Bombarded by lawsuits and under federal investigation, the chemical company that spilled a dangerous solvent into a West Virginia river and fouled the drinking water of 300,000 people filed for chapter 11 protection Friday, the Los Angeles Times reported on Saturday. Freedom Industries Inc., owner of a storage tank that ruptured Jan. 9 and spilled 7,500 gallons of a coal-treatment foaming agent called MCHM into the Elk River, sought protection from creditors under a chapter 11 filing by its parent company, Chemstream Holdings Inc. of Pennsylvania. The spill prompted the governor to order residents of nine counties in the Charleston area not to use tap water for anything but flushing toilets. In court documents, Freedom Industries says a water line break brought on by frigid temperatures may have caused "an object piercing upwards" to punch a hole in the 35,000-gallon storage tank, allowing the chemical to flow down an embankment into the river. In the filing, Freedom estimates its total liabilities and total assets at between $1 million and $10 million each. The company was founded in 1992, but has existed in its current form only since Dec. 31, when it merged with three other companies under the Freedom Industries name.
