The United States Environmental Protection Agency has issued a rule aimed at protecting against discharges of hazardous substances stemming from extreme weather events. The "worst-case discharge" rule could loom large in the Kanawha Valley, where advocates have pushed for stronger protection against such pollution for yeas.
A decade later, environmental health advocates fear that with the licorice-like stench from the spilled chemicals at Freedom Industries that contaminated drinking water for 300,000 in West Virginia no longer piercing nostrils throughout the Kanawha Valley, water protection could slip further through the cracks.
The 2014 Elk River chemical leak showed West Virginians they d have to fight hard for basic environmental health protections. 10 years after the water crisis, advocacy continues.