Erin Brockovich Pitches ‘Game Changer’ Following West Virginia Chemical Spill

Erin Brockovich, the hollywood honored consumer advocate whose work inspired the 2000 film by the same name, weighed in on the West Virginia chemical spill during a Sunday MSNBC appearance.

The environmentalist and legal clerk, who traveled to Charleston, W.Va. to evaluate the spill, suggested crises like the spill are a product of failed oversight. Brockovich said criminal charges could be a “game changer” for the industry, raising the stakes for compliance.

“Regarding Freedom Industries, it was absolute arrogance, it was lack of oversight, and we have to step that up and we have to look at how it is we’re overseeing it,” Brockovich said. “We implement a lot of regulations and oversight. The problem is there’s no follow through. We just don’t consistently follow through and then a disaster like this happens.”

Watch the full video segment above.

Another Chemical Found in Elk River after Recent Massive Spill

January 21, 2014  By: WSAZ News Staff

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) — Another chemical was found in the Elk River after the massive spill that happened Jan. 9 and led to a several-day water usage ban for more than 100,000 West Virginia American Water customers in parts of nine counties.

The chemical is called PPH and is used in conjunction with the MCHM that already had been identified. MCHM is used to clean coal, and PPH makes it even more fluid.

State Homeland Security officials learned the information Tuesday morning after Freedom Industries, the company responsible for the leak, handed over some documents.

The chemical has not been detected in tests that have been conducted by the U.S. National Guard.

Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s staff is still waiting to get information from the Centers for Disease Control.

This latest round of testing will continue. At this point, officials say no new water bans or restrictions have been put into place as a result of this new information.