Freedom Industries officials said yesterday that they are willing to amend their bankruptcy plan to steer more money toward additional cleanup measures at the company’s Etowah Terminal — assuming that the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will clarify what it wants done at the site, the Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette reported today. In a new filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Freedom Chief Restructuring Officer Mark Welch welcomed the DEP’s proposal that the company set aside $1 million for the cleanup of the Elk River facility, where a January 2014 chemical leak contaminated the drinking water supply for 300,000 residents across the region. Welch said that the DEP’s formal objection to Freedom’s latest bankruptcy liquidation plan is “a positive step in the right direction” because state officials have, “for the first time in this process, provided [Freedom] with a specified target to meet.” Now, Welch said, he wants the DEP to “clearly define and justify the proposed uses” for the money agency officials say is needed for the cleanup.
