Because of its bankruptcy, Freedom wants to use different methods to remove the contaminated soil. Gillenwater said ultimately the DEP has to be convinced there is no longer any risk at the site.

“Our priority ever since Jan. 9 when this happened was eliminating any further threat to drinking water. So this has been the agency’s number-1 priority since then,” according to Gillenwater.

The DEP would have the option to approve the consent agreement after the 30-day comment period, which ends Dec. 17. After that, Freedom has 15 days to make application for the voluntary remediation program or submit another plan.