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Freedom Industries has begun the process of transferring from its Poca Blending facility in Nitro MCHM and other chemical spill-related materials that are being stored at the facility and on adjacent property being leased by Freedom.
The company informed the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection Monday night that it would begin today shipping materials from the Nitro site. Freedom was scheduled this morning to transfer to a coal facility in Pennsylvania approximately 3,500 gallons of MCHM from an inventory that was already being stored at Poca Blending prior to the Jan. 9 chemical leak at Freedom’s Elk River facility.
Freedom said it will continue MCHM shipments from Poca Blending to customers over the next several days and weeks. Those shipments will include both MCHM transferred to Poca Blending from the Elk River spill site and MCHM already being stored at Nitro. The WVDEP will have inspectors on site as Freedom unloads tanks and transfers the materials.
During the moving of materials, there is a potential for area residents to detect odors. The WVDEP will closely monitor the activity to ensure that it is done safely and with as minimal of an odor impact as possible.