Freedom Industries Inc., facing multiple lawsuits and state and federal investigations after the Jan. 9 spill, filed a bankruptcy petition yesterday with the US Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of West Virginia.
Company president Gary Southern signed the paperwork, which lists the company's assets and liabilities as a range between USD 1 million and USD 10 million. It says the company has at least 200 creditors and owes its top 20 creditors USD 3.66 million.
The water was tainted after a chemical used to clean coal leaked from a storage tank and then a containment area at a facility owned by Freedom Industries.
The bankruptcy document says the leaky storage tank appears to have been pierced through its base by some sort of object.
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After the spill, residents in a nine-county area around the state capital of Charleston were told not to use the water for anything other than flushing toilets. Some businesses and schools were forced to close for several days.
The terminal that leaked had not been inspected by state officials since 2001, when it was owned by a different company operating under more stringent rules. State officials said Freedom Industries bought the terminal last month.