Bankrupt chemical company Freedom Industries pleaded guilty yesterday to three pollution charges related to last year's spill that contaminated a West Virginia river, The Associated Press reported yesterday. Mark Welch, chief restructuring officer of Freedom Industries, entered the plea on behalf of the company in federal court to negligent discharge of a pollutant and unlawful discharge of refuse matter, both misdemeanors, and violating a permit condition under the Clean Water Act, a felony. Thousands of gallons of a coal-cleaning agent from Freedom Industries in Charleston spilled into the Elk River and went into West Virginia American Water's intake 2 miles downstream on Jan. 9, 2014. It prompted a tap water ban for 300,000 residents in nine counties for up to 10 days while the water company's system was flushed out. Freedom Industries, which filed for bankruptcy eight days after the spill, faces a maximum $900,000 fine. Sentencing was set for June 29.
