This news is brought to you by The Guardian.
Ignorance of the basic properties of a chemical stored near a West Virginia water utility hampered the emergency response when the chemical spilled last month, state officials told a Senate subcommittee on Tuesday
Hundreds of residents in nine West Virginia counties were sickened and more than a dozen were hospitalized after chemicals used in the coal industry entered the drinking water supply through intake pipes in the Elk River, located 1.5 miles downstream from a leaking tank. At least two chemicals, MCHM (4-methylcyclohexanemethanol) and PPH (polyglycol ethers), entered the drinking supply, officials said.
The West Virginia congressional delegation has proposed legislation that would improve regulation of above-ground storage tanks nationwide. A parallel effort would update the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act.
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