Specialty chemicals maker Freedom Industries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection eight days after a leak from one of its storage tanks contaminated drinking water for hundreds of thousands of West Virginia residents. A chemical used to process coal spilled into the Elk River in Charleston, prompting the state’s governor to declare a state of emergency in nine counties and ban the use of drinking water for more than 300,000 people in the region. More than 200 people have visited hospital emergency rooms, complaining of nausea. As a result of the January 9 leak, vendors have demanded that Freedom pay in cash, draining the company of finances and prompting it to seek bankruptcy protection, according to documents filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Charleston, West Virginia.
