More than five months after a Maine-based railroad company filed for bankruptcy as a result of its role in the derailment and subsequent explosion that killed 47 people in Quebec, the company responsible for another environmental disaster has began Chapter 11 proceedings in West Virginia.
Freedom Industries, a Charleston, W. Va.–based company responsible for a recent chemical spill in West Virginia that prompted state officials to impose drinking water bans that affected roughly 300,000 local residents, filed for bankruptcy in its home city late Friday. The move by Freedom, which is owned by Kittanning, Pa.–based Chemstream Holdings, allows it to put on hold dozens of suits filed against the company since the spill shut down much of Charleston earlier this month.
