Ex-chemical company president pleads guilty in West Virginia spill

He faces up to three years in prison and a fine up to $300,000. The spill on Jan. 9, 2014, of 10,000 gallons of an industrial chemical known as MCHM – used for cleaning coal – left parts of nine counties without water for days and even weeks. Prosecutors said it would be up to immigration officials to decide whether to deport him.

Judge Thomas Johnston, worried about the impact on the U.S. Attorney’s Office, created a 19-question survey for three members of Goodwin’s office, including himself, to answer.

Freedom operated a rusty chemical tank farm on the Elk River, just upstream of the intake pipes for the regional water authority.

Dennis P. Farrell, (58), a former Freedom president and owner, pleaded guilty to violating the federal Refuse Act and failing to have a pollution prevention plan.

Public advocacy groups wanted the courts to take some $7 million from Gary Southern and put it towards restitution, but the way his guilty plea deal worked, it seems to rule that out.

“Executives are used to writing checks”, Goodwin said.

Former Freedom Industries executive Dennis Farrell entered his guilty plea in federal court Monday in Charleston, joining the bankrupt company itself and four other former Freedom officials who already pleaded guilty.

But it’s still unclear how much, if any restitution Freedom Industries, Southern, or any of the other five defendants would owe to victims of the water crises. Under the stipulation of his plea, the government’s pursuit of a forfeiture of Southern’s personal wealth will be dropped.

The tanks are now long gone and Freedom Industries is now a polluted lot. “If you intentionally or even negligently allow the release of a pollutant into our water supplies, it’s not about writing the check, it’s about trading a a three piece suit for a prison jumpsuit”.

Southern is to be sentenced in mid-December.