News To Make You Furious- West Virginia Water Disaster

February 12, 2014

In November 2010, “News To Make You Furious” started as a focus on the 20th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez disaster. It is appropriate, therefore, that we augment your anger this month with another story about a spill, this time the ongoing one in West Virginia. On January 9th a chemical storage facility operated by Freedom Industries was discovered to be leaking. Initial estimates said 5,000 gallons spilled, but more recent numbers indicate 10,000 gallons of 4-methylcyclohexanemethanol (MCHM, a chemical mixture used in the coal production process) spilled into the water of 300,000 West Virginians.

The handling of this wholly-man-made disaster has followed an all too familiar pattern.. leak discovered, initial estimates wrong, corporate malfeasance, coverup, and political corruption. But this one has twists all its own as the company responsible for the disaster declared bankruptcy, putting into doubt its ability to be held accountable at all. It’s an ongoing story, so more hilarity will undoubtedly ensue.

In this month’s Furious we’ll give you all the links to keep up with slow-motion train wreck as it careens through the lives of 300,000 innocent people. The spill itself will make you Furious, the incompetence that led to it will enrage you, the bungling response will make you crazed, but the thing that should truly make us all livid is the fact that we can see it all coming but there’s precious little anyone can do about it.