A former Freedom Industries Inc. president was charged for the second time this month in connection with a West Virginia chemical spill that contaminated water for 300,000 residents, this time in an indictment accusing him and three company officials with polluting the Elk River near Charleston, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Federal prosecutors also announced separate charges today against two other people, a plant manager and environmental consultant, for violating the federal Clean Water Act. The leak from one of Freedom’s tanks sent about 7,500 gallons (28,400 liters) of a cleaning agent used in coal-mining operations into the river, contaminating drinking water in the state’s largest city and sending more than 100 residents to the hospital. Earlier this month, Gary Southern, Freedom’s former president, was accused by the government of lying in the company’s bankruptcy filing, which was triggered by lawsuits following the spill.
