Yesterday, the United States Center for Disease Control released a statement that includes data and information related to the Freedom Industries incident on January 9, 2014.

Below is the link to this document, which provides information we believe is important for all businesses and citizens to read and review.

Click HERE for the CDC document.

In response to the incident, the West Virginia Legislature is working to prevent such accidents from happening in the future. We applaud these efforts, and also encourage a continuing deliberative process moving forward to improve the current legislation throughout the legislative session.

Most, if not all, of the legislative activity on this issue is focused on Senate Bill 373. The priority of the Charleston Regional Chamber of Commerce in regard to SB 373 is clear: Protect, Detect and Respond.

The first priority is to “Protect” the public by doing all that is possible to prevent such incidents from happening in the future.

Our second priority is to have policies in place that allow the “Detection” of any similar incidents that could occur in the future, and third, to “Respond” to any future incidents in a way that limits any potential impact on the public.

While good people can disagree on the language in SB 373, the Charleston Chamber believes the current bill doesn’t address the “Respond” element, that must be included in the legislation.

We all agree that we want to prevent these incidents from recurring in the future. If there is a similar incident, we can all agree that we want to detect it as early as possible. What we must also do is develop the technology, right here in West Virginia, to respond in an innovative way to rapidly remove materials, such as MCHM, from our water.

The Charleston Chamber will be working to assure language is included in this bill which addresses the “Respond” portion of our three priorities. We will continue to keep you apprised of these efforts.