NEW West Virginia Chemical Spill! Leaks Lye Near Ohio River

Less than two weeks after southern West Virginians began experiencing one of the worst federal chemical disasters in history, a fracking truck overturned and leaked more poison, lye, onto the state near the Ohio River Tuesday.

“This is just becoming too hard to process,” Occupy The Hollers told Before It’s News on Wednesday in a telephone interview.

Icing On West Virginia Toxic Cake Of The Week

“A caustic material quickly leaked from the truck,” Tyler Star News reports had first stated. 

“Unidentified caustic material?” asked Occupy The Hollers on Facebook. “Isn’t it time the frackers had to tell us EXACTLY what they are spilling in our water?”

Officials told news reporters that the poisons from the frac truck had not run into nearby waterways.

“It is very close to the Ohio River and will leach into the ground as it melts the snow,” said West Virginia’s Occupy the Hollers.

Occupy’s concerns are well justified. 

A 2013 Environmental Protection Agency assessment identified 132 cases where poisonous coal-fired power plant waste damaged rivers, streams and lakes, and 123 cases in which it tainted underground water sources, according to an AP investigation by Dina Cappiello and Seth Borenstein.

Here’s what Wikipedia says about lye:

In common with other corrosives, the major safety concern with lye is its potentially destructive effects on living tissues (e.g., skin, flesh, and the cornea). Solutions containing it can cause chemical burns, permanent injuries, scarring and blindness, immediately upon contact. Lye may be harmful or even fatal if swallowed; ingestion can cause esophageal stricture. Moreover, solvation of dry solid lye is highly exothermic; the resulting heat may cause additional burns, or ignite flammables.

The reaction between sodium hydroxide and a few metals is also hazardous. Aluminium reacts with lye to produce hydrogen gases. Since hydrogen is flammable, mixing a large quantity of lye (e.g. sodium hydroxide) and aluminum in a closed container is dangerous — especially when the system is at a high temperature, which speeds up the reaction. In addition to aluminum, lye may also react with magnesium, galvanized zinc, tin, chromium, brass or bronze — producing hydrogen gas.

Cooper reported that crews were working to stop the leak, clean what had already spilled, and prevent the hazardous material from getting in nearby waterways.

A truck rushed to “suck up” the lye. 

Cooper had said that no HazMat team was needed.

No HazMat team needed?

Here’s what Wikipedia says about that:

Personal protective equipment including safety glasses, chemical-resistant gloves, and adequate ventilation are required for the safe handling of lye. When in proximity to lye that is dissolving in an open container of water, the use of a vapor-resistant face mask is recommended. Be aware that adding too much lye to water too quickly can cause the solution to boil and gush.

But disregard that. We’re talking about West Virginia, where deregulation and tipping poisons into the environment has been the satus quo for decades, disregarding the human cost.

“This is a retail government,” a leader of the Mountain Party, the state’s Green Party affiliate, Jesse Johnson told Before It’s News Wednesday.

Nevertheless, some locals want to know what the newly added chemical will do to them and their water supply.

“Sodium hydroxide?” asked Occupy The Hollers. “What is this going to do to the water supply?”

Retired neurosurgeon Dr. Paul Brown said, “If the lye gets into the stream, it could kill a lot of stream life.”

Twelve days, almost two weeks, after a chemical distributor for the Koch brothers, Freedom Industries, reported leaking 7,500 gallons of “Crude MCHM” into the water supply of 300,000 West Virginians, the company admitted “another” chemical was in its tank.

The company only admitted that after an independent scientist told Before It’s News that another chemical had leaked from Freedom Industries’ tank.

Locals say that before Freedom’s tank leaked, they saw much extra activity at the company’s site: frac tucks gong in and out and using the tank that has leaked. 

Freedom’s chemical leak has sent hundreds to emergency rooms and left an untold number of others poisoned. They remain in their poisoned homes where the chemicals have stuck to the inside of their water pipes.

Instead of, “Let them eat cake,” Gov. Tomblin basically said, “Let them drink the water – if they want to.”

“Whenever you create this retail government scenario, the people suffer,” Johnson said. “This human disaster was constructed by neglect.

“We are the nation’s canaries in the coal mine.” 

Sources: Occupy The Hollers, Tyer Star News, Personal Interviews

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