The name, and info, about the chemical that was spilled in WV

[NRaleighLiberal]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4-methyl-1-cyclohexanemethanol

4-Methyl-1-cyclohexanemethanol



It is definitely NOT something that people should be exposed to or drinking. (I am sure it was in one of the hundreds of bottles in our lab stockroom when I was on my way to my chemistry degree in grad school...probably even used it in some of the experiments I ran during the years)....

Organic chemistry is a mystery to the vast majority of the public (understandable - it is really complex) - but in the news I've seen it misidentified/misspelled nearly exclusively, with very little info about its properties.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. It will be fun to get it out of the system

Not that soluble in water. I wonder if the company had a disaster plan? (Chuckle).

[NutmegYankee]

7. Every company like that has a disaster plan.

File for bankruptcy and move the execs to the Caribbean.

[JaneyVee]

2. Biggest oxymoron is clean coal. Coal is ultra-dirty business.

[Champion Jack]

3. Update

Update from WVDEP on Elk River spill. Friday, January 10, 2014 @ 8:59 PM
The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s
Division of Water and Waste Management (DWWM) is requiring
Freedom Industries Inc. to remove the contents in the 11
remaining above-ground storage tanks at its Etowah Terminal
in Charleston.

The contents of three other tanks, including the one that
leaked on Jan. 9, have already been removed and relocated
to another facility. Those three tanks contained 4-
Methylcyclohexane Methanol (MCHM).

Earlier Friday, the WVDEP’s DWWM issued a Cease Operations
Order to Freedom Industries. The agency’s Division of Air
Quality also issued a Notice of Violation (NOV) to Freedom
for causing statutory air pollution by discharging MCHM
into the air. Both of those orders are still in effect.

According to the order issued Friday night, Freedom
Industries must begin, within 24 hours, removing all
material from all above-ground storage tanks and store the
material in an off-site area which provides adequate
secondary containment.

Also within 24 hours, Freedom Industries must submit for
approval an appropriate plan of corrective action which at
a minimum shall include, among other things, a detailed
plan to appropriately implement a remediation of all
contaminated soil and/or groundwater and a plan and
schedule for the ultimate disposition of the products
stored in these tanks.

The Etowah Terminal was the site of a Jan. 9 spill during
which a tank leaked an unknown quantity of MCHM into
secondary containment. A portion of that material escaped
secondary containment and reached the Elk River.

On Jan. 10, WVDEP continued its investigation of the
release of MCHM from Freedom Industries’ facility. During
the course of the investigation, the following was observed
and documented:

In addition to the three above-ground storage tanks
containing MCHM, 11 additional tanks were reported inside
the same failed secondary containment area in which the
MCHM leaked. The other materials being stored in the
additional tanks include Calcium Chloride and Glycerin.

Freedom Industries has removed most of the MCHM from the
above ground storage tanks and staged it off-site at Poca
Blending, LLC in four large Baker tanks.

[laundry_queen]

6. Freedom industries?? Are you kidding me?

Why am I not surprised?

[indie9197]

4. And the useless MSDS...

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2014/images/01/10/msds.sheet.for.4-methyl-1-cyclohexanemethanol.pdf

[Whisp]

5. that damned Walter White!

kidding aside, that sounds horrific.

[ReRe]

8. Might this whole spillage thing...

... have occurred because of the below zero inclimate weather at the first of the week and the following thawing of broken pipes? I read a reply to another thread on the WV emergency this evening where it was described that many of these chemical plants were located along the Elkhorn River together.

[Tanuki]

10. Or maybe it occurred because the owners' credentials include failed careers as

drug dealers and proprietors of a defunct bar and grill?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024313714

[ReRe]

11. Thanks.

The old girl is trying to keep up. Speculating, really, because they left us with a cover-up for the weekend.

[onethatcares]

9. it's just like oil,

once it mixes with the water of the Elk River it'll just disappear.

On a serious note, what happens once it gets into the surface and subsurface waterways that are used to irrigate crops?

Also, has anyone seen much news about Mayflower Arkansas lately?