Freedom Industries Tank Teardown to Begin Monday

After running into asbestos problems, the company at the center of a January spill into West Virginia’s biggest water supply plans to start dismantling its tanks Monday.

Freedom Industries Chief Restructuring Officer Mark Welch described the new start time Tuesday in bankruptcy court in Charleston.

The company has delayed the teardown multiple times. Freedom stalled its start last weekend because of asbestos issues in tank gaskets and elsewhere.

Freedom is under state orders to demolish its Charleston site, where a leaky tank contaminated the water source downstream. For days, 300,000 residents couldn’t use tap water for most purposes.

Welch says the site should be cleared out in three or four weeks, but the company is proceeding slowly and carefully.

Freedom then must remediate the chemical damage done to the site.