Company involved in W.Va. chemical spill files for Chapter 11

Freedom Industries, the unfortunately named company whose chemical leak contaminated the water supply for parts of West Virginia, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Friday.

The company voted to pursue bankruptcy protection during a voluntary board meeting on Friday, according to WVNS-TV. The Wall Street Journal reports official company papers from the meeting estimate their debt at roughly $10 million, which does not include the impending clean-up costs and lawsuits, which will no doubt be immense.

As I indicated previously, they will only monitor what they are required to monitor. Chemicals have properties that may, just may, affect the readings on the sensors. Look, I’m not going debate nits over this. Hell, given it’s WV, they prolly only ensure that a liquid exits the plant.

A man who spent several hours trapped in a pipe at a United Water facility on Wilson Avenue was rescued Friday morning and then promptly arrested.

Capt. Michael Fountain of the Manalapan Police Department said the man was 26-year-old township resident Asaf Mohammad, who was arrested for fourth-degree criminal trespass

United Water spokesman Rich Henning said that workers “heard cries for help” coming from an area that has a wellhead with a storage tank when they arrived at the facility on Friday morning.

Jim Mastrokalos, director of operations for United Water, said the man was found in a decommissioned pipe that is 20 inches in diameter.

“He must have traversed through a basin and climbed up into a pipe for reasons unknown at this time,” Mastrokalos said.

United Water is investigating surveillance video to determine how Mohammed was able to get into the facility, which is surrounded by barbed wire fencing, Mastrokalos said.

After sections of the pipe were dismantled, emergency responders were able to get a harness around the man and pull him out of the pipe.

Mohammed was reportedly flown to Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center after being removed from the pipe

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