Judge Denies Water Crisis Legal Settlement
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A federal judge has declined to grant preliminary approval to a $151 million settlement stemming from a 2014 chemical spill that sparked a water crisis in West Virginia.
Local news outlets report Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr. said in an order Thursday that he wants changes to the deal with West Virginia American Water Co. and Eastman Chemical.
The proposal would have distributed the money among residents, businesses and others whose drinking water was contaminated when thousands of gallons of a coal-cleaning agent leaked from the now-defunct Freedom Industries’ storage tank into the Elk River in January 2014.
The spill left about 300,000 people without water for up to nine days.
Copehaver raised concerns about how the terms awarded money, legal fees and timeliness of payments to spill victims.
Related News
From Archive
- Oil pipeline struck during fiber optic construction spills into L.A. storm drains
- Utility strike at center of Dallas explosion investigation
- Gas line strike destroys three homes in Ohio neighborhood
- $1 billion Ohio River Tunnel project awarded in Pittsburgh
- Las Vegas advances multibillion-dollar water pipeline expansion
- When and why manhole rehabilitation is critical to sewer system performance
- Inside Infrastructure: Utility locators warn of systemic failures in damage prevention process
- Senate passes PIPELINE Safety Act aimed at strengthening buried utility protection
- $104 million Lynchburg, Va., tunnel nears breakthrough beneath Blackwater Creek
Comments