Company in West Virginia spill failed to disclose second chemical

By Ian Simpson The company behind a chemical spill that left about 300,000 people in West Virginia without tap water failed to disclose a second chemical in the leak, state officials said on Wednesday. The company, Freedom Industries, had previously said that only one chemical, crude MCHM, had spilled from one of its storage tanks into the Elk River at Charleston on January 9. Freedom Industries told the state Department of Environmental Protection on Tuesday that a second chemical, PPH, was in the above-ground tank despite an order immediately after the spill to disclose what was in it, the department said in a statement. Governor Earl Ray Tomblin said he was "very disappointed" that it took Freedom Industries, a maker of specialty chemicals, 12 days to disclose the presence of PPH.